Antiquities of Indian Tibet - Tapa dura

The journey that the author A.H Franke, a member of the Moravian Misson, undertook in 1909 was on the behest of the British Indian Government for carrying out an archaeological survey of the districts that comprised of Indian Tibet (now the regions of Lahul and Spiti in state of Himachal Pradesh, and Ladakh in the state of Jammu and Kashmir). These areas had never been explored and Franke was best suited for this purpose, given his knowledge of local history and antiquities and fluency in the Tibetan language. Starting from Shimla on the 14th of June 1909 he traveled upto the Satluj Valley through the hill state of Rampur Bashahr he reached Spiti.Crossing the Parungla pass he continued through Rubshu and the Tso Moriri Lake in South Eastern Ladakh and then to Leh, the capital of Ladakh. After a brief stay at Leh he crossed the Zoji pass to reach Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The second volumes give the Tibetan text and English translation of the chronicles of Zangskar, Baltistan, Lahul along with the genealogies of the chiefs of these areas. It contains rare maps of the lahul, spiti, rubshu, kinnaur areas.