A Bell Inscription from the Yar Lung Valley
The bell at Khra 'brug stood in the Yar Lung Valley — the cradle of the Tibetan Empire, at approximately 29.1°N 91.7°E — during the reign of Emperor Khri Lde Srong Brtsan (c. 799–815 CE). The bell is now lost. What remains is this inscription: twelve lines recording the patron, the purpose, and the maker.
The patron was Queen Byang Chub (Jo Mo Byang Chub), who commissioned the bell for two purposes: the bodily merit of the divine emperor, and the encouragement of all sentient beings toward virtue. The bell was cast by a Chinese Buddhist monk named Rin Chen — evidence of the cross-cultural Buddhist exchange that characterised the late Tibetan Empire, when Chinese and Indian monks worked side by side in Tibetan monasteries.
The inscription opens with a simile that captures both the bell's function and its aspiration: like the sound of a divine drum resounding in the sky. The bell is not merely an instrument — it is an echo of the celestial. A lost bell, a queen's prayer, a Chinese monk's craft. All that survives is the inscription.
H. E. Richardson published a translation in "A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions" (Royal Asiatic Society, 1985). This translation is independently derived from the Old Tibetan source text as digitised by the Old Tibetan Documents Online project (OTDO). First freely available English translation. Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Like the sound of a divine drum
resounding in the sky —
even as fame resounds —
this great bell also:
for the divine emperor
Khri Lde Srong Brtsan,
in [...] with pleasing sound,
it abides.
In petition
for the emperor's bodily merit,
and so that all sentient beings
may be urged toward virtue —
the patron, Queen Byang Chub,
had this made.
The Chinese monk Rin Chen
cast it.
Colophon
The Bell at Khra 'brug (insc_KhraBel) is a twelve-line Old Tibetan inscription from a bell that stood at Khra 'brug in the Yar Lung Valley, during the reign of Emperor Khri Lde Srong Brtsan (c. 799–815 CE). The bell is lost — the text survives only through historical documentation.
Line 5 of the inscription contains a lacuna (marked [...] in the translation) where the original text is damaged or illegible in the surviving records.
This translation is independently derived from the Old Tibetan transliteration as published by the Old Tibetan Documents Online project (OTDO, Osaka University). H. E. Richardson's translation in A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions (Royal Asiatic Society, 1985) was not directly consulted, but its existence is acknowledged.
Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ཁྲ་འབྲུག་གི་དྲིལ་བུ
Old Tibetan source text from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) project, Osaka University. Transliteration of the bell inscription at Khra 'brug. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
(1) lha'I rnga sgra bar snang la
(2) 'grag pa dang 'dra bar
(3) drIl chen po 'dI yang lha
(4) btsan po khri lde srong brtsan
(5) gyi du [---] snan 'grangs
(6) pa bzhugs so sol
(7) tshal gyI sku yon dang
(8) sems can thams cad
(9) dge ba la bskul ba'I phyir
(10) yon bdag jo mo byang chub kyIs
(11) bgyIs nas mkhen pho rgya'I
(12) dge slong rin cen gyIs blugs so
Source Colophon
Old Tibetan transliteration from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature / Osaka University. Identifier: insc_KhraBel. URL: https://otdo.aa-ken.jp/. The OTDO transcription is based on historical records, as the bell itself is lost. Location: Khra 'brug, Yar Lung Valley, 29.1°N 91.7°E. Period: reign of Khri Lde Srong Brtsan (c. 799–815 CE).
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