'Mangu
Khan Entrusted Ho-Li-Dan With The Command Of The Troops Against
T'u-Fan." Sub Anno 1254 It Is
Stated that Kublai (who at that time was
still the heir-apparent), after subduing the tribes of Yun-nan, entered
T'u-fan, when So-ho-to, the ruler of the country, surrendered. Again,
s.a. 1275: 'The prince Al-lu-chi (seventh son of Kublai) led an
expedition to T'u-fan.' In chap, ccii., biography of Ba-sz'-ba, the
Lama priest who invented Kublai's official alphabet, it is stated that this
Lama was a native of Sa-sz'-kia in T'u-fan. (Bretschneider, Med Res.
II. p. 23.) - H.C.] Koeppen seems to consider it certain that there was no
actual conquest of Tibet, and that Kublai extended his authority over it
only by diplomacy and the politic handling of the spiritual potentates who
had for several generations in Tibet been the real rulers of the country.
It is certain that Chinese history attributes the organisation of civil
administration in Tibet to Kublai. Mati Dhwaja, a young and able member of
the family which held the hereditary primacy of the Satya [Sakya] convent,
and occupied the most influential position in Tibet, was formerly
recognised by the Emperor as the head of the Lamaite Church and as the
tributary Ruler of Tibet. He is the same person that we have already (vol.
i. p. 28) mentioned as the Passepa or Bashpah Lama, the inventor of
Kublai's official alphabet. (Carpini, 658, 709; D'Avezac, 564; S.
Setzen, 89; D'Ohsson, II.
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