A few years ago, a stele known as "Record of the Great T'ang Envoy to India (Ta-t'ang T'ien-chu shih ch'u ming)" was discovered in northern Gyirong County, Tibet. It represents one of the most important archaeological findings on the state of T'ang foreign affairs as well as the history and geography of the period. The contents of the text are crucial from three points of view. First, it provides a great deal of information previously unknown. Second, it verifies the earliest known route and passes from Tibet through Nepal to central India as well as the existence of a state known as Yamtong. Third, it resolves several longstanding disputes and misunderstandings among Chinese and foreign scholars. Unfortunately, more than half of the stele record no longer survives, and even the rubbing of the rest is unclear. The preliminary report on the stele was published in issue eight of Kaogu in 1994 and regrettably included unresolved issues and misreadings. The present article is intended to provide a fuller and deeper account of the content of the surviving portion of the text and its content. This study shows that Wang Hsuan-ts'e arrived in Gyirong County in the fifth lunar month of 659 on his third trip to India and remained there for a time to compose this stele on account of repairs to mountain routes damaged by heavy rains. The route he took was the one from Turbon (Tibet) through the Nepali area to central India, as indicated in his first trip recorded in Shakya Gazetteer (Shih-chia fang-chih). The long-standing controversy over whether the route was through Nyalam or Gyirong can now be resolved by the mention of the latter south to the pass along the border, referred to as "the southern limit of Turbon." Wang's text indicates that at the southern border of old Gyirong was the traditional river and bridge crossing that separated Tibet and Nepal. His record also mentions the existence of a Yamtong state located northeast of and not far from Gyirong. Later, Yamtong was overrun by the Turbon people scattered. The site of Agri in Tibetan history is indicated as the site of Greater and Lesser Yamtong and where the Turbon settled.
