Lhasa to Nalanda - journey time by foot

[Ulrich T. Kragh]

> Elliot M. Stern wrote:
> The aim is to form an idea of how long it might have taken the Buddhist monk
> zaantarakSita to travel to Tibet, and return in the 7th century.
> 

What do you mean in this case by "and return"? ZaantarakSita is thought to have died in Tibet after having been kicked by a horse. 

I tried to look up information on ZaantarakSita's travel but in vain. I only consulted the sources easily at hand, namely Mipham's commentary on ZaantarakSita's MadhyamakAlaMkAra; Snellgrove's Indo-Tibetan Buddhism; and The Blue Annals.

However, I found the following reference regarding Atiza (982-1054), who travelled from Vikramalazila (at the Ganges) to Western Tibet (Guge) arriving in 1042:

The monks of Vikramalazila seems only to have allowed the Tibetan escort to bring Atiza to Tibet but to return him within three years. The Tibetan biography of Atiza explains that according to dGe-bzes Lag-sor-pa, this would allow one year for each travel and one year for staying in Tibet. Another Tibetan source (ZaG rom), however, gives the timespan allowed as being only nine months (which thus also would seem plausible to a Tibetan writer/reader).

These informations are found in the biography of Atiza; cf. Helmuth Eimer, "Rnam Thar Rgyas Pa: Materialen zu einer Biographie des Atiza", vol. 1, Asiatische Forschungen, band 67, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1979, p.227.

I seem to remember having heard that the usual travel on foot/horse from Lhasa to Bodhgaya takes appr. 8 weeks in the good season - unless time was required for resting (and climate accommodation) in Kathmandu. There were several traderoutes that could be followed. A major route went along the Khali Khandaki gorge along the Western side of the Anna Purna mountains in Nepal via present day Mustang. 

I hope these few informations are of use.

Sincerely,
Ulrich T. Kragh
Ph.D. student
University of Copenhagen