t is often called--was beginning and a solid foundation was
laid by composing two dictionaries containing a collection of Sanskrit
Buddhist terms.[999]

The Augustus of Tibet was Ralpachan who ruled in the ninth century,
though Tibetan and Chinese chronicles are not in accord as to his
exact date. He summoned from Kashmir and India many celebrated doctors
who with the help of native assistants took seriously in hand the
business of rendering the canon into Tibetan. They revised the
existing translations and added many more of their own. It is probable
that at least half of the works now contained in the Kanjur and Tanjur
were translated or revised at this time and that the additions made
later were chiefly Tantras (rGyud). On the other hand it is also
probable that many tantric translations ascribed to this epoch are
really later.[1000] The most prolific of Ralpachan's translators was
Jinamitra, a pandit of Kashmir described as belonging to the
Vaibhashika school, who translated a large part of the Vinaya and many
sutras.[1001] Among the many Tibetan assistants Ye'ses-sde and
Dpal-brTsegs are perhaps those most frequently mentioned. These
Tibetan translators are commonly described by the title of Lo-tsa-va.
As in China the usual procedure seems to have been that an Indian
pandit explained the sacred text to a native. The latter then wrote it
down, but whereas in China he generally paraphrased whatever he
understood, in Tibet he endeavoured to reproduce it with laborious
fidelity.

The language of the translations, which is now the accepted form
of literary Tibetan, appears to have been an archaic and classical
dialect even in the early days of Tibetan Buddhism, for it is not the
same as the language of the secular documents dating from the eighth
century, which have been found in Turkestan, and it remains unchanged
in the earliest and later translations. It may possibly have been the
sacred language of the Bonpo[1002] priests.

As narrated in the historical section Buddhism suffered a severe
reverse with the death of Ralpachan and it was nearly a century before
a revival began. This revival was distinctly tantric and the most
celebrated name connected with it is Atisa. According to Csoma de
Koros's chronology the Kalacakra system was introduced in 1025 and the
eminent translator bLo-ldan-shes-rab,[1003] a follower of Atisa,
was born in 1057. It is thus easy to understand how during the
eleventh century a great numbe