The al-Jawf oasis lies at the northern extremity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and although closer to ‘Ammān than to al-Riyāḍ, it is nevertheless reckoned by some to be a part of geographical Najd. Within the oasis is the settlement known as al-Jawf or Jawf 'Amīr, which is the ancient town of Dūmat al-Jandal, famous in early Islamic history. In the district, the town of al-Jawf is still referred to by the local people as Dūmat al-Jandal. Dūmat al-Jandal is no longer the main town of the area, having declined when Sakāka to the north-east became the seat of the amīrate. Today much of Dūmat al-Jandal appears to be deserted and the houses ruined, although it was clearly formerly a large settlement whose extensive farms and gardens are still cultivated (Plate I). The whole al-Jawf oasis and Wādī Sirḥān to the north are rich in pre-Islamic monuments and inscriptions which have been documented to some extent and standing on the acropolis of Dūmat al-Jandal is the largest of all these monuments, Qaṣr al-Mārid, dated to the 3rd century A.D., but with later additions (Plate II).

The Persian literati have always delighted in poetic symbols and metaphors, and subtle plays on words. Therefore we should not be surprised to find that, during a brief period in the first part of the Ṣafavid dynasty when it was possible to use pictures in patterns and designs, these pictures often held symbolic connotations, conveyed through visual puns. Moreover, it seems that the second meaning carried in these puns usually involved a religious message, relating to the spiritual tradition of those Muslim mystics known as Ṣūfīs, who had great influence at court during that same short period. This clever use of pictures to convey ideas was apparently soon forgotten, after the practice was abandoned. But it comes to light again when we undertake to analyse certain early Ṣafavid designs – especially the patterns on various carpets from that period, known to have been woven between approximately 1520 and 1620 of our era.

The inscriptions on four faces of the stone pillar outside the Jo-khang at Lhasa concerning the treaty of A.D. 821/823 between the Tibetan king, Khri gTsug-lde-brtsan Ral-pa-can, and the Chinese emperor Mu-tsung, have been edited in whole or in part several times during the past century. Particulars of those publications can be seen in the excellent edition by Professor Fang-kuei Li in T'oung Pao, XLIV, 1956, which is the only one in English to contain the four inscriptions in Tibetan and also the Chinese versions of three of them which give the document its unique linguistic importance.

The two texts presented here are part of a rich corpus of Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) ritual prayers and chants, some of which I was able to record during the course of my anthropological investigations among these Tibeto-Burman-speaking hill folk in the mountains of north Thailand. As I have stated in two previous contributions to this Journal, I am concerned to preserve these texts as a valuable contemporary expression of the cultural heritage of this preliterate people. In this presentation a brief — and therefore far from exhaustive — ethnographic introduction suggests the setting for the recitation of the texts.