Note 4 — Chapter III · JOURNEY TO DONGTSE.
Reading edition
The syllable la, here and throughout this narrative, whenever it is a suffix to a name of a person, forms no part of the name, but is only an honorific expletive. It is even used after titles, as Ponbo la, Pundib la, Lhacham la, Kusho la, etc. Chandra Das hardly ever gives the names of the Tibetans he refers to in his narrative, because a person’s name is never used when he or she is addressed, nor is it but rarely mentioned. He probably never heard the names of most of the people of whom he speaks.—(W. R.) ↑