[8] This Chinese Buddhist monk (or ho-shang) came to Tibet in the reign of King Srong-btsan gambo (A.D. 629–698). He is usually called Mahadeva, not Dharmatala.—(W. R.) [↑]
[9] Geo. Bogle, op. cit., p. 106, witnessed a somewhat similar dance at Tashilhunpo on New Year’s Day. An effigy of the devil was likewise burnt. Tibetans use the word atsara much as the Chinese do yang kuei-tzŭ, or “foreign devils,” though it was originally the name given to learned Indian pilgrims. The word is Sanskrit, acharya.—(W. R.) [↑]
[10] See Captain Samuel Turner, ‘Embassy,’ p. 314. [↑]
[11] According to Chinese authorities, this, or a similar feast, is celebrated at Lhasa in the second moon of the year. Another analogous festival is held on the 30th day of the sixth moon. See J.R.A.S., xxiii. pp. 212, 213.—(W. R.) [↑]
[12] The Chang-tang is not an uninhabited desert, for numerous tribes of Drupa pasture their herds there the year long, and keep up a considerable trade with Lhasa and Shigatse, which they supply with salt. It has been repeatedly crossed by European explorers.—(W. R.) [↑]
[13] Cf. the legend of the miraculous tree sprung from the hair of Tsongkhapa, and still growing in the courtyard of Kumbum gomba. ‘The Land of the Lamas,’ pp. 67, 68. [↑]
[14] On the new year festivities, see Waddell, op. cit., p. 513. [↑]
[15] On lamaist monachism, see Sarat Chandra Das’s ‘Indian Pundits in the Land of Snow,’ and Waddell, op. cit., pp. 169 et sqq. [↑]
[16] In the narrative of his journey in 1879 (p. 26), S. C. D. thus describes the headdress of the ladies of wealth and fashion at a festival at Tashilhunpo: “Their headdresses struck me much. The prevailing form consisted of two, or sometimes three, circular bands of plaited hair placed across the head and richly studded with pearls, cat’s-eyes, small rubies, emeralds, diamonds, coral and turquoise beads as large as hens’ eggs, pearl drops, and various sorts of amber and jade encircled their heads, like the halo of light round the heads of goddesses. These circles were attached to a circular headband, from which six or eight short strings of pearls and regularly shaped pieces of turquoise and other precious stones hung down over the forehead.” [↑]
[17] Farther on (p. 138), our author tells us that the incarnate goddess Dorje phagmo also wore her hair long. [↑]