As we left the temple we were met by a party of singing beggars, who followed us to our house clamouring for solra, or alms; finally we sent them off with a karma, or the value of two annas. Had we given more we would have been persecuted by numerous other parties of these pests.
June 3.—A lama of Khams, whom I had met at Tashilhunpo, came to see me to-day. He told me that he was waiting for nine loads of silver from Tashilhunpo, on the arrival of which he would leave for Western China, coming back to Lhasa next March or April. I had heard at Tashilhunpo that he had a caravan of 700 mules, and carried on trade between Darchendo[23] and Lhasa. This Pomda[24] lama was a man of gigantic stature, something over six feet, well proportioned, and of great strength; he was well known to brigands, and none dared molest him. My further acquaintance with him confirmed me in the opinion I had formed of the Khambas. Though they are wild, they are devoted friends, and when once one becomes intimate with one of them, he will be faithful to the end.
I heard to-day the following story about the famous Regent Tsomoling and his social reforms: Once there came to Lhasa a lama pilgrim from Tsoni, in Amdo,[25] and he was admitted into the Sera [[157]]convent, where he studied under a learned Mongol lama. After a few years the Amdo lama’s tutor returned to his home, and on parting he left his pupil a couple of earthen pots, a khatag, and a bag of barley, the most valuable things he possessed, as he told him. The pupil, disappointed with these gifts, carried the pots to the market and sold them for half a tanka, with which he bought butter that he put in the lamps burning before the great image of the lord (Jo-vo), praying that if he ever became Regent of Tibet, he might be able to reform the social customs of the country.
In the course of time he rose to the dignity of a teacher in his convent; then he became its abbot, or khanpo; and finally he rose to the rank of regent. One of the first acts of his administration was to expel all public women from Lhasa, and to compel all women to cover their faces with a coating of catechu, so as to hide their comeliness from the public view.[26] Women were also made to wear a bangle cut out of a conch-shell on their right wrist, by which they could be held when arrested. From his time also dates the use by women of aprons (pang-den) and of the present style of headdress, or patug. The old style of patug is now only worn by the wives (or Lhacham) of the Shape (ministers). He was the first of the Tsomoling lamas, and his reincarnations still inhabit the lamasery of that name behind Ramoche.
On June 4 I again visited the Jo khang.[27] After paying reverence to the Jo-vo and circumambulating his sacred throne, the kunyer poured some holy water (tu) into my hand from a golden vessel. In a little chorten in one of the chapels on the south side of the temple is kept a statue of red bell-metal, or li-mar, made, so says tradition, in the days of King Kriki, when men lived 20,000 years. For many centuries it was kept by the kings of Nepal; but when a princess from that country married King Srong-btsan gambo, she brought it to Tibet, and placed it in this temple, where it is the object of constant worship.
PALDAN LHAMO (SRIMATI-DEVI).
But perhaps the most revered of all the images in the Jo khang, [[158]]exclusive of that of the Jo, is that of Paldan lhamo (Srimati devi). The terrifying face of the goddess is kept veiled, but the kunyer uncovered it for us. This terrific goddess is regarded as the guardian of the Dalai and Tashi lamas. The chestnut-coloured mule she rides, the offspring of a red ass and a winged mare, was given her by the goddess of the sea. The saddle she sits on is the skin of an ogre, and the bridle and crupper are vipers. Kya dorje gave her dice with which to play for lives, and the ogres, or Srinpo, presented her a string of skulls, which she holds in her left hand, and the goblins that haunt graveyards gave her corpses, on which she feeds. In her right hand she holds a club given her by the god Chyagna-dorje. ’Twas in such [[159]]fearful attire that she waged war against the foes of Buddhism, and became the greatest of all its guardian deities.
The chapel of Paldan lhamo is overrun by mice, so tame that they crawled up the kunyer’s body. They are supposed to have been lamas in former existences. On one of the walls we saw a painting made with the blood of King Srong-btsan.
As we were walking home I saw some men hawking books, and told them what works I would buy if they could but procure them for me. They promised to bring them to me shortly.