[21] The princess is said to have been buried in this temple.—(W. R.) [↑]
[22] Georgi, ‘Alph. Tibet.,’ p. 242, says, “Magiæ Doctores Nga Rambà dicti, diabolicæ hujus sapientiæ mysteriis initiantur, Magica Laurea solemniter ornantur in duobus Lhassæ Cœnobiis Ramoie Chintopà & Morù Chinpà nuncupatis.… Oracula sunt tum publica tum domestica, quæ Populi, quæ Cives, quæ sacri ac profani Magistratus adeant responsa capturi.” [↑]
[23] Or Ta-chien-lu, on the border of Sze-chuen.—(W. R.) [↑]
[24] Pomda appears to be Pungde, a little post-station two days’ ride from Chamdo, and south-east of that town. It is called by the Chinese Pao-tun. See my ‘Diary of a Journey,’ p. 316.—(W. R.) [↑]
[25] Amdo is that portion of the western border-land of the Chinese province of Kansu and Sze-chuen which is occupied by Tibetan tribes. This anecdote is also found in Ugyen-gyatso’s relation of his exploration, ‘Report on Explorations from 1856 to 1886,’ p. 31. [↑]
[26] Cf. Huc, ‘Souvenirs d’un voyage dans la Tartarie et le Thibet,’ vol. ii. p. 258; and ‘Land of the Lamas,’ p. 214. [↑]
[27] Georgi, op. cit., p. 406 et sqq., describes very fully and accurately this famous temple, of which he also gives a ground plan. He calls it the Lahpranga Lhassensi. This description agrees very closely with that of our author, and is highly interesting, as the analogies between its style of architecture and that of Christian churches are discussed.—(W. R.). [↑]
[28] Phagpa was given the government of Tibet by the Emperor Kublai in A.D. 1260. The first of the Phagmodu kings was Nyakri btsan-po, who is said to have ascended the throne of Tibet (then a little principality south of the Tsangpo, in the Yarlung valley) B.C. 313. See I. J. Schmidt, op. sup. cit., p. 23; and Emil Schlagintweit, ‘Die Könige von Tibet,’ pp. 39–41. From B.C. 313 to A.D. 1260 is such a long period of time, that we are hardly able to say that the date of the introduction of tea into Tibet has been fixed. It is probable that the Tibetans did not use tea before the eighth century, at the earliest, and its use only became common in recent times. No mention, I believe, is made of tea in the works of Milarapa (eleventh century), nor in any of the older books known to us in the Tibetan language.—(W. R.) [↑]
[29] According to Chinese authors, the selection of incarnate lamas by the drawing of lots from a golden vase dates from 1793. See Jour. Roy. As. Soc., vol. xxiii.; ‘Land of the Lamas,’ p. 290; Waddell, op. cit., 245 et sqq. and 279, note 2; also Huc, op. cit., vol. ii. p. 348. François Bernier, in his ‘Voyages’ (1723), vol. ii. p. 310, gives some interesting details about the reincarnation of the Grand Lama, as told him by an attaché to a mission from the King of Little Tibet to Aureng-Zeb.—(W. R.) [↑]
[30] Among the strange events which occur on the birth of a reincarnation of the Tale lama may be mentioned “the blossoming, in the immediate vicinity of the birthplace, of fruit-trees some months before their usual season; the casting of two or more young by animals which as a rule do not cast so many at a birth; and the sudden recovery from fatal illnesses of persons coming in contact with the newborn child.” See ‘Report on Explorations,’ made by A. K., p. 32.—(W. R.) [↑]