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AUGUST, 1894.]
DEMONOLATRY IN SIKHIM LAMAISM.
201
there be urgency in the matter of the passage of a bride, bridegroom or corpse, then must be made with wheaten flour the images of a horse and a yak, on each image must be placed respectively some part of the skin and hair of each of these animals. At such a time tea and beer are also offered to the spirit, who is invited to sit on the images. After this the door must be removed from its hinges and carried outside, and the bride, bridegroom or corpse taken out or in. The door may then be again restored to its place.
When he is at the kitchen fire, no part of the fire-place can be removed, or mended, no corpse can be placed near it, and no marriage can then take place. Should any visitor arrive, he must be screened off from the fire-place by a blanket, and the Chhös-mge-khri scripture must be read.
When he is in the verandah, there is bat littte trouble. Only the outside of the house must not be whitewashed, nor repaired, nor disturbed in any way.
Should it be thought that he has been slightly offended, in every case, so as to err on safe side, it is recommended that the worship called (Sa-bdag-po, Sab-dak) Pang-kong-snang-brgyadchhab-gtor-bcho, or Water Sacrifice of the Eight Injurers should be performed.
5. The Demons of the Earth. The local earth demons are named Sab-dak, or Sa-dak-pos, or Earth-owners. The most malignant are the gNyan. These infest certain trees and rooks, which are always studiously shunned and respected, and usually daubed with paint in adoration. The earth demons are very numerons, but they are all under the authority of Old Mother Khönma, who rides upon a ram, and is dressed in golden yellow robes. Her personal attendant is Sa-thel-ngag-po. In her hand she holds a golden noose, and her face contains eighty wrinkles.
The ceremony of sa-g0, 80 frequently referred to in the lamnio prescriptions, is addressed to her. It signifies the closing of the open doors of the earth' to the earth spirits, and is very similar to the worship of the Lares by the Romans.
In this rite is prepared a magical emblem, which consists of an elaborate arrangement of masts and strings and a variety of mystic objects; most prominent among which is a ram's skull with horns attached and pointed downwards towards the earth. Inside the skull is put some gold leaf, silver, turquoise, and portions of every precious object available, as well as portions of dry eatables, rice, wheat, pulses, etc.
On the forehead is painted in ochrelo the mystic celestial (parkha) sign of Khön, on the right jaw the sun, and on the left jaw the moon. On the crown it is adorned with:-(1) namka masts, i.e., masts to which are attached diamond-shaped and square figures, made by winding coloured threads into geometric patterns; (2) tar-zab, or pieces of silk rag; and (3) tong-tse, or Chinese pice (cash'), Parkha and several wool-knobbed sticks of phang-khra.
of Khön. Along the base of the skull are inserted, on separate slips of wood, the following images, etc.:
1. Picture of a man (pho-dong): 2. Of a woman (mo-dong) with a spindle in her hand : 3. Of a house :
"The images of men and women made of wool were hung in the streets, and so many balls made of wool 4s there were servants in the family, and so many complete images as there were children (Festus apud Lilyyr). The meaning of which custom was this:- These feasts were dedicated to the Lares, who were esteemed Infernal gods; the people desiring hereby that these gods would be contented with these woollen images and spare the persons represented by them. These Lares sometimes were clothod in the skins of dogs (Plutarch in prob.) aud were sometimes fashioned in the shape of dogs (Plautus), whence that creature was consecrated to them." -Tooke's Pantheon, p. 280.
10 The symbolic colour of the earth.
