Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 139

JUNE, 1931]
SCRAPS OF TIBETO-BURMAN FOLKLORE
117
III. RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS.
1. Rosaries.
"We constantly met pilgrims making a circumambulation (p. 178) of the whole monastery [of Shigatse] in the prescribed clockwise fashion. As they did so, some returned their prayer-wheels and others told their rosaries-the rosary, generally with 108 beads-being much valued by every branch of Tibetan Buddhism. Some of the devotees were making the round at great speed, while others stopped to make frequent prostrations."
2. Scapegoat.
"The other means of conquering disease [p. 314] especially recommended was to purchase some animal destined for slaughter and set him free. It is believed that illness comes as a punishment for past misdeeds, and the saving of life is so meritorious that it will counteract all past evil, and therefore do away with the cause of disease."
3. Circumambulation Sunwise.
"As we passed down the village street (p. 173), I felt so stupified by the prospect of another long afternoon's, march that I scarcely noticed a mondang or prayer-wall in the midst of the street, and started to pass to the right of it. I had still my dark goggles on and so the old man, believing implicitly in the story that I was still half blind as the result of the snow, shouted out to me that the prayer-wall existed and that I was passing it on the wrong side. This startled me into my senses and I quickly swerved to the left, passing the sacred wall in orthodox fashion. In Tibet respect to a person or thing is shown by always keeping it on one's right-hand side. In circumambulating any religious edifice and this is considered an act of great merit-it is proper always to pass round from left to right, clockwise, which is also the direction in which the prayer-wheel should be turned. Any deviation from this rule is considered an act of outrageous blasphemy."
"Following the example of my companions (p. 39) I dismounted from my pony as we passed the walls and turned each wheel, but I noticed one or two other passers-by were not as punctiliously religious as ourselves though they were scrupulously careful to keep on the right side."
"The great Chokang (pp. 269, 270) or Cathedral [at Lhasa] is the holy of holies for all Tibetans and Mongolians. . . . . Running round this block is the principal street of Lhasa, called the Parkor-ling or the Inner Circle. The practice of circumambulating or walking around a sacred building is held in high regard in Tibet as a method of acquiring merit, and it is the custom of every pilgrim, who comes to Lhasa, to make the circuit twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, always of course from left to right."
"This meant we had to go along (p. 275) the Inner Circle [at Lhasa], the great market roadway which runs around this group of buildings [the Chokang and its surroundings]. Along this road we passed in the prescribed left-to-right fashion, always keeping the central group of buildings on our right."
"We had now to return to our residence. But we did not go back the way we came. To have done so would have been (pp. 279, 280) to go in the wrong direction from right to left, keeping the Cathedral [at Lhasa] on our left, and so we completed the Inner Circle, going along the South side to the Western end."
4. Pilgrimage.
"A great sturdy (p. 174) drokpa (shepherd) fell in with us and journeyed with us a good part of the way..... He was nearly six feet tall and carried a long sword, and was extremely fierce-looking... He confessed that in addition to looking, after his flocks on the Chang-Tang he had frequently acted as a brigand and had amassed quite a little fortune that way. Recently he had fallen very ill, and believing his disease to be a punishment from the gods, he had decided to come on a pilgrimage to Shigatse and thereby wipe out his sins without in any way having to get rid of his ill-gotten gains,"