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XXIV. Remarks on the Religious and Social Institutions of the Bouteas, or Inhabitants of Boutan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
Extract
Many principles and forms of the religion of the Lamas are evidently borrowed from that of the Hindoos. They have similar ceremonies performed on the banks of rivers, and the Ganges is held in equal veneration, A little of its water is a most valuable acquisition to one of their faquires or pilgrims, who carries it in a small brass or silver bottle, carefully corked, and tied to his girdle. Their supreme deity, called indiscriminately by the name Sijamony, Mahamony, and Sejatoba, is said to have been brought many ages ago by one of the superior Lamas from Benares, and others of them must have been of foreign extraction; for although plainly drawn and carved as females, the priests will not allow them of that sex; and often, as they think, decide the distinction with a pair of whiskers, when the turn of the features and swell of the bosom shew whiskers to be misapplied.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , July 1830 , pp. 491 - 517
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1830
References
page 496 note * Such hermits and such nuns, as are, here described, exist likewise among the Budhists of China. J.F.D.
page 498 note * About eight miles above Tacissudon, where it is said he is to remain three years longer.
page 499 note * The Rajah's sister was at Tacissudon, She was lodged in a part of the building appropriated to us, and she differed in no respect of dress or appearance from the other women of the country.
page 500 note * This is precisely the manner in which the Bud'h priests of China bind up their treatises and; prayers, which often open out like a folding screen. J.F.D.
page 501 note * Previous to admission into the order, it is required of the candidate to pass a twelvemonth in preparation, the principal part of which is said to be counting his beads to the repetition of the sentence omanipeemehon.
page 502 note * Lam Shabda, said to be twelve years of age, and Lam Geysey, seven years.
page 502 note † The zempin, or governor, is the judge in all criminal matters within his district. The accused and the witnesses are confronted and summoned before him, and when the charge has been established, he passes sentence according to a written code of laws. The sentence is referred to the Rajah for confirmation. Certain crimes are punished with the loss of sight:—theft with the loss of a hand:—decapitation is also used; and, in some-cases, the criminal is bound hand and foot, and thus thrown into a river.
page 504 note * The Rajah's principal attendants were, the kelidar, the dewan, and zempin, and a youug man his nephew. They were all gylongs, and by their dress not distinguishable from the other priests. They had their respective apartments in the castle, consisting of a closet, with an altar for devotion, and an anti-chamber. In the latter, which is always hung round with matchlock pieces, and bows and arrows, are commonly seen a few persons in waiting, who attend on their chief when he goes out, which is seldom, unless to the adjacent river to bathe.
page 506 note * Property acquired under the government of Boutan devolves to the Rajah on the proprietor's decease, and becomes a part of the public stock.
‘Privatus illis census erat brevis—
Commune magnum.’—
page 507 note * This is like the Parsees.
page 507 note † The Budh' priests of China burn their dead likewise.—J.F.D.
page 513 note * The dewan and the darogah, with a party of zeen-caabs, patrolled every day round the square while the performances lasted, to maintain order.