646 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1912. 



be used as proofs were formerly sealed in this way, a practice to 

 which the word tegata (hand shape) still used of such papers remains 

 to testify. Documents are in existence in which Mikados have 

 authenticated their signatures by an impression of their hand in red 

 ink.^ 



In the religious beliefs of tte Tibetans impressions from the hands 

 and feet of saints play an extensive role. These notions were appar- 

 ently derived with Buddhism from India. In the Himalayan region 

 of southern Tibet the pious belie vere are still shown foot imprints 

 left by the famous mystic, ascetic, and poet, Milaraspa (1038-1122), 

 and in an attractive book containing his legends and songs many 

 accounts of this kind are given. By "Traces of the Snowshoes" is 

 still designated a bowlder on which he performed a dance and left 

 the traces of his feet and staff, and the fairies attending on the soli- 

 tary recluse marked the rocks with their footprints. ^ In the life of the 

 Lama Byams-c'en C'os-rje (1353-1434), who visited China at the invi- 

 tation of the Emperor Yung-lo (1398-1419), of the Ming dynasty, it 

 is narrated that when he was dwelling on the sacred Mount Wu-t'ai, 

 in Shansi Province, he showed a miracle by kneading a solid, hard blue 

 stone like soft clay and leaving on it an impression of his hand, which 

 astounded all inhabitants of that region.^ The fourth Dalai Lama, 

 Yon-tan rgya-mts'o (1588-1615) produced on a stone the outlines of 

 his foot.* In Tibet I myself had occasion to see, in the possession of a 

 layman, an impression on silk of the hand of the Pan-c'en rin-po-c'e, 

 the hierarch residing at Tashi-lhun-po. At least it was so ascribed 

 to him; but the hand was almost twice as large as an ordinary human 

 hand, and the vermilion color with which it was printed from a wooden 

 block lent it a ghastly appearance. These talismans are sold to the 

 faithful at goodly prices and secure for them the permanent blessings 

 of the sacred hand of the pontifex. 



» Bed ink, as in many Chinese religious ceremonies, evidently is here a metaphorical substitute for blood, 

 and the act of the Mikado retains its purely magical character. H. Sporry (Das Stempelwesen in Japan, 

 p. 18) remarks that the tegata is found on ancient documents usually in red, but also in black; it seems 

 that they were chiefly employed on instruments of donations to temples, without having properly the 

 sense and character of a signature. Sheets of white or red paper with the imprmt of the left hand of the 

 husband and the right hand of the wife are pasted over the doors of houses as charms against smallpox 

 and other infectious diseases. Giles (Adversaria Sinica, No. 6, p. 184) narrates the following story: "A 

 favorite concubine of the Emperor Ming Huang (713-756 A. D.) having several times dreamed that she 

 was invited by some man to take wine with him on the sly, spoke about it to the Emperor. 'This is the 

 work of some magician,' said his Majesty; 'next time you go, take care to leave behind you some record.' 

 That very night she had the same dream; and accordingly she seized the opportunity of putting her hand 

 on an ink slab and then pressing it on a screen. When she awaked, she described what had happened; 

 and on a secret examination being made, the imprint of her hand was actually found in the Dawn-in- 

 the-East Pavilion outside the palace. The magician, however, was nowhere to be seen." In regard to the 

 same woman, Yang Kuei-fei, another anecdote is told to the effect that she once touched the petals of 

 peonies with her fingers dipped into rouge, whereupon the coming year, after the flowers had been trans- 

 planted, red traces of her finger prints were visible on the opening blossoms (compare P'ei win yiinfu, 

 eh 7t,p. 19). 



■ Laufer, Aus den Geschichten und Liedem des Milaraspa, pp. 2, 16 (Denkschriften Wiener Akademie, 

 1902), and ArcMvfur Religionswissenschajt, vol. 4, 1901, pp. 26, 42. 



' G. Huthj Geschichte des Buddhismus in der Mongolei, Vol. II, Strassburg, 1896, p. 196. 



« Ibid., p. 245. 



