88 S. C. Das— The Origin of th? Tibetans. [Feb. 



this numerous progeny. It was not for satisfying any lust or unholy 

 desire that T permitted myself to be united with the demon of a woman. 

 It was simply out of compassion that I took her. Is compassion, there- 

 fore, the cause of this misery of myself and children ? How am I to 

 be saved from this mire of worldly troubles ? Grant me thy grace and 

 tell me how I am to support my children. Then a voice from heaven 

 was heard to say : — Your children shall be protected by me, Oh prince 

 of monkeys, do not be concerned at all. Then the Lord Lokesvara 

 proceeding towards the deep recesses of the Surneru Mountain brought 

 the seeds of six kinds of grain, such as barley, wheat, peas, oats, maize and 

 buck wheat and scattered them on the ground. So these grains grew 

 up uncultivated by the hand of man. Then the great patriarch took 

 his children to the table land of Kong-poi ri, where the grain grew wild, 

 and told them Ta-zoi Zoi-dang, (now then eat and eat) From that 

 time, the rich and fertile plains of Che-thang became known by 

 the names of Zo-thang and Tazoi. Then the children of the patriarch 

 monkey began to subsist on these six kinds of grain eating them to their 

 heart's content. From the effect of the grain on their constitution, 

 their tails and the hair of their body grew shorter and at last the for- 

 mer totally disappeared. In course of time they learnt to talk and to 

 live as human beings. Subsisting on the wild and uncultivated grains 

 of Tibet, the earliest people of Tibet lived, for a long time, in a state of 

 nature. Then they used to clothe themselves with leaves and keep 

 themselves warm by means of the barks of trees. On account of their 

 mixed parentage, the Tibetans have inherited from the side of their 

 father, the saintly patriarch, the virtues of good temper, faithfulness, 

 compassion, industry, love of pious actions, politeness in language and 

 skilfulness in conversation. From their mother's side they have in- 

 herited wrathfulness, a passion for gain and trade, cupidity, sense of 

 rivalry and emulation, the habit of breaking into loud laughter, a power- 

 ful physique, intrepidity, impatience, speculativcness, delighting at 

 other's faults and fierceness of character. At this period, forests of 

 multiplied in the bleak plateau of Tibet, the valleys and ravines 

 were filled with water. The glacial lakes were drained by the overflow- 

 ing of their banks, and cultivation of the plains commenced, and towns 

 and villages were founded.* 



* " It is asserted that Tibet, in remote times, was almost totally mandated ; ami 

 the removeal of the waters that covered its surface, is imputed to the miracnlons 

 interposition of some objeot of their worship, whose chief temple is reported to bo at 

 ian, (Vajra san in Buddha) Gaya. He, it is said, in compassion to the few 

 inhabitants which Tibet oontained, who in thai acre were little better than monkeys, 

 drew olT the waters through Bengal, and by Bending teachers among them humanized 



