30 HISTORY OF SIKHIM AND ITS RULERS. 



(e) rDo-hRob-pa. 

 (A sGang-rGyab-pa. 

 {(/) La-hog-pa. 

 (h) Mang-Tshang-pa. 

 (i) sPa- Thing-pa. 

 (j) Peng-ri-pa. 



(k) Ka-gy(^-pa. 



(/) Dobta-po, to whom belong 

 Dunya Namguu (the Pagla 

 Dewan) and his father, 

 Tungyik Menchoo, mur- 

 derer of Bholod. 



Among the above, the traditions regarding the ancestors of the 

 Lag-lDingpa (ii) and rGod-Rong-pa (iii) are curious. To the south-east 

 of Pema-kod-chen lies the country of Lho-tawa, inhabited by cannibals ; 

 at their -weddings it is customary to kill and eat the biide's father 

 or mother, should the hunters, sent to forage for the feast, return 

 empty-handed. Many years ago the sons of Guru Chhod-wang and 

 of another learned lama, in hopes of improving their minds, as they 

 were not as clever as their fathers, went on a pilgrimage to Tsari 

 and Pema-kod. One evening they arrived at an old soman's hut at 

 Lho-khabta and took shelter there. The woman informed them that 

 the owner of the hut had gone out hunting in order to procure some 

 game to celebrate the marriage of his son, and added that if the 

 hunters were imsuccessful, she woidd be killed and eaten at the first 

 day's feast; while if they continued unsuccessful, the two lamas 

 would be killed and eaten on the second and third days of the cere- 

 mony. On hearing this the travellers were naturally very much 

 alarmed, and begged the old woman to show them some means of 

 getting away and so saving their life. She instructed them that at 

 the distribution of her remains the men of the house would probably 

 offer the lamas one of her arms to be cooked in a curry : that if they 

 did so, the lamas should beg for the hand instead, on pretence that in a 

 previous existence the old woman had been a great hero and the hand 

 was more precious. If the lamas obtained the hand, then there was 

 hope for them, and they should that very day at midnight decamp 

 from the house, taking with them the dead hand. Matters turned 

 out as predicted : the old lady was killed for the feast to welcome the 

 bride's arrival, and the lamas succeeded in obtaining the hand, and 

 escaping with it that night. In the morning the men of the house, 

 missing the lamas, followed on their tracks, tracing them like dogs 

 by the scent. Seeing them coming, the lamas climbed up a high tree: 

 soon the hunters with their noses to the ground came to the foot of 

 the tree and there lost all further ti-ace. The others with those hunt- 

 ing by scent got angry with the latter and threw them down on their 

 backs to kill them: in this position the hunters were obliged to look 

 up and so saw the lamas in the tree, and pointed up with their fingers; 

 taking this as a sign of resistance, the others cut off the hands, before 

 an explanation of the signs could be given. Learning, however, 



