262 THE TEMPLE. 



The door is of massive proportions, sometimes rudely carved 

 and ornamented witli brazen bosses. It opens in 

 halves, giving entry directly to the temple. 

 The temple is a large hall, with a double row of pillars separating 

 it into a nave and two aisles, and the nave is ter- 

 minated by the altar — vide diagram (Plate IV). The 

 whole of the interior, in whichever direction the eye turns, is a mass of 

 rich colour, the walls to right and left being covered with frescoes of 

 deities, saints, and demons, mostly of life-size, but in no regular order ; 

 and the beams are mostly painted red, picked out with lotus rosettes 

 and other emblems. The brightest of colours are used, but the general 

 effect is softened in the deep gloom of the temple, which is dimly lit 

 only by the entrance door. 



Above the altar are placed three colossal gilt images in a sitting 



attitude, " The Three Rarest Ones "^ or trinity of the 



Central triad of L^mas. These three images should be /S/ia/'W* i¥rai 



in the centre, with Guru Rimhochhe to the left (of the 



spectator) and Che-resi to the right. Shakya Muni is of a yellow colour 



with blue curly hair, and is occasionally attended 



^^' by standing figures of his two chief disciples, 



Maugdalputra on his left and Shariputra on his right, each with 



P p- v, 11 ^'^ alai'm-staff" and begging-bowl (Tib. Hhm-sed, 



Skt. Patra) in hand. Guru Eimhoclihe or Pddma 



Jungne (the Lotus-born) (Plate V) usually sits in front of a screen of 



lotuses and wears his typical mitre-like hat shaped in the fashion of a 



lotus flower. He holds a doi-je (the thunderbolt of Indra, the Hindu 



Jove) in his right hand and a human skull-cup of blood in his left, 



and resting on his left shoulder is a trident decorated with human 



heads. He is almost always attended by his two ministering wives, 



„. viz., the Tibetan fairy Kliandu Ye-shc Tsho-gyal, 



holding a skull-cup of blood on his left, and the 



Indian Lha-cham Mandarawa, holding a jar of wine for the Guru's use 



Q-, ■ on his right. Che-resi,'^ the patron god of Lamaisrn 



and of Tibet, and incarnate in the Dalai Lama, 



is represented white in colour, with four hands, the front pair of 



which are joined in devotion, while the upper right hand holds a 



crystal rosary, and the upper left a lotus flower. 



' The title " Chief of Earity " seems to have been the name of an indigenous Tibetan 



god. 

 = This IS a stafi (Tib. Ehar-sil, Skt. hi-ki-lo) surmounted by 9 to 12 jingling rini;s, 



carried in the hand of the Indian Buddhist moLk, to warn the villagers of ids 



approach when he went a-begging, bowl in hand. 

 •* ipyan-ras.yzigs. 



