KINDS OF ROSARIES. 285 



beads are manufactured wholesale by machinery at the temple called 

 by Tibetans Ri-wo-tse-nga and by the Chinese U-tha-Shan or "The 

 Five Peaks," about 200 miles south-west of Pekin. Hue gives a 

 sketch^ of this romantic place, but makes no mention of its rosaries. 

 This rosary is of two kinds, viz., the usual form of spherical beads 

 about the size of a pea, and a less common form of lozenge-shaped 

 perforated discs about the size of a sixpence. This rosary is usable 

 for all kinds of worship, including that of the furies. 



The Bo-dhi-tae'^ rosary is the one chiefly in use among the nying- 



mapa, or "old (i.e., uni-eformed) school" of lamas. It is remarkable 



that its name also seeks to associate it with the Bodhi tree, but 



its beads are certainly not derived from the Ficiis family. Its beads 



are the rough brown seeds of a tree which grows in the outer 



Himalayas. This rosary can be used for all kinds of worship?, and may 



also be used by the ge-luk-pa in the worship of the fiercer deities. 



The white rosary timg-theng^ vide fig. 3, consists of cylindrical 



perforated discs of the conch shell (Tib. tunrj\ and 



rosary. j^ especially used in the worship of Clie-re-si — 



the usual form of whose image holds a white rosary in the upper 



right hand. This is the special rosary of nuns. 



The rosary of plain crystal or uncoloured glass 



"^^^ ^ ■ beads is also peculiar to Che-re-si. 



The red sandal-wood rosary — Tsin-den mar theng,'^ vide fig. 2 — 



consists of perforated discs of red sandal- wood 



^^ ^ ' [Adenanthera pavonina) or other wood of a similar 



appearance. It is used only in the worship of the fierce deity 



Tam-din (Skt. Hayagriva), a special protector of Lamaism. 



The coral rosary Chl-rii-theng ^ is also used for Tam-din and by 



the nyingmapa sects for their wizard-saint Padma 



°"^ ■ Sambhava's worship. Coral being so expensive, red 



beads of glass or composition are in genei'al use instead. With this 



rosary it is usual to have the counters of turquoise or blue beads. 



The rosary formed of discs of the human skull — the tho-thcng^ 



vide fig. 6 — is especially used for the worship of 



Human skull. •p^^.j^ y^^^.^\,^ (gkt. Yama\ one of the forms of the 



King of the Dead. It frequently has its discs symmetrically divided 

 by raksha beads into foiu- series. There is no rosary formed of 

 finger bones as has been sometimes stated. 



The "elephant-stone" rosary — Lang-chhen 4'6-pO'^ — is prepared from 

 a porous bony-like concretion which is sometimes 



Elephant-stone. ^^^^^ -^^ ^^^ stomach of the elephant. It also 



' Travels in Tartary, Tibet and China. By M. Hue and Gabet. Hazlitt's trans. I, page 79. 

 ' po-dlii-tse. I '' tsanden. I ^ thod-pbreng. 



3 dung-plireng. | ' pyi-ru. | ' ^'Inag-chhen grod-pa. 



