LAMAIC LIBRARY. 291 



The dresses accompanying the first two classes of masks are 



ample robes of rich brocade and satin, with gilt 



embroidery. The dress of the skeletons is tight 



fitting white calico with red bauds to imitate the ribs and limb bones. 



The weapons carried by the maskers are made of wood carved 



with dorje patterns. The staves of the skeletons are topped by a 



death's-head. 



The object and meaning of the masked play are described under 

 the heading of Lamaic Festivals. 



The Lamaic Library. 



The larger monasteries in Sikhim all try to possess a copy of the 



two great lamaic encyclopasdias, (a) the Kah-gyur 



^^ Lamaic encyclopa,. ^j. vulgarly Kaii-gyur,^ i.e., "The translated 



Commandments," and (i) the Tengi/ur"^ or "Trans- 

 lated doctrinal Commentaries " by reputed saints. All of the treatises 



contained in the Kah-gyur and most of those in the 

 an.gyur. Tengyur were translated from the Sanskrit of the 



later Buddhist Church in India and Kashmir, and a few from the 

 Chinese, mostly in the 9th and 12th centuries; but the Tdngyur 

 contains also much later works. The translations were done by the 

 Indian Pai:idits and Tibetan translators (lotsdaas) and Chinese priests. 

 They were collected in their present form only about the beginning 

 of the last (18th) century of our era. 



The common edition of the Kah-gyur is printed from wooden 

 blocks at Narthang, about six miles from Tashelhunpo,^ and fills 100 

 bulky volumes of about 1 ,000 jjages each. A later edition, printed at 

 Der-ge in Eastern Tibet (Kham), contains the same matter distributed 

 in volumes so as to reach the mystic number of 108. The Tengyur 



contains 225 or more volumes, and has treatises 

 >iffl/«r. ^^ ^1^^ Indian j^hilosophic schools, grammar, logic, 



astrology, medicine, &c. The cost at the printing establishment is 

 about ten rupees per volume. 



The expense of such a library being so great, Pemiongchi and 

 Labrang are the only monasteries in Sikhim which possess a complete 

 set of both encyclopaedias. But several monasteries possess a full set 

 of the Kah-gyur scriptures. 



Divisions of Eah- The Kah-gyur as regards its contents is divided 



gyiir. into three great sections, viz. — 



I. — The Dulva (Skt. Vinaya) or Discipline, in 13 volumes. 



' ikah-Agyur. | * Jstan-Zigyur. 



' The capital of Westtrn Tibet (Tsang), and head-quarters of the Panehhen ( = groat 

 teacher) Grand Lama, the incarnation of the mythical Bnddha Amilabha. 



