LOCAL GODS. 357 



I have not space to speak here. I can only give here a few of the 

 more conspicuous instances of orthodox lamaic devil-worship. 



The portending machinations of most of the devils are only to 



be foreseen, discerned, and counteracted by the 



J^vl^^^ lamas, who especially lay themselves out for this 



sort of work and provide certain remedies for the 



pacification or coercion of the demons of the air, the earth, the locality, 



house, the death-demon, &c. 



Indeed, the lamas are the prescribers of most of the demon- 

 Lamas are the pre- worship, and derive their chief means of livelihood 

 scribers of tlie devil- from their conduct of this demon-worship, rendered 

 '^°^^^^v- on account of, and at the expense of, the laity, 



who ofier it on the especial recommendation of the lamas themselves. 

 A few of the most intelligent of the lamas become Tsi-pa^ lamas 

 or astrologers. And all the laity have been led to understand that 

 it is absolutely necessary for each individual to have recourse to 

 the Tsi-pa lama on each of the three great epochs of life, viz., bii-th, 

 marriage, and death ; and also at the beginning of each year to have 

 a forecast of the year's ill-fortune and its remedies drawn out for 

 them.^ The astrologer-lilmas therefore have a constant stream of 

 persons flocking to them for prescriptions as to what deities and 

 demons require appeasing and the remedies necessary to neutralize 

 these portending evils. 



The nature of these prescriptions of worship will best be illustrated 



The prescriptions ^Y ^ Concrete example. But to render this intelligible 



are based on Chinese it is necessary to refer, first of all, to the chrono- 



astrology. logical nomenclature current in Sikhim and Tibet. 



The Tibetan system of reckoning time is by the twelve-year and 



Nomenclature of the si^ty-year cycles of Jupiter. The twelve-year cycle 



Chinese system of is used for short periods, and the particular year, as 



chronology. j^ ^j^g Chinese style, bears the name of one or other 



of the following twelve animals:— 



1. Mouse. 



2. Ox, 



3. Tiger. 



4. Hare. 



5. Dragon. 



6. Serpent. 



7. Horse. 



8. Sheep. 



9. Monkey. 



10. Bird. 



11. Dog. 



12. Hog. 



And in the case of the sixty-year cycle these animals are combined 

 •with the five elements, viz.— 1. Wood {shing), 2. Fire {me), 3. Earth 

 (sa), 4. Iron (chak), and 5. Water (chhu) ; and each element is given 



' rtsii-pa— the Chebu of Hooker's Himalayati Jours. 



■ The horoscope for birth is named akyes-rtsis, that for the whole life is tshe-rabs la.? rtsis. 

 The annual horoscope is skag-rtsis, that for marriage is pag-rtsis, and for death ^'shin- 

 rtsi«. 



