Sa, Aa 
oe ae al ee ed oe ae mem IM eg erage - _ . . ~ . : by " : 
1923.] An Essay on the History of Newar Culture. 483 
The particular sect in India which worships Matsyendra- 
natha and especially his pupil Goraksanatha (associated intima- 
tely with him in the traditions), is the Kanphata subdivision of 
Sivite Yogis. One of the most important parts of their initia- 
tion consists in slitting up the cartilage of the ears, distending 
them and wearing rings of glass, agate or horns of oxen in 
them. These ornaments, often weighing 2} ounces, are looked 
upon as specially sacred, and once lost cannot be replaced. 
How iinportant these are may be gathered from the fact that if 
the ear tore apart after the ring had been inserted, the man was 
considered useless and in former times used (it is said) to be 
buried alive.!' The intimate association of the peculiar practice 
of mutilating the ears with a deity who presumably came to 
Nepal with the early culture bringers, fits in with the mention 
in the Chinese annals, of the custom of distending the ear lobes, 
practised by the Nepalese at atime when they are described 
*8 ignorant of plough cultivation with the help of bullocks 
(Appendix E). It suggests, in fact that the artificial distension 
immigrants and developed into the practice gradually. The 
question can however be settled only with the collection of 
its origi 
The views put forward just now about the introduction of 
the god Buga or Bhoogadeo raises an objection which must 
be met before proceeding further. It may be said that while a 
hypothesis of the cult of a prototype of Matsyendranatha having 
been brought to Nepal by the original culture bringers may 
Seneral case of immigration, and applied a number of times 
when discussing the question of migrations and their effect in 
Nepal in particular, that a people with a fair amount of culture 
do not get converted wholesale suddenly to a new religion 
coming from elsewhere. The social organisation and traditions 
of Nepal show no trace of the particular creed in question 





Pi 100; views the nanie Hho ogadeo, Father Giuseppe : Asiatic Researches 
IT, (1799), p. 399, gives it as Baghe 
! Crook 
as Cen 
Bombay Gazetter: ibid., p. 155, pp. 44-7. 
Maclagan: Census of Punjab, 1891, pp. 114-15. 
