1889.] Gaurdas Bjsack — Buddhistic Monastery at Bhofebdgdn. 143 



Thus lie lived piously, usefully, and happily in this retreat for 

 about a decade, enjoying the veneration of people who came into contact 

 with him, and the high esteem of the Bengal Government. The Governor- 

 General, it is said, used to visit him in his math. 



A terrible catastrophe soon happened which cut short his happy 

 and useful life. The fame of Bhotbagan as a storehouse of the richest 

 gold had spread far and wide, a band of dakaits burst one night 

 into the Monastery and began to plunder it. Our Puran Gir nothing 

 daunted, kept the robbers at bay by the dexterous use of his sword, 

 fought for awhile, then fell overpowered and senseless, pierced with 

 the thrust of a sarhi or bamboo spear. The dakaits took no further 

 notice of him, made good their plunder and decamped. The sad news 

 was conveyed to the Governor-General who lost no time in sending a 

 Surgeon to help the Gosain, but the victim of violence after lingering 

 for a while, breathed his last. The Government was not remiss in trac- 

 ing out the dakaits. A short enquiry led to the vindication of justice, 

 and four robbers expiated their guilt on the gallows erected on the Bhot- 

 bagan itself. 



Daljit Giri, the successor of Puran in the Mohantship, lost no time 

 in performing the funeral rites of his Guru, and buried him in the tomb 

 already desci'ibed. The worship of the motley group of Hindu and Bud- 

 dhistic deities in the math follows from the peculiar form of Buddhism 

 in Tibet under Tantrik influence, some meagre information regarding 

 which can be gathered from the reports of Bogle and Turner, but upon 

 which fuller light is being thrown by recent researches. 



The Bhotbagan Math now remains a solitary monument of the 

 genius and of a special policy of the first Governor-General of India, of 

 the piety of Teshu Lama as exhibited in Bengal, of the work of Puran 

 Gir, and of the Tibeto- Bengal trade which flourished centuries ago, and 

 was restored, though in a stifled form, a hundred years atro. 



Great and powerful are the ties which bind Tibet to Bengal ; 

 the religious associations, the traditions, aud remembrance of ancient 

 commercial intercourse, should attract the Tibetans to Bengal. If 

 the policy of the first administrator of India had been only continuous, 

 our Government could by this time have enjoyed its best results. 



The paper will be published in full in the Journal, Part I. 



2. Description of a stag's head allied to Cervus dybowskii, procured 

 from the Darjeeling Bazaar. — By W. L. Sclater, Esq., Deputy Siqierin- 

 tendent Indian Museum. 



The paper will be published in the Journal, Part II. 



