8 S. 0. Das — The Marriage Customs of Tibet. [No. 1, 



and Dosadhs with a Sakadvipa. The Kanaujiya tribe again ministers 

 to Binds, Tantis, and Gadariyas. In the case of the Randa Khatris, 

 whose parentage is equivocal, the strange phase is fonnd of a Kananjiya 

 acting as Purohit, a Srotriya of Bengal as Guru. 



A most important distinction between Hindustani and Bengali castes 

 of similar origin, is the religious belief found among them. It may be 

 said with perfect truth that Vaishnavism, in one or other of its diverse 

 forms, to the exclusion of Saivaism and all other creeds, is the faith 

 professed by the agricultural, artizan, and fisher tribes of Bengal. The 

 worship of Krishna has for obvious reasons attracted well nigh all the 

 Goala and other pastoral tribes of India. The teaching of Chaitanya 

 and his successors has made little progress among Hindustani castes, 

 but the sympathetic creeds of Kabir and Nanak Shah have attracted 

 multitudes of disciples. The Kurmis and Dosadhs especially patronise 

 Kabir ; the Kewats, Kumhars, and many Dosadhs enroll themselves 

 under the banner of Nanak. 



It is among castes from Northern Bengal, such as the Kandu 

 Bind, Muriari, and Surakiya, that the followers of the strange Panch- 

 Piriya creed are to be met with. Other curious sects, unknown to 

 Bengal, are also found in their ranks. The Tirhirtiya Tantis are mem- 

 bers of the Buddh Ram communion. Kurmis often profess the doctrines 

 taught by Darya Das, and many Dosadhs those of Tulasi Das. Still 

 more worthy of notice is the existence among them of an old prehis- 

 toric cultus. The apotheosis of robber chiefs by Dosadhs, the deifica- 

 tion of evil spirits, as Rahu by the Dosadhs, Kasi Baba by the Binds, 

 and Madhu Kunwar by Tantis, and the animistic idea, endowing with 

 life and personality the destructive energy of the Ganges, are all forms 

 of belief unknown to castes native to Bengal. 



The Marriage Customs of Tibet. — By Sarat Chandra Das, CLE. 



PART I. 



The Ancient Marriage Customs op Tibet, 



(As now prevailing in Purang, Nah-ri, and the country round LaTce 



Manasarovara.) 



Marriage by capture, as it now, to some extent, prevails in Purang 

 and the country round Lake Manasarovara, existed in former times in 

 Tibet and in the Cis-Himalayan countries. In U and Tsang compara- 

 tively few remnants of this ancient custom now remain, though in 

 Sikkim, Bhutan, and the Himalayan district of Spiti, near Kulu, a 



