3864.] Figures of Deities and other 'Religious Drawings. 



153 



The similarity of their proportions and cast of countenances is 

 striking, and must be attributable to the above described mechanical 

 mode of laying out the figure, which may probably be used all over 

 Thibet. 



I was unable to obtain copies of their many other deities, such as 

 Chamba, Chandazik Grolma, (female), Chooshong, &e., but I imagine 

 there is a like rule for drawing each ; I shall try and obtain further 

 information regarding them next season. 



The drawing of the Churtun (PI. III.) which I send is also taken 

 from a native plan on which the measurements are given. I have 

 entered the names of the different parts, which I find are not given 

 in Cunningham's work on Ladak. The part called c Chuksum' or 

 c Chugsum Kolor' always has, as its name implies, 13 discs, Chugsum 

 meaning thirteen ;— there is perhaps some reason for it, for when I 

 shewed Cunningham's XXVXIIth Plate of a churtun to the Lhamas, 

 they at once counted the number of discs and informed me that three 

 had been left out. The letter in the centre is the syllable " Hun" 

 which is brought into all the mantras repeated by the people. 



These Churtuns are picturesque buildings, and reminded me much 

 of the Pagodas in Burmah on a small scale, for in Ladak they are 

 rarely over 40 feet in height, and are generally very much smaller. 

 The sides of the lower portion are often adorned by cleverly modelled 

 work in relief, representing some imaginary animal, between a man 

 and bird, or a sort of griffin, with a border of scroll-work. The 

 upper portion, " Thoodkeb," in the better kind of churtun is made of 

 metal, and I was told that in former times gilt churtuns were to be 

 met with in the neighbourhood of the large monasteries or Gronpahs. 

 The churtun close under the palace at Leh is a good specimen and its 

 name " Stunzin Num-gyal" is well known all over Ladak, so much so 

 that a song has been written about it. At the monastery of Himis 

 there is also a very pretty model, coloured white and ornamented with 

 good gilt scroll-work, and inlaid with rough turquoises, carbuncles, 

 agates, &c. There are a few more good ones in the same neighbour- 

 hood, but during the Dogra conquest of the country, many of the best 

 religious buildings were destroyed, or more or less injured. 



When surveying in the neighbourhood of Padum in Zaskar, I dis- 

 covered in a field near the monastery of Seni, several stone figures as 

 shewn in the accompanying rough sketch (PL IV.) They had been set 



