1840.] Note on the Limboos, and other Hill Tribes. 601 



readily adopt and repeat the simple invocation,* which is all that the 

 ignorant have to shew as their stock, whence they derive their claim to 

 be considered good Buddhists. 



It is easier to settle what religions the Limboos do not belong to, 

 than to give a name to the one they practice. They believe in the 

 existence of the great God, who is called " Sham Mungh," and worship 

 other deities named Nihang Mo, Takpoopa, Hem-Sung-Mung, Teba- 

 Sum, Hem- Sum, and Mungul Mu. Mungul Mo, is a preserving god; 

 Hem-Sung-Mung, a destroyer; Teba-Sum, is the god of wisdom 

 and knowledge ; Sham- Mungh, the god of the universe ; and Hem-dum, 

 the household god ; the counterpart of the Kool Deota of the Hindoos. 

 They do not build temples in honour of these deities, nor make unto 

 themselves graven images or other idols, but they propitiate the gods 

 through a wretched description of priests, and by sacrifices of living 

 animals. The usual form of worship consists in making small offerings 

 of grain, vegetables, and sugar-cane, and in sacrificing cows, buffaloes, 

 pigs, fowls, sheep, and goats, to one, or any and all of the gods, and in 

 eating the flesh afterwards, or as it is pithily expressed by themselves, 

 in dedicating "the life breath to the gods, the flesh to ourselves." 

 The usual places of sacrifices are merely marked by the erection of 

 bamboo poles, to which rags previously consecrated, by having been 

 offered up, are tied ; these are generally placed for convenience at the 

 road sides, and a cairn of stones collected at their base. When 

 it suits a Limboo's means to make a sacrifice, or he is otherwise de- 

 voutly disposed, he performs it just as readily at a shrine of Kali or 

 Shiva as to Nihang-Mo. The gods above named, with the exception 

 of "Hem-Sung-Mung" have beneficent attributes, but there are evil 

 spirits in the imaginary world of the Limboos, as in that of other 

 people, who require peculiar management in warding off their caprices. 

 This task gives frequent occupation to the Bijooa and Phedangbo, who 

 are equally the clergy and necromancers of these ignorant people. 



The Bijooas are wandering mendicants peculiar to Sikim and the 

 eastern parts of Nipal, where they are cherished and propitiated in a less 

 or greater degree by the whole population. They are wholly illiterate, 

 do not teach any doctrinal scriptures, and are supposed to minister to 

 the evil spirits, and malignant demons ; they travel about the country 



* Om Mane Paimi hoom. 



