1844.] and on Gerard's Account of Kundwar. 199 



tion. From the centre of the mani, a dungten frequently rises over 

 the ashes of a Lama. The mystic sentence, Aum Ma?ii padme horn, 

 occurs in varieties of the Oochen and Ranja characters, and is some- 

 times disposed circularly with the word shi in the centre. I do not 

 think that the inscriptions usually contain any thing beyond a repeti- 

 tion of the sentence, excepting on each declaring when and by whom 

 the mani was made. As Captain Gerard has observed, the people are 

 careful to leave a mani on their right hand as they pass it. 



The chosten or chokten, or choksten, may be considered an altar to 

 the glory of God. They are not always enclosed or covered, and usually 

 consist of a pyramid surmounted by a large urn. They are of three 

 colors : red or yellow, lonku ; blue or grey, tulku ; white, choku. It will 

 be observed, that the termination ku is the word for image. Inside the 

 chokten, the Lamas place grain, pieces of metal, formularies or spells, 

 and I have also noticed images in such as were ruinous. The dung- 

 kang or dungten is the tomb of a Lama or rather the monu- 

 ment erected over his ashes, or on the spot on which he was 

 burnt. The Gelukpas appear to be the most regular in erect- 

 ing such tombs. They place in them, formularies and three kinds of 

 grain. They occur by themselves or arise from the centre of a mani, 

 or from either end. — Moorcroft, II. 245. Such as I have seen are 

 square and flat-topped, and always of a white colour, but Moorcroft, 

 II 367, when he infers that the ( ' topes" of Afghanistan are tombs, 

 does so, because they resemble the tombs of the Rajahs of Ladakh and 

 great Lamas. What Gerard describes as a dungkang, appears to be a 

 large uncovered chokten, but Moorcroft could scarcely be in error. 



Labrang means simply a temple containing the image of God, and 

 the one described as a square pile of stones by Gerard, must be a dung- 

 ten, or Lama's tomb. 



Lagang is of precisely the same import as Labrang; viz. the temple 

 of the God. 



The lapcha is not Buddhist, it is erected to the spirits of the hills 

 or passes, or on the tops of the houses, and perhaps by the road side ; 

 but I do not remember any so situated, except on salient points, where 

 the road turns and descends. — See also Turner's Embassy, p. 197-8. 



The darchah is merely a flag or sign, and the word may have the 

 same root as the Hindi dhajja of similar import. These flags may 



