ACCOUNT OF BlitiriN. 143 



.himself leads them to battle, and in case of war all the ryots of the country 

 assemble to fight : on such occasions they maintain themselves, and the 

 women attend to carry the eatables and baggage. All the inhabitants are 

 always armed, the men wearing long knives and the women smaller ones. 



An unregenerated person may become a Gelum, at any time between 

 the 5th and 10th years of his age, but not before or afterwards. The pa- 

 rents of the child, of their own accord, appear before theDherma Raja or the 

 Deb Raja, or before some Officer of Government, or a Gelum, and present 

 the child, along with some money, requesting that he may be admitted into 

 orders. The child's clothes are then taken off, and he is invested with a 

 coat of a red colour and a piece of cloth is put round his neck \ his parents 

 have no longer any thing to do with his support, and the Gelums feed him 

 and teach him to pray and to read the holy books. The Gelums renounce 

 all connection with women, and the cultivation of the ground, but they 

 may trade or serve the Government. If any of them trespass in regard 



to women, they are expelled from the society, and not allowed to perform 

 the ceremonies of religion. If any of them chuse voluntarily to resign, 

 he calls out aloud in the midst of the assembled brotherhood " Durn 

 shobdai," or my covering has fallen off ; and flies from their presence, 

 but is permitted to take with him any property that he may have accumu- 

 lated. The Gelums are bound to perform religious worship in public, and 

 also for private individuals ; to read the holy books and to burn the dead. 

 The chief of the Gelums is called Lamkhem. He is next in rank to the 

 Dherma Raja, and when the latter dies the Lamkhem performs the funeral 

 obsequies, and commands in spiritual matters during the interegnum, and 

 the minority of the next Dherma Raja, whom he instructs in the religious 

 ceremonies and sacred books. It is consequently a very high office. Under 

 the Lamkhem there is a deputy called the Lam Omje who in case of the 

 Lamkhem's death performs the duties of the office, and is usually appointed 

 his successor by the Dherma Raja, in concurrence with a council of elders 

 of the class of Gelums, to which body the Deb Raja, the four chief Coun- 

 sellors, and the three Pilos always belong. Under the Lam Omje are ten or 



