53 
1890.] at Bho( Bagdn in Howrah. 
hind the Math is a low roofed small house, which may be charac- 
terised as a temple. Within it is a cubiform samddhistambha d ro 
tomb, which the Tibetans would call a Dungten or relic repository. It 
is surmounted by the usual lingam or phallus of Siva or Mahadeva. 
The services performed in the Matha consist of a mixture of Hindu and 
Tibetan rituals. 
No. I. TARA. 
“ The principal deity is A'rya Tara. She is identified by the 
Nepalese Buddhists with Prajna Paramita or transcendental wisdom 
a nd is universally believed to be the mother of all the past Tatha- 
gatas, or Buddhas, in Tibet. According to the esoteric doctrine 
of the Tantric school of the Northern Buddhists, she is the wife 
of all the present, past and future Buddhas, in which case she 
resembles the female energy or S'akti of the Indian Tantrics. The 
Tibetan name of Tara is Grolma. Her image is made of copper, gilt 
■with Chinese gold. It was evidently brought from China (Peking) by 
Piiran Gir who accompanied the Tashi Lama to Peking. 
“ During my stay at Peking I paid a visit to the imago manu- 
factories near Hwangs-se or the yellow temple, which is situated 
at a distanco of three li to the north of the Antaman gate, where 
I saw images resembling this (image) in construction. The goddess 
Tara holds a mendicant’s bowl filled with gems in her left hand. With 
her right hand she holds a lotus. She wears a crown with five spires 
all of which are studded with rubies and turquoises. Her locks are 
coiled, in the Indian Buddhist fashion, at the crown of her head, at 
the top of which there is a beautiful gem, called Norbu-mimbar. Her 
dress is different from that of the Tibetan image of Tara. Sho wears 
a Chinese petticoat with broad and loose sleeves, and a pair of Chinese 
embroidered shoes like a Manchu lady. The image is about two feet 
high. The daughter of the Emperor Tai-tsung of the great Tang 
dynasty was married to the first Tibetan king in 630 A. D. Sk® 
1 Samddhi-stambha. Its familiar meaning is a tomb, with a stambha or monu- 
mental column erected on a samadhi-kshetra or burial ground. But this term samd- 
in its esoteric signification, is the absorption of the jivdtmd or vital principle 
m the jparamdtmd or supremo soul of the universe, as stated in the verse 
^ RTJUg I ^ II Though the burning of 
the dead is now the principal custom among the Hindus, yet among most Akhard- 
dhdr{ Vairagis and S'aiva Sanydsix, burial or throwing the corpse into the river is the 
unvarying custom. In Benaros, Mirzapur and other districts in the North-West, 
the dead body is often put into a stone ooffin before depositing it into the earth. 
