76 
Gaur Das Bysack — Notes on a Buddhist Monastery [No. 1, 
“ in veneration the holy places of Hindustan.” In the gallery of the Tashi 
Lhunpo palace he saw, among others, the image of the god of war ; pro- 
bably it was that of Kartikcya. In speaking to him on one occasion 
on the subject of trade, the Tashi Lama said that “ the Lama had temples 
“ in Benares, Gaya, somewhere in Purneah and at several other plaoes ; 
“ that their priests used to travel there to study the Sliaster and the 
“ religion of the Brahmans j and after remaining there ten, twenty, or 
“ thirty years, returned to Tibet communicating their knowledge to 
“ their countrymon, and thereby gaining great reputation ; that about 
“ eight hundred years ago Bengal was invaded and conquered by the 
“ Mussulmans, who destroyed and pillaged the temples and plundered 
“ the people, so that such as escaped returned to their mountains along 
“ with some Brahmans who fled from the persecutions ; since which 
“ time the inhabitants of Tibet have had little connection with Bengal 
“ or the southern countries.” In a conversation turning specially on 
religion, the Lama pointod out the connection between his faith and 
that of the Brahman, said, the Tibetans worshipped the three Hindu 
gods Brahmii, Vishnu and S'iva, but not their inferior deities. 1 These 
three names symbolically express the three attributes of the deity as 
comprehended in the Vedic holy syllable Om, but the three emblems 
Om Han Hoong which Bogle saw on three round brass plates on the front 
of the Tashi Rabgya palace, are said to refer to Buddha, Dharma and 
Sangha. 
Turner, when speaking of the places of pilgrimago in India which 
Tibetans frequented, says “ Gungasaugor (Ganga sagara) an uninhabited 
“ island situated at the confluence of the Ganges with the sea, and the 
“pagoda of Juggernath (Jagannatha) on the coast of Orissa, are also 
“ deemed of equal sanctity.” He notices also the practice of pilgrimage by 
proxy — he had heard tho late Tashi Lama having by his agents pilgrimiz- 
ed to Kasi, Prayilga, Ganga Sfigar, and Jaggaunath Puri. Among the 
assemblage of gods he saw in Tibet, he mentions the Hindii deities, 
Durgd and Kali, Ganesa and Kartikeya. He refers elsowkere to a 
Bhutanese Durga Puja. Thus cumulative proof is found to justify 
Tiboto-Buddlusm, allowing Buddhistic and Hindu idols to be worshipped 
in the same temple, as it is seen in tho Bhot Mandir. 
The public services of Piiran Gir commenced, so far as records 
show, when as a young Sannyasi, not more than perhaps twenty-five years 
old, he received from tho Tashi Lama, the famous letter of mediation on 
behalf of Depa Shidar of Bhutan, and with a single Tibetan companion 
of the name of Paima, came down the mountain heights, and “ ventured 
“ to encounter the burning atmosphere of Bengal ” towards the end 
of March 1774. 
1 Markham, ibid., pp, 72, 142. 
