90 Gaur Das Bysack — Notes on a Buddhist Monastery [No. 1» 
which people from the various regions used to bring, were gold dust 1 
in bambti barrels, musk, &c. ; and the goods they carried back to their 
countries consisted chiefly of cotton, Maldah cloth, broad-cloth, spices, 
sandalwood, indigo, amber, and various miscellaneous articles, such as 
knives, snuff boxes, &c 
For about a decade since his final return from Tibet, Puran Gir 
Gosain lived happily, piously and usefully in the Bhot Bagan, enjoying 
the pious veneration of all people who came into contact with him, and 
the high esteem and regard of the Bengal Government. The Governor- 
General, it is said, used to visit him at times in his math. 
But a terrible catastrophe soon happened which cut short his ex- 
traordinary career and the happy and useful life he was enjoying under 
almost the very shadow of the Government House. The fame of Bhot 
Bagan, as a store-house of the richest gold, had spread far and wide. 
Dakoities, which in their terrible aspect, formed the sequel of the great 
famine known to our countrymen as the mawwantara of ’76, were then 
the order of the day. The ranks of the dakoits 8 were also swelled by 
roving bands of saunyasis, who in the guise of mendicants traversed dif- 
ferent countries, and lost no opportunities of ravaging and plundering 
them. The official correspondence of the time is rife with statements 
regarding them, and projects for their suppression. It will be remem- 
bered that, in the treaty with the Deb Raja alroady noticed, there is 
an extradition clause regarding these sannyasis. 
On an unlucky night a gang of dakoits, whether dakoits or hypo- 
crite sannyasis who had perhaps experienced the hospitality of the 
Bhot Bagan, it is not known, burst within its precincts and sacrilegi- 
ously entered the math with the intention of plundering it ; but our 
valiant Gosain, it is said, snatched a sword, kept the robbers at bay 
by its dexterous use, fought for a short while, and at last was over- 
powered and fell senseless, pierced with the thrust of a sarlcl or bambti 
spear. The robbers took no further notice of him, and swept clean 
the temple and dwelling of whatever valuables could be found therein, 
and decamped as quickly as possible. The news of this calamity was 
promptly conveyed to the Governor-General, who lost no time to send 
a surgeon to help the poor Gosain, and if possible to bring him round, 
but all the arts of the physician were of no avail, and the viotim of 
violence and perhaps treachery and ingratitude, after lingoring for 
about thirty-soven hours, breathed his last, unfavourably commenting 
no doubt on his own statement to the Tashi Lama and Regent as 
1 It is said a maund of gold dust used to come from Tibet every year. This 
quantity at the rate of 16 Rs. a told would be worth 61,200 Rs. 
! Dacoits, properly ddkait, i. e., robbers. 
