44 S. C. Das— The Sacred and Ornamental Characters of Tibet. [No. 2, 
The Tibetan authors have divided the age of their language into 
two parts according to its grammatical variations : 1, Dag-hih, or the 
old grammar period, which belongs to the age of the compilation of 
the Kahgyur and Tangyur as well as to the Sakya hierarchy ; 2, the 
Dag-sar, or the modern grammar period, which properly dates from the 
time of Tson khapa and continues to the present day. 
In the third or dark period the Pons did not adopt the newly 
formed language for writing their mystical mantras and charms. It is 
said that in that dark age the Pons used to make their amulets and 
charms of coloured bark of trees, rags and thread, and consecrate them 
by the hands of their priests without written charms. 
In the second and fourth periods greater use of the Sanskrit charac¬ 
ters was made, mostly in ornamental and mystical writings. In the 
grand sanctuary of Sam-yea, Lan-tsha characters were written and 
painted and engraved on prayer cylinders, walls, tapestries, doors, and 
chapels. On cliaityas and votive piles there were numerous inscriptions 
written in the Lan-tsha character, which exist up to the present time 
round the central sanctuary of Sam-yea, (see Plates VIII and IX). 
D uring the fourth period when the study both of Sanskrit and 
Chinese was encouraged by the rulers of Tibet, the Svayambhu or 
Ranjun characters of Magadha were introduced into Tibet. This form 
of characters, as its name Svayambhu or ‘ self-existing 5 signifies, is the 
most sacred of all the characters known to the Tibetans. When any 
mark resembling the Svayambhu letter, is found on any rock, place or 
thing, it becomes an object of veneration to the Tibetans. 
Atisa on his way to Central Tibet is said to have seen the mystic 
‘ Om ’ miraculously inscribed in Svayambhu characters on a rock at the 
site of the great monastery of Sakya, and from that he predicted that 
it would in time to come be the scene of a great hierarchical government 
This prediction was fulfilled to the very letter. Svayambhu characters 
are said to be observable on the leaves of the celebrated tree of 
Kumbum (Jcu-bum Qgar or hundred thousand images), the birthplace 
of Tson-khapa. Abbe Hue who visited Kumbum has given, in his 
travels in Tibet and Mongolia, a very graphic account of the result 
of his examination of the leaves of that famous tree.* The pious 
* “It is called Tcounboum, because, according to the legend, it sprang from 
Tsong-kaba’s hair, and bears a Tibetan character on each of its leaves. 
“ It will here be naturally expected that we say something about this tree itself. 
Does it exist P Have we seen it P Has it any peculiar attributes ? What about its 
marvellous leaves P All these questions our readers are entitled to put to us. We 
will endeavour to answer as categorically as possible. 
“ Yes this tree does exist, and we had heard of it too often during our journey 
