37 
1902.] J. Pli. Vogel— Trilohnath. 
though miniature images of painted marble are occasionally met with in 
Lahul. 
It is a curious circumstance, that the abode of the Bodliisattva is a 
regular 'gihhara temple of moderate size, said to be founded by the 
Pandavas ! This tradition it has in common with every ancient shrine 
in the District. It simply indicates the antiquity of the building and 
the fact that its origin is unknown. Of one shrine, which is supposed 
to be older than the others, not the foundation, but the restoration is 
attributed to the Dharmaraja and his brothers. It is that of 
y valamuklil. 
As to the Triloknath temple the sanctum is combined with a plain 
oblong structure, covered by a wooden sloping roof with gilt pinnacles. 
A similar combination is regularly found with Visnu temples in the 
Kullu. valley. 
In that part of Lahul which is known as Patan the transition 
between Lamaism and Hinduism is gradual, but this is by no means the 
case on the Kullu side. Here the mid-Himalayan range marks a very 
distinct boundary between the two religions. Any one who has crossed 
the Rotang-pass must have been struck by the contrast in climate, 
scenery and population, between the Candra and the Upper Bias 
valley. 
It has been asserted and seems generally accepted by the European 
inhabitants that Buddhism was once prevalent in Kullu. Captain 
Harcourt in his in many respects valuable book 1 on the sub-division, 
which for some years was committed to his charge, is of the same 
opinion. The arguments, on which his conviction is based, are the 
frequent occurrence of the Buddhistical wheel on temples besides the 
effigies of Buddhistical animals, birds and snakes, and the ceremony of 
“the swinging rope.” As to the first I may remark that locally the 
ornament referred to is mostly explained as representing the sun and 
moon, and shows more resemblance to a conventional padma than any¬ 
thing else. But even if it were meant to be the calcra it should be borne 
in mind, that the wheel is by no means a purely Buddhistic emblem. 2 
As to the curious ceremony of a man sliding down a rope stretched from 
the top of a precipice, it is practised at Nirmand on the Satlaj. 3 But 
this place though for political purposes included in Kullu does not 
belong to the valley geographically. It was witnessed, Captain Harcourt 
says, by one of Major Montgomerie’s pandits in Potala fort outside 
1 Kooloo, Lahoul and Spiti (London, 1871), p. 205 sq. 
2 Grunwedel. Buddhistische Kunst in Indien (Berlin, 1900), p. 6. 
8 Harcourt, l.c., p. 318 sqq. 
