<title>Notes on a Buddhist Monastery at Bho.t Bagan in Howrah.</title>
<center><h2>Notes on a Buddhist Monastery at Bho.t Bagan in Howrah</h2><p><h4>
Gaur Das Bysack<br>
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Vengal<br>
Vol. LIX. 1890<br>
pp.50-99<br>
.
<IMG SRC="san.gif" WIDTH=600 HIGH=100>
                                P.50
        Notes on a Buddhist Monastery at Bho.t Bagan (Howrah),
            on two rare and valuable Tibetan MSS.  discovered
            there, and on Puran  Gir Gosai.m, the  celebrated
            Indian  Acharya  and Government  Emissary  at the
            Court  of  the  Tashi  Lama, Tibet, in  the  last
            century.--By GAUR DAS BYSACK.
                         (With two Plates.)
            Opposite  to Calcutta, on the right  bank  of the
        river, is the village of Ghusa.ri.(1)  Ascending  the
        flight  of steps  of a gha.t at this place, a visitor
        is struck  at the sight of a range of temples, behind
        which  is  a  building   of  a  peculiar   structure,
        exhibiting marks of old construction  with subsequent
        additions.  It is a two-storied house of worship with
        a  boundary  wall, having  in  its  centre  a gateway
        facing  the river, and affording  a passage  into the
        main quadrangle  within the enclosure.  The special 
        feature in the construction  is the absence of arches,
        and its partaking of a Tibetan character. A garden is
        attached  to it, and the lands which  formed  part of
        the  demesnes  are let  out  to tenants  on permanent
        leases;  on one of the holdings, stands  the "Goosery
        Cotton Mill." The following is a detailed description
        of  the  building  for  which  I am indebted  to  the
        kindness of Mr. W.  B.  Gwyther, A. R.  I., B. A., of
        the  Public   Works   Department,  who  very  readily
        complied with my request to visit the place and 
        examine the structure. (See Plate I.)
            "The  structure, in  the  main, consists  of  the
        "principal  courtyard for religions, and a back-yard,
        "for domestic  purposes.  The former  is towards  and
        "entered  from  the riverside  by the  gateway  which
        "forms the subject  of one of the sketches.  A casual
        "visitor arriving  at the gha.t would, on glancing at
        "this face of the structure, find his attention first
        "drawn  to the portion  over  the entrance  where the
        "primitive trabeated form of construction is now seen
        "in its original  character, despoiled of course to a
        "great extent by the hand of time."
            "Without  speculating  upon the details and forms
        "in any minute degree, if must  be expected, from the
        "history and associations of the Tibetan visitors who
        "established this place of worship, that a feeling
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Ghusa.rir.tyaa.mk  (sy1.gif (434 bytes) sometimes
            spelled sy2.gif (305 bytes) ghusu.rir, Ed.), 'the
            turning    jut    of   Ghusa.ri,'   and   the
            Vishaalakshmir*  daha  or Visaalaakshir¡Ş  daha 'the
            whirlpool of disastrous  water' or 'whirlpool  of
            the  broad  eyed  (Durgaa),' are  the  Scylla  and
            Charybdis  of the Hughli  river between  Calcutta
            and   Barrackpur,  the   maelstrom   being   near
            Titaghar.  The dangers in doubling the.tya.mk are
            illustrated  in the familiar  song of the East
            Bengal boatmen.  They are now not so much dreaded
            as in former days.
        *   Visha  'water,' alakshmii  'misfortune.'
        ¡Ş  Vi`saala, large,' akshi 'eye.'
                                p.51
        "and peculiarity  common  to their  own architectural
        "instincts must  have  been  imported: but  there  is
        "nothing at present known which can show how much was
        "originally built, and when  and  by whom  subsequent
        "additions  were   made.   It   cannot,  however,  be
        "questioned that  the  portion  closest  to the river
        "presents those  peculiarities  which might be looked
        "for in a structure built under Tibetan influence.  A
        "plain wall,  pierced   here  and  there  with  small
        "openings, forms the outer boundary, in the centre of
        "which is the doorway. Over this doorway is a sort of
        "gallery  which  overlooks  the river on one side and
        "the principal  court on the other.  Just within  the
        "enclosure wall is a double-storied construction: the
        "ground  floor, about a foot high, extends  from that
        "wall to the edge of the court;  about a yard back, a
        "row of massive  square  pillars, about  7 feet high,
        "stand carrying  a wooden architrave  which forms the
        "outer support  to the beams, resting  on the wall at
        "one  end end cantilevered  forward  at the other to
        "form a projecting verandah."
            "The same construction  is repeated  on the upper
        "story. The  projecting ends of the beams are in some
        "cases moulded   ogee  or  doubleogee   fashion   and
        "protected by means of an eaves-board, the lower edge
        "of which is ornamented with a tooth  or saw profile.
        "The moulded beams and particularly  the eaves-boards
        "have  come  down to us from the original  structure.
        "The saw-edges are those which merely have triangular
        "pieces  cut out so as to leave  a row of consecutive
        "triangular  points.  In the tooth  form, the face of
        "the projecting  points is dressed  back towards  the
        "apex and a line or groove  cut longitudinally  where
        "the teeth spring from."
            "The  construction  of the roof  over the gallery
        "appears  to be a feature  of no small  significance.
        "The strictly trabeated arrangement, to the exclusion
        "of the  arch, the use of which  is suggested  by the
        "circumstances   of  the  case,  and  the  manner  of
        "obtaining  height  and  prominence  to this  central
        "portion by stilting the roof, are decidedly  classic
        "in idea.  That classic influence extended to Kashmir
        "and  North  Western  India  is well-known, and it is
        "quite as possible  as not that a careful examination
        "of existing  buildings  in Tibet would reveal traces
        "of  several   features   associated   with  European
        "architecture.
            "The  windows  which  pierce  the enclosure  wall
        "already  mentioned, and others  which  look out into
        "the quadrangle, are peculiar  in their construction,
        "and must  have  been  put up in the first  instance,
        "being made up on the lines given to the builders  by
        "Tibetan architects.  The outer frame is cross-braced
        "by means  of  a vertical  and  a transom  bar, which
        "divide the opening  into four equal spaces.  In some
        "cases   ordinary   square   bars   are  interspersed
        "vertically for the sake of security.
                                p.52
        "The  two leaves  of the window, which  open inwards,
        "close up against the stouter bars."
            The locality  goes by the name of Bho.t Bagan,(1)
        the structure  is called  Bho.t  Mandir  or Ma.th, the
        priest  in charge of it is styled Bho.t-Gosain(2)  or
        Bho.t-Mahant,(3)  and  the  gha.t  passes  under  the
        designation of Bho.t-Mahant's Gha.t.
            Inside  the Ma.th are to be seen a lot of idols of
        the   Hindu   and  mostly   of  the   Tibeto-Buddhist
        mythology. Among the former may be mentioned those of
        Vish.nu,   Durga,  Vindhyavasini,  Ga.ne'sa,  Gopala,
        Salagrama,  and   'Siva-lingas   of  various   sorts,
        including  the rare oviform  ones of three  different
        colours, also  'Siva's  bull;  and among  the  latter
        those  of  Arya  Tara,  Mahakala  Bhairava,  Sambhara
        Chakra,   Samaja    Guhya,   Vajra   Bhruku.ti    and
        Padmapa.ni.(4)  There  are  also  a stamp  of  Kapila
        Muni's  foot, and  a  pair  of  kha.rams  or  wooden
        sandals.  A description  of the  first  five  Tibetan
        divinities, by my friend  Babu Sarat Chandra  Das, is
        given below. Such a room full of images is designated
        Lha-khang(5) in Tibet. On the ground immediately be-
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Bho.t Baagaan, lit., 'Tibet garden.' Bho.t or Bho.d
            is the  name  by which  the Tibetans  call  their
            country;  bagan is the Bengali form of the plural
            of the Persian bagh, 'garden.'
        (2) Bho.t Gosain, lit, Tibet Gosain. Gosain (properly
            gosai.msy3.gif (268 bytes)) is the  vernacular
            form  of  Goswami,  which  has  several   literal
            significations  such  as master  or possessor  of
            kine, controller of the organs of the senses, the
            comprehender  of  the  Gayatri, the  lord  of the
            earth   or  of  the  heaven.   In  these   latter
            significations  the term  implies  a holy  man, a
            religions teacher or a saint.  Among the Saaivas,
            or   followers   of   S'iva,   the   Udaasiis,   or
            non-householders, prevail  more than in any other
            sect, and  they  pass  ander  the designation  of
            Sannyasis   or   Gosai.ms,  though   the   latter
            appellation  is  appropriated  in  Bengal  by the
            Vaish.nava  gurus,  specially  the  followers  of
            Chaitanya,  the   descendants   of  Adwaita   and
            Nityananda. In the Upper Provinces the term Sadhu
            is applied  to the Vaish.nava  Udasis, and Gosain
            to the 'Saaiva  Sannyaasiis.  The people  of the two
            persuasions  are  easily  distinguished  by  their
            tilakas or lines painted on the forehead.
        (3) Bho.t  Mahanta,  lit.   a  mahanta  or  chief  or
            superior of a Tibetan monastery. The term Mahanta
            generally  signifies  the  head  of  a  religious
            establishment of the mendicant orders.
        (4) This   is  the  name   of  the  Boddhisatva   who
            incarnated  himself  as  Gedun-tubpa, a reformer,
            who received the spirit of.the previous  reformer
            Tsong-khapa  in 1419, and built the monastery  of
            Tashi Lhunpo in 1445 and repeatedly appeared as a
            Tashi Lama.
        (5) Lha-Khangsy4.gif (367 bytes)Lha  is  the  
            Tibetan    for   gods   and   spirits   who,   by
            transmigration  into  other  bodies  in  blissful
            regions, reap  the rewards  of their  meritorious
            deeds.  They are invoked  and revered.  There are
            six places for the transmigration. of the soul of
            every living being.
                                P.53
        hind the Ma.th is a low roofed  small house, which may
        be characterised as a temple. Within it is a cubiform
        samaadhi-stambha(1)  ro tomb, which the Tibetans would
        cap a Dungten  or relic repository.  It is surmounted
        by the usual lingam or phallus  of Siiva or Mahaadeva.
        The  services  performed  in the Maths  consist  of a
        mixture of Hinduu and Tibetan rituals.
                            No. I. TARA.
            "The  principal  deity  is  Arya  Tara.   She  is
        identified  by the Nepalese  Buddhists  with  Praj~naa
        Paaramitaa or transcendental wisdom and is universally
        believed to be the mother of all the past Tathaagatas,
        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 'Sakti 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  Puran  Gir  who
        accompanied the Tashi Lama to Peking.
            "During  my stay at Peking  I paid a visit to the
        image  manufactories  near  Hwangs-se  or the  yellow
        temple, which is situated  at a distance  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.  She  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 The daughter of the
        Emperor  Tai-tsung  of the  great  Tang  dynasty  was
        married to the first Tibetan king in 630 A. D. She
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Samaadhi-stambha.  Its familiar meaning is a tomb,
            with a stambha or monumental column erected  on  a
            samaadhi-kshetra  or burial ground.  But this term
            samaadhi, in its  esoterio  signification, is the
            absorption  of the jivatma or vital principle  in
            the paramatma or supreme soul of the universe, as
            stated  in the  verse sy5.gif (349 bytes)
        sy6.gif (1361 bytes)
          Though the burning of the dead is
            now the principal  custom  among  the Hinduus, yet
            among  most  AAkha.raadhaarii  Vairaagiis and Saaiva
            Sanyaasiis,burial or throwing the corpse into the 
            river is the unvarying custom.  In Benares, Mirzapur 
            and other districts  in the  North-West, the deed body
            is often put into a stone coffin  before  depositing
            it into the earth.
                                p.54
        was an acknowledged  incarnation  of Taaraa.  The image
        probably represents her figure."(1)
                               No. II.
            "The most ingeniously  constructed  image is that
        of Mahaakaala Bhairava.  It represents him in a hideous
        mood, with his .Sakti in his embrace.  His nine heads
        on all four sides, with a central one on the top, his
        thirty six  arms  and eighteen  legs, his weapons, and
        the string  of skulls  hanging  down  his neck to the
        extremity  of his belly, give  him  a truly  horrible
        appearance.  He  is the  principal  guardian  of  the
        Tibetan Lames, particularly of the Tashi Lama."
                               No. III.
            "Sambhara  Chakra  is the  chief  of the  Tantric
        deities of Tibet.  He has ten arms, but one head.  He
        also has the 'Sakti  in his clasp.  He stands  on the
        breast  of  a vanquished  demon, probably  the  devil
        Mara.  He is painted  with  yellow.  The image  is of
        copper gilt, about nine inches high."
                               No. IV.
            "Samaja  Guhya  is  another  Tantric  deity, with
        three  faces  and six  arms.  He clasps  his  consort
        .Sakti who also has three faces and six arms."
                               No. V.
            "Another  form of Tara is called Vajra Bhruku.ti.
        The figure of it, evidently cast in Nepal, represents
        the second wife of king Srongtsan gampa.  She was the
        daughter  of king  Prabhavarma  of Nepal, who reigned
        between  630 and 640 A. D.  There is a saint's glory
        round her head."
            There  is an inscription  on the door  top of the
        tomb  in  the  Bengalii  language  and  character.  It
        states, in very ungrammatical  and corrupt  language,
        that  the  principal  Mukhtiyaarkaar(2)  and chelaa (or
        disciple)  Daljiit  Gir Mahant  placed  the symbol  of
        Mahaadeva on the samaadhi of the late Puuran Gir Mahant,
        and enjoins that all people should honour and worship
        this shrine  and the Mahaadeva;  a Hinduu not doing so
        would  incur  the sin of braahmanicide, and a Musalmaan
        and others, for the like offence, would go to  dozakh
        (hell), as affected with guilt at the seat of
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) On the  pedestal  of the statue  is inscribed  in
            Bengali   the  name   .Srii  Khaas Kaaminii (sy7.gif (356 bytes)
          or  female   energy   andsy8.gif (220 bytes)  chief, favourite), 
          and  the date, perhaps  of the consecration, Sa.mvat  
          1852, 15th of the light half of the month of Marga'sira
            (November).  Then follows  the name Bhola Giri of
            Lhasa in the country of Bho.takshetra.
        (2) Mukhtiyaarkaar is the Ar.sy9.gif (336 bytes)"a  superintendent."    
           
                                P.55
        Khodaa-ta'aalaa  or the most high God.  The date  of the
        consecration is given as Sa.mvat 1852, 'Sakabda 1117,
        Bangabda  1202,(1) 23rd Vai'sakha, Sunday, within  12
        da.n.das(2)  of the Pur.nima.  This date  corresponds
        with the 3rd May 1795.
            This  cursory  examination  of the place, and its
        important  objects suggest  most important  enquiries
        such as these: what is the history  and origin of the
        Buddhistic  temple  on  the  river  side  so near  to
        Calcutta,  established  in  the  early  days  of  the
        British  power in India? How comes it that images  of
        Hindu gods and goddesses  are mixed up with those  of
        Tibet  and receive  due  worship? Who was  Puran  Gir
        Gosain  Mahant,  claiming  worship  and  honour  from
        Hindus, Musalmans and other religionists?
            My   request   to  the   present   head   of  the
        establishment  Umrao Gir Gosain Mahant for any papers
        and documents  in his custody that may throw light on
        these questions, was very readily end kindly complied
        with.   His  presentation   to  the  Society,  at  my
        suggestion,  of  two  rare   and   valuable   Tibetan
        manuscripts  was noticed  at the January meeting.  He
        produced four Persian sanads or grants and a passport
        in Tibetan, of which I have taken copies;  and these,
        with   translations,  in  the  annexures   appear,  I
        believe, for the first time before the public.
            Nos. I and 2 show that the former grants, free of
        rent, 100 bighas and 8 biswas(3) of land on the river
        side, made  up  of  one  portion  situated  in  Mauza
        Barbakpur,  Parganah  Bore, and  of  another  portion
        situated  in  Mauza  Ghusa.ri, Parganah  Paikan, unto
        Puran Gir Gosain,(4)
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) [The Bangabda, or B.  S. (Bangali Sa.mvat) is the
            same  as what  is commonly  known  as the  "Fazli
            year."   See  the  Tables   in  General   Sir  A.
            Cunningham's Book of indian Eras, p. 196, ED.]
        (2) Da.n.da, one-sixtieth  of a day and night;  hence
            equal to 24 minutes.
        (3) Biswa, lit. a twentieth part of a bigha. Hence it
            is equivalent to a ka.t.tha.
        (4) Puuran Gir Gosain. In the sanads, Puuran is written
           
        sy10.gif (214 bytes)but   in   the  Bengalii inscription sy11.gif (247 bytes)
          Puraan.  I think these are vulgar  readings  of 
          the Sanskritsy12.gif (202 bytes)Puur.na.  Gir, of  course, is  the
          vernacular  of Giri, indicating  that  the Gosain
            belonged  to the Giri sect of the Da`sanaamiis, and
            that he was initiated  at the Jyosii  Ma.th in the
            Badarikaa`srama, a fact which is confirmed  by the
            statement  of the present  Mahanta  of the  Bho.t
            Baagaan.  It is said  that  the  great  philosopher
            .Sankaraachaarya,  towards   the  end  of  the  8th
            century, tried to introduce  reforms based on the 
            doctrines of the Vedantic school, and for the purpose
            of spreading  his teachings, founded  four ma.thas in 
            four different  places; viz. .S.ringa Giri Ma.tha 
            near Tungabhadra, where Vyaasa  is said to have  had 
            his monastery, Saaradaa Ma.tha in Dwaarikaa in Gujaraat, 
            Govardhana  Ma.tha in  Jagannaathapurii,  and  Jyosii  
            Ma.tha   in  the Badarikaa`srama, situated  near the 
            sources  of the Ganges.   .Sankaraachaarya  had  at  
            first   four disciples and each of them had several 
            others: 1, Padmapada  who had two followers who 
            received the titles of Tiirtha and AA'srama: 
            2, Hastaamalaka who had
                                P.56
        the  most  sage  and wise  and the  head  of all  the
        seekers of truth, in consideration  of his virtue and
        piety that he may erect a temple there on  and plant a
        garden.  The latter grants to the same individual  in
        the same terms, 50 biighaas of land  on the same  site
        in Mau.za  Baarbakpuur, consisting  of  three  portions
        situated  within  the  properties   of  Mahaaraaja  Nab
        Kishan,(1) Raaj Chand Raai, and Raajaa Raam Lochan.(2)
        _____________________________________________________
            also two with the titles  of Vana and Ara.nya: 3,
            Mandana  who had three  designated  Giri, Parvata
            and Sagara: To.taka  who had likewise  three with
            the appellations  of Saraswati, Bharati and Puri.
            Dasanami  (having ten names) is the name of these
            four disciples and their followers  collectively.
            The first two founded a school of teaching in the
            Saaradaa  Ma.tha;  the second two in the Govardhana
            Ma.tha;  the  next  three, including  Giri, in the
            Jyosii   Ma.tha;   and  the  last  three   in  the
            .S.ringagiri  Ma.tha.  The common characteristic
            of all the Da`sanaamiis is their regarding  .Siva as
            another  name of Brahma, and their  faith  mainly
            accepts the teachings  of the Vedantic philosophy
            according  to  the  interpretation  of S'ankara's
            commentary.   The  .Siva  Sa.mhitaa   teaches  the
            contemplation  of .Siva  as niraakaara  (having no
            form), the achintya  or inconceivable, the ananta
            or infinite, the amara  or immortal, the one, the
            all-pervading   &c.   Among  the  Da`snamaiis  were
            celebrated  characters  of great scholarship  and
            ascetic  lives, authors  and  co  mmentators: the
            name of Ananda  Giri is well-known  as the writer
            of the S'ankara  Digvijaya  and of the glosses on
            the commentaries of the Vedanta (Sutra and of the
            Upanishats;  Bama'srama was a commentator  of the
            Veda, Madhavacharya  had the title of Vidyara.nya
            Svami.  There  were also, amongst  this class of
            ascetics, men who were  possessed  of indomitable
            courage end of extraordinary powers of endurance,
            who were greet travellers in India or in the most
            distant  countries   beyond  it,  as  seekers  of
            knowledge  and  experience,  or  as  enterprising
            merchants. Our Puur.na  Giri Gosain and  Puur.na 
            Purii are the names of two most unique characters
            reflecting the highest credit on the Dasanamis as
            enterprising  spirits, combining the qualities of
            active   benevolence   and   philanthropy    with
            knowledge  of philosophy, piety, devotion, and in
            the case  of the latter, of a travelling  tapaswi
            practising  the most astounding austerities.  The
            life of the former appears  in the text, and that
            of Pur.na Puri has appeared in the Researches  of
            the Society and in other books.  Captain  Turner
            saw him and heard much of him from the Regent  at
            Tashi Lhunpo, and he gives some notices of him in
            his report. [See Jonathan Duncan's account in the
            Asiatic Researches Vol. V, p.  37ff, VI, p.  102.
            With regard to S'ankaracharya  and the Dasanamis,
            see H. H. Wilson's account, ibid., vol.  XVII, p.
            178-182.  According  to him, the  Giris, Parvatas
            and Sagaras are disciples of To.taka. ED.]
        (1) Nab Kishan, corruption of Navak.rishna. The sanad
            has  onlysy13.gif (242 bytes)Nab  Kish.  
          The well-known Maharaja's estate still holds lands in
            Barbakpur,  on  the  other   ride  of  the  river
            opposite to Calcutta.
        (2) Raajaa Raam Lochan and Raaj Chand Rai.  These persons
            were  the  sons  of Raamacharan  Rai, who  was the
            Dewaan of Governor  Vansittart  and General Smith.
            He  acquired   a  large  fortune   and  lived  in
            Pathuriyaagha.t.ta  in  Calcutta, his  descendants
            removed  to Andul, and were known as Andul Raajaas.
            One of their scions, Raajaa Raajanaaraayana, attempted
            to establish the identity of his caste (Kaayastha)
            with  the Kshatriya, and is said  to have  put on
            the   sacrificial   thread,  but  his   caste-men
            repudiated  the prentension, or dared not follow
            his example. He was also vain enough to introduce
            a new era in his family, styled the AAndulaabda!
                                P.57
        Both  these  sanads   are  as  usual   addressed   to
        Muta.saddis,(1) Chaudharis,(2) Qanungos, Ta'aluqdars,
        &c., their jurisdiction  being  described  as that of
        Dari Barbakpur, Parganah  Boro, in Sarkar Satgaon,(3)
        appertaining     to    Chaklah     Hugli     in.Subah
        Jannatu-l-bilad(4) Bangalah. Both
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Muta.saddi  has various  meanings, such as clerk,
            accountant, &o., but in the lest  century  it was
            used to signify superior  officers  in the fiscal
            department.
        (2) Chaudhari  is used both in Hindi  and Bengali  to
            mean the headman  of a caste  or profession, also
            as an honorific  title.  Mr.  Bogle speaks  of a.
            "chaudri"  who came to visit  him while he was in
            Tibet;  and Markham, p.  178, on the authority of
            Hamilton, explains  in a note that "chauduri"  or
            'desali'  in  Nepal  is  a  subordinate   revenue
            officer under the Fauzdar, and he identifies  the
            word with chautariya  (minister), an officer next
            in rank among the Kerantis  in Nepal  whose title
            and  office  were  hereditary.   Ha  milton  also
            describes  a chauduri  as a zamindar  acting as a
            ministar  to a chief among the Kerantis, and says
            chautariya is the title of the collaterals of the
            royal   Gorkha,  family   who  sometimes   became
            ministers. In Bengal the titular affix chazldhari
            is common  to names of persons  belonging  to the
            highest  as well as to the lowest castes.  In the
            latter  case it bears the sense  of headman  of a
            guild  or profession, and in the former  it is an
            honorific  epithet, which is borne out by tracing
            it  to the  Sanskrit  chaturadhuri.na  "sagacious
            chief or manager of affairs"  or to chatudhuri.na
            "chief   of  four(departments) ."  In  the  Upper
            Provinces the term is applied, I believe, only to
            the headman  of a trade or guild.  In early days,
            in Bengal, it was a title of landholders superior
            to  taluqdars.  There  are  many  families  whose
            ancestors, from  one  reason  or other, had  this
            title,  and  among   them  it  has  become,  like
            Majumdars, Sarkars, &c., hereditary.
        (3) Sarkar Satgaon. The Muhammadan empire in the time
            of Akbar was at first divided  into twelve  large
            sections, called.subahs  or  viceroyalties, which
            were subsequently  increased to fifteen.  Each of
            these  was subdivided  for fiscal  purposes  into
            sarkars or provinces, each sarkar comprehending a
            number  of  purganahs  or mahals.  Aggregates  of
            several  parganahs  again were Formed into groups
            which  in the reign of Shah Jahan were designated
            chaklahs.  In the tables  of the taqsim  jama' in
            the Ain-i-Akbari.su  bah Bangalah is divided into
            24  sarkars, one  of which  is Satgaon  (Sanskrit
            saptagrama), a group  of seven  villages.  In its
            relation  to chaklah  Hugli, as described  in the
            sanads  to the Tashi Lama and Puran Gir, it must,
            with the latter district, have formed part of the
            dominions  of  the  ancient  kings  of Tamralipti
            (Tamluk) which had been visited by Fahian. It was
            formerly of immense size, the residence of kings,
            and  had  a famous  place  of  worship  in it.  A
            reference  to the tables  of the fiscal divisions
            of th e Mughal  empire  in the Ain-i-Akbari, will
            show  that  Sarkar  Satgaon, in which  the sanads
            speak  of the place  being  comprehended, contain
            mahals, two  of  which  me named  Barbakpur.  One
            stands  by itself, and  the other  it! linked  to
            Kalkatta and to another place Bakua. No doubt the
            place opposite to Kalkatta (Calcutta) derived its
            name from the one at the Calcutta  side.  Whether
            the  names  Barbakpur  and  Bakud  were  the  old
            designations  of the place, now known as Sutanuti
            and  Govindpur,  which  together  with  Kalkatta,
            formed   old  Calcutta,  is  a  point  worthy  of
            research.  As to the Mahal Barbakpur in the 'Ain,
            Blochmann indicates in a note to the Persian text
            that another reading gives Barikpur. So has Bakua
            many other readings, as Macuma  &c.  Our Kalkatta
            is variously named Kaltas, Kalna and Talpa.
        (4) Jannatu-l-bilad,  the   paradise   of   civilized
            nations. This epithet was applied
                                p.58
        of them also bear on the top two square seals.(1) The
        date of No. 1 is 12th June 1778, 1st Asha.dha 1185 R.
        S., 16th  Jumada-l-awal  of  the  20th  year  of  the
        imperial  reign;  and that of No.  2 is 11th February
        1782, 2nd Falgun 1189 B. S.
            The two other  sanads, marked  No.  3 end No.  4,
        bear the same dates as, and grant the same quantities
        of  land  as  those  mentioned   in  Nos.   1  and  2
        respectively.  In fact  the two former  appear  to be
        duplicates of the latter two, with this very material
        difference  that, in Nos.  3 and  4, in place  of the
        grantee's  name being  Puran  Gir, it is Teshi  Lamah
        Panohan  Ardani Bakdeo Panchan,(2) and the attributes
        of the latter  are exactly  those of the former.  The
        seals  also are different: on Nos.  3 and 4,they  are
        those of the East India Company  as dewan and servant
        of Shah 'Alam  Badshah.  No.  3, moreover, bears  two
        seals, one at the top, the other on the right margin.
        Both sanads  bear the sign~ttnre  of Warren  Hastings
        almost obliterated.
            The simple  fade now disclosed  are, that  in the
        years 1778 and 1782, a Hindu ascetic, named Puran Gir
        Gosain, and a Buddhist Pontiff conjointly, but by two
        sets  of grants, one in the name of each, received  a
        certain  quantity  of land  on the river  side, which
        aggregated  150 bighas  and constituted  the area  of
        Bho.t  Bagan, and that  the former  died in 1795, and
        was buried  as a saint  near  his Math  there, by his
        chela or disciple Daljit Gir Gosain.
            This  information, though  by itself  it does not
        satisfy  but rather magnifies  the curiosity  already
        raised, affords  a clue  to the  line  of  historical
        investigation  which would carry us to the goal.  The
        inquiry, however, leading, as it does, into  the most
        eventful  period  of British  Indian  history, proves
        almost  unfructuons.  Vain  is the  search  for  such
        apparently  frifling incidents  as the foundation  of
        the  Bho.t  Mandir  or the hareer  of merely  a Hindu
        mendicant, in the annals of the
        _____________________________________________________
            to Bengal  by Aurangzib, and in the last  century
            it was  customary  to describe  Bengal  in public
            records  and formal  documents  with this  title.
            Humayun  called  Gau.r  Jannatabad,  'a  paradise
            settlement,' though  when  the plague  was raging
            there,  which  depopulated  it  and  led  to  its
            desertion, the pun came into  vogue  az Gau.r  ba
            gor, "from Gau.r to the grave."
        (1) One seal has an inscription in Nagari characters.
            See footnote on p. 95.
        (2) Teshi sy14.gif (213 bytes), so spelled  in the
            sanads.  The Tibetan  is bk'sis blama, pronounced
            Tashi  Lama.  The  full  name  of  the  Lama  was
            Panchhen  Nagwan  Lossan Paldan Yeshe.  The first
            element, spelled  panchan, (sy15.gif (221 bytes))
            in the sanads is a compound  of Pan 'a pa.n.dita'
            or   'learned    man'   and   chan   'great'   or
            'conspicuous.'   Ardanani  is  a  corruption   of
            Erteni,  a  gem.  The  Gem  epithet,  though  not
            exclusively  applied  to a Tashi Lama, indicates,
            in his case, perfection  and the efficacy  of his
            adoration.  The  terms  erteni  and  the Sanskrit
            ratna  seem  to  be  congeners.   Bakdec  is  the
            Sanskrit  Vakyadeva, equivalent  to  the  Tibetan
            Nagwan.
                                p.59
        statesmen  who were laying  the basis  of the British
        Power in India.  In practice, "History," says Arnold,
        "has  been  beguiled, so  to speak, from  its  proper
        business, and has ceased  to describe  the life  of a
        Commonwealth," much more so in respect of the history
        of this country under its peculiar circumstances.  It
        is, therefore, from the bye-ways of history, personal
        narratives,   accounts   of   travellers,   published
        correspondence, and official  reports, and  authentic
        traditions, from  materials  in  fact  out  of  which
        history   is  constructed,  that  threads  have  been
        gathered  and woven  into  the following  story.  The
        story  itself, apart  from  many  of its  interesting
        features and almost romantic character, has important
        bearings upon questions  of the greatest moment which
        occupied  the attention  of the infant British Indian
        Government, and which still  perplex  its Council  in
        its imperial growth.
            The first part of the retrospective inquiry leads
        to the time when the greet Chhiyattara Manwantara,(1)
        as the great famine  of 1176 B.  S.  is called by the
        people of Bengal, was raging in its fiercest  fury in
        the country, and decimating  its people by thousands,
        when the streets of Calcutta, were strewn with bodies
        of the dying and the dead, and when Governor  Cartier
        was feeding daily 15000 people in the city.  A little
        (earlier than this catastrophe on the plains, a cruel
        and destructive  war had broken  out on the  mountain
        heights and valleys on the frontier.
            The  aggressive   incursions   of  the  ambitions
        P.rithvi  Narayan, chief  of  the  Gorkhas, into  the
        valley of Nepal, led to that great revolution in this
        state  which  subverted  its tripartite  rule,(2) and
        brought it under
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Chhiyattara  Manwantara the famine of 1176 B.  S.
            or  1770  A.  D.   preceded  by  three  years  of
            scarcity, and followed  by three years of plenty,
            it was strictly  a one-year's  famine, but it was
            the moat appalling  and disastrous  calamity that
            ever visited Bengal, or perhaps any other part of
            the  world.  It exhibited, in its course  and its
            sequel, web  harrowing  and extensive  scenes  of
            dreadful  suffering,  pain,  misery, disease  and
            death, as  to have  obtained  in our  counry  the
            singular  name  of a manwantara, which  literally
            means a period equal to 4,920,000 years, implying
            thereby that it was each a, visitation  as recars
            only at intervals of aeons, the ordinary names of
            famine    durbhiksha    ('when   alms   are   not
            obtainable')  and  akala  'bad  time'  not  being
            thought of sufficient  significance.  In fact, no
            Sanskrit  dictionaries   that  I  have  consulted
            attach to Manwantara famine as its synonym.  Some
            information on this great famine will be found in
            Sir W.  Hunter's  Rural Bengal and in the letters
            of Mr. Bogle *  (see Markham, p.  cxxxix) who was
            himself  an eye-witness  of the calamity, as well
            as in sundry notices and poems.
        (2) Tripartite  rule  of  Nepal.  Before  the  Gorkha
            conquest  of Nepal proper, It was occupied  by an
            agricultural  and commercial  race called Newars,
            who had borrowed their arts and civilization from
            Tibet, and who encouraged trade between Tibet and
            India by allowing it to be carried on through the
            Nepal passes.  Their chiefs had the title of Mall
            (Sanskrit  malla.) Since  the death  of the sixth
            king of this dynasty, his dominions according  to
            his directions, were divided into three
                                p.60
        the subjection of that warlike tribe. It is said that
        unheard  of cruelties  were perpetrated  in this war,
        which  were  witnessed  by two members  of the  Roman
        Catholic   Mission.   This  warfare,  brought  on  by
        internecine  dissensions, led one of the Nepalese old
        dynasties  to entreat  for  aid from  the English  in
        India, with  the  result  of the  despatch, in  1769,
        perhaps  for the first time, of a force under Captain
        Kinloch   to   the   frontiers,  though   it   proved
        unfructuous. Following close upon the Gorkha conquest
        of Nepal,  Depa Shidar,(1) the chief of Bhutan, urged
        by purely hostile propensities, pounced  upon Sikkim,
        retained  possession  of it, for  a  short while, and
        subsequently  in 1772, when Warren Hastings  had just
        assumed  the rule  of Bengal, invaded  the Kuch Behar
        Raj.(2)  This Raj, in its distress, sought the aid of
        that keen-sighted statesman, who lost no time to send
        a  battalion   of   native   infantry   against   the
        invaders.(3)   The   Bhutanese,  after   a  desperate
        resistance, were utterly  routed, pursued  into their
        fastness  es, end  forced  to sue  for  peace.  Depa,
        Shidar  entreated  the Tashi Lama who was then Regent
        of Tibet and
        _____________________________________________________
            principalities governed by three branches who had
            their  respective  capitals  in kathmandu, Lalita
            Pattan and Bha.tgaon. These were subverted by the
            Gorkha  chief.  Their religion  was Buddhist, but
            they  recognised  caste.  Their  descendants, now
            obscure, still  follow  the Buddhist  faith.  The
            dissensions   of   the   kings   of   the   three
            principalities  led to the chief of Bha.tgaon  to
            seek the aid of the Gorkha P.rithvi  Narayan who,
            after subduing the enemies of his ally, tamed his
            arms against the latter, and after lon g years of
            fighting  made himself  completely  master of the
            whole country.
        (1) Depa Shidar sy16.gif (564 bytes);  also called
            De-tar-yag  or  De-tar-ya, the  "Deh  Terria"  of
            Turner.
        (2) Kuch Behar, a state on the north-east frontier of
            British India.  It lies between Bengal and Assam,
            and is divided from Bhutan by the Duars. In olden
            times  it  was  very  extensive, and  formed  the
            western division  of the ancient Kamrup Raj.  The
            name of the place is a museum  of mythic history.
            According  to a certain Tantra (the Yogini) Hi.ra
            Devi was a, greet devotes of S'iva who incarnated
            himself  end lived  in Kuchinipa.ra, a settlement
            of the Kuch or Konch  tribe, and the fruit of his
            amour  with her wa s a chief  who became  a great
            Raja, and as the Raj  was the  result  of S'iva's
            vihara  (cor.  Behar) or  'dalliance,' the  State
            received the appellation of kuch Vihar. Kamrup is
            the mine  of the Tantras, and hence  these  works
            spread  on  both  sides, to  the  hills  and  the
            plains.  Wilson, in a note in his translation  of
            the Vish.nu  Pura.na, includes  Kuch Behar in the
            Matsya De'sa.
        (3) Hastings   in  his  two  letters  to  Sir  George
            Colebrooke  and John Purling dated, respectively,
            15th January  and Slat March 1773, writes  of the
            famine  and of this war.  among  other things, he
            says, "I shall  ever oppose  remote  projects  of
            conquests, yet I shall sedulously  promote  every
            undertaking  which  can complete  the line of our
            possessions   or  add  to  its   security."   The
            Bhutanese  ''are  a resolute  and daring  people.
            They  made  a desperate  defence  of the fort  of
            Behar."  (Cooch  Behar.) "Many  of them meeti  ng
            death at the muzzle of the sepoys' pieces."  (See
            Gleig's Memoirs a Warren Hastings, 1. pp. 878 and
            295.)
                                P.61
        the guardian  of the minor  Dalai  Lama  of Lhasa, to
        intercede  in his behalf, and  the  Lame  accordingly
        sent  a, deputation  to  Calcutta, with  a letter  to
        Warren Hastings in 1773. This letter of mediation was
        received  by Warren Hastings  on the 29th March 1779,
        when it was laid before the Board. It is a remarkable
        document, end is given in Captain Turner's Account of
        an Embassy to the Court of the Tashi Lama in Tibet.
            "The  affairs  of this quarter  in every  respect
        "flourish: I am night and day employed in prayers for
        "the increase of your happiness and prosperty. Having
        "been informed, by travellers  from your  country, of
        "your exalted fame and reputation, my heart, like the
        "blossoms  of  spring,  abounds   with  satisfaction,
        "gladness, and joy. Praise be to God that the star of
        "your fortune  is in its ascension. Praise  be to him
        "that  happiness   and   ease   are  the  surrounding
        "attendants of myself  and and  fa mily.  Neither  to
        "molest, nor persecute, is my  aim: it  is  even  the
        "characteristic of my sect, to deprive  ourselves  of
        "the necessary refreshment of sleep, should an injury
        "be done to a single individual;  but in justice  and
        "humanity, I am informed, you far surpass us. May you
        "ever adorn  the  seat  of  justice  and  power, that
        "mankind may, in the shadow  of your bosom, enjoy the
        "blessings  of peace and affluence.  By your favour I
        am "the Raja and Lama of this country, and rule  over
        a "number of subjects, a circumstance  with which yon
        "have  no doubt  been made  acquainted, by travellers
        "from these parts.  I have been repeatedly  informed,
        "that  yon have been engaged  in hostilities  against
        the  "Deh  Terria  (De-tar-ya), to which, it is said,
        the "Deh's own criminal conduct in committing ravages
        end "other outrages on your frontiers, gave rise.  as
        he is "of a rude  and ignorant  race, past times  are
        not "destitute  of instances  of the like misconduct,
        which "his own avarice tempted  him to commit.  It is
        not  "unlikely   that   he  has  now  renewed   those
        instances: and "the ravages  and plunder which he may
        have  committed  "on the skirts  of the provinces  of
        Bengal  and "Behar,(1) hare given you provocation  to
        send your "avenging  army against  him.  Nevertheless
        his party has "been defeated, many of his people have
        been killed, "three  forts  have been taken from him,
        and he has met "with the punishment  he deserved.  It
        is as evident  as "the sun that  your  army  has been
        victorious;  and that, "if you had been  desirous  of
        it, you  might,  in  the  "space  of  two  days, have
        entirely  extirpated  him;  for "he had not power  to
        resist your aborts. But I now "take upon me to be his
        mediator; and to represent to "yen, that, as the said
        Deh Terria (Deb Raja)(2) is "dependent upon the Dalai
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Kuch Behar.
        (2) The  person   who  performs   all  administrative
            functions in Bhutan is called
                                p.62
        "Lama, who rules in this country with unlimited sway,
        "though, on  acount of his being yet in his minority,
        "the  charge  and administration  of the country, for
        "the present, is committed to me;  should you persist
        "in offering further molestation  to the Deh Terria's
        "country, it will irritate  both the Lama and all his
        "subjects  against  you.  Therefore, from a regard to
        "our religion  and customs, I request  you will cease
        "from all hostilities against him; and in doing this,
        "you will confer  the greatest  favour and friendship
        "upon  me.  I have  reprimanded  the Deh for his past
        "conduct;  and I have admonished  him to desist  from
        "his evil  practices  in future, and to be submissive
        "to you in all things.  I am persuaded  that  he will
        "conform to the advice which I have given him; and it
        "will be necessary that you treat him with compassion
        "and clemency.  As to my part, I am but a Fakeer; and
        "it is the custom of my sect, with the rosary  in our
        "hands, to pray  for the welfare  of mankind, and for
        "the peace and happiness  of the inhibitants  of this
        "country;  and  I do  now, with  my  head  uncovered,
        "entreat  that  you will cease  from  all hostilities
        "against the Deh in future.  It would be needless  to
        "add to the length  of this letter, as the bearer  of
        "it, who is a Gosein,(1)  will  represent  to you all
        "particulars;  and it is hoped  that  you will comply
        "therewith.  In  this  country  the  worship  of  the
        "Almighty is the profession of all. We poor creatures
        "are in nothing equal to you.  Having, however, a few
        "things  in hand  I send  them  to you  as tokens  of
        "remembrance   and  hope  for  your   acceptance   of
        "them."(2)
            It will be seen  from  the letter  that the Tashi
        Lama  alludes  therein  to a Gosain  who  heeded  the
        deputation, and Turner thus speaks of him:--
        "Of  the  persons  deputed  on this  occasion  by the
        "Lama, two only  ventured  to encounter  the  burning
        "atmosphere  of Bengal;  one a native of Tibet, named
        "Paima; the other a pilgrim from Hindostan whose name
        "I have already mentioned, Poorungheer Gosein."(3)
            The  request  of the  Lame  was  very  favourably
        received.  Warren Hastings  became eager to know more
        intimately  the  writer  of  this  letter, which  was
        conceived in a very friendly spirit and founded on
        _____________________________________________________
            Deh Raja, also  Kusho  Depa, while  the spiritual
            head is called Lama Rinpoche or Dharma Raja. "But
            the real power  has long been in the hands of the
            military  governors, or Penlos  of east  and west
            Bhutan,  whose  capitals   are  respectively   at
            Tong-sar  and  Paro."  Markham, Narrative  of the
            Mission  of George Bogle to Tibet, etc., Introd.,
            P IV.
        (1) This is Puran Gir.
        (2) Turner's  Account  of art Embassy to the Court of
            Teshoo Lama in Tibet, Introd., pp. ix--xii.
        (3) Turner, ibid., Introd., p. xiii.
                                p.63
        good  sense,  which  evinced   high  sentiments   and
        self-respect and, at the same time, conveyed a gentle
        menace, couched  in  the  most  humble  language.  He
        perceived  in it also  the best opportunity  to carry
        out his cherished  view for the extension  of British
        intercourse with the terra incognita on the Himalayan
        heights.
            A treaty  of peace was accordingly  entered  into
        and ratified  between  the Governments  of Bengal and
        Bhutan, on the 25th of April, 1774.  By the different
        articles  of this treaty  it was, among other things,
        agreed  that  the English  would  relinquish  the Deb
        Raja's possessions  acquired  by conquest;  that they
        would  deliver  up  the  Kuch  Behar  Raja  Dwijendra
        Narayan  and his brother Devan Deo who had been taken
        away as prisoners of war;  that the Bhutanese Mahants
        shall have their former privilege of duty-free trad e
        and  allowed  to visit  Rangpur  annually;  that  the
        Bhutanese   shall  not  cause  incursions   into  the
        country, nor molest  the rayats (or subjects)  of the
        Company;  whatever  Sannyasis  are considered  by the
        English  as enemies, the Deb Raja shall not allow  to
        take shelter  in any pert of the districts  now given
        up, nor permit  them;  to enter  into  the Honourable
        Company's territories  or through any part of his.(1)
            This treaty having been concluded in the interest
        of Kuch Behar end the Company on the one hand, and in
        that  of  Bhutan  on the  other, whereby  the  Lame's
        intercession   was   completely   respected,   Warren
        Hastings'  mind was turned  upon commercial  schemes,
        which were not a little  matured  at the sight of the
        presents  which  the Lama had sent by his deputation.
        He conceived  the idea  of sending  a mission  to the
        Lama  in Tibet, and accordingly  framed  a letter  to
        him, proposing, among other things, a treaty of amity
        and commerce  between  the Bengal and Tibetan states,
        end  entrusted  it to a deputation  composed  of  Mr.
        George   Bode,  servant   of  the  Company,  and  Dr.
        Hamilton, with Puran Gir Gosain, as their sincere and
        faithful friend.
            This is the first of a series  of missibns  which
        Hastings   successively   sent   to  the   cis-   and
        trans-nivean  states on the frontier  heights, and it
        is  from  among   the  incidents   of  this   initial
        deputation that the main facts which led to the grant
        of the sanads, the  foundation  of the Bho.t  Mandir,
        and the consecration  of the  motley  group  of idols
        there, are to be gleaned.  In this mission as well as
        in the second  attempted  embassy  to Tibet under Mr.
        Bogle in 1779, in the third, under Captain  Turner in
        1783,  end  in  the  last,  under  Puran  Gir  Gosain
        himself, just  at the closing  %: period  of the same
        statesman's  career in 1785, are to be sought all the
        important services that the great Gosain has rendered
        to the British Government, and the conspicuous traits
        of his remarkable character, and
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Captain R.  Boileau Pemberton's Report on Bhutan,
            App., p. 178.
                                p.64
        some portions of the concluding  history of the Bho.t
        Bagan down to the period  of the chivalrous  Gosain's
        tragic end.  a rapid sketch therefore follows, of the
        broad features  of these  missions, bearing  upon the
        present  subject, based mainly upon the records  left
        by  Mr.  Bogle,  which  form  the  narrative  of  Mr.
        Markham, and upon Turner's report.
            It was moreover  from  the  proceedings  of these
        missions   that  the  first  adminstrator   of  India
        obtained  a  thorough  knowledge   of  the  wonderful
        politico-religious  influence  which, emanating  from
        Tibet, operated, with more or less  effect  on China,
        and  Mongolia, and on its  then  protected  state  of
        Sikkim,  and  the  semi-independent  principality  of
        Bhutan as well as on Nepal.
            The communication of the Lama stirred the fertile
        brain  of Warren  Hastings, to conceive  a consummate
        policy of peace end friendship  with the hierarchical
        chief,  believed  to  be  an  incarnation  of  Buddha
        himself, seated in his snow-clad  mountain  home.  By
        this policy he aimed at the commercial  prosperity of
        Bengal. Through two successive missions to Tibet, and
        four  to  Bhutan, he succeeded, in  some  respect, to
        re-establish  the old trade routes  and re-open, in a
        partial  way, that  active  commercial  intercour  se
        which  had subsisted  and prevailed, from before  the
        Muhammadan rule, between the plateau of Tibet and the
        plains of Bengal through  the passes of Nepal, Bhutan
        and other channels, but which  were sadly interrupted
        and checked by diverse causes.
            The first mission  under Mr.  Bogle started  from
        Calcutta in 1774, end, after proceeding to the hills,
        called Nagarko.t  in Bengal  and Bo.dla(1)  in Tibet,
        which form the common boundary of these two countries
        in the north, Bogle says, the only scanty information
        about the roads, the climate  end the people which he
        there received, was from the Sannyasis.
            Proceeding, stage  after  stage, Mr.  Bogle, with
        his party, arrived at Tashi Chhoijong,(2) the capital
        of Bhutan, and met the  Deb  Raja,(3) who gave  him a
        good  reception,  but  greet  obstacles  having  been
        raised in respect
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Bo.d (native name of Thibet) + la 'a pass' = 'The
            pass into Thibet' Markham, ibid., p. 15.
        (2) Tashi Chhoijong  is the modern capital of Bhutan,
            106 miles  from the town of Knob Behar.  There is
            in it a palace  and a citadel.  The  latter  is a
            lofty  stone  building  of seven  stories, in the
            fourth of which the Deb Raja of Bhutan resides.
        (3) Deb  Raja.  according  to  Sir  Ashley  Eden, the
            country, now called Bhutan, was formerly occupied
            by  a people  from  Kuch  Behar, who  were, three
            centuries ago, driven away by an invading army of
            Tibetans  over whom a Lame  of the Red sect named
            Dugwang Sabdung acquired paramount  influence  as
            "Lama  Rinpoche  or  Dharma  Raja.  On his  death
            "Sabdung  became  incarnate  in a,little child at
            "Lhasa  who  was conveyed  to Bhutan.  When  this
            child "grew up, he confined  himself to spiritual
            "concerns  and appoited  a Regent  called the Deb
            Raja." He is now elected by a council  of sir for
            three years.
                                p.65
        of his intended visit to Tibet by a concatenation  of
        influences ultimately emanating from Chins, they were
        finally  removed  by  the  zealous,  persevering  and
        masterly  services  of Puran  Gir Gosain.  The  party
        accordingly  left  that capital, on the 13th October,
        end came to a place called  Phari-jong,(1) where were
        observed the boundary-marks that separate Bhutan from
        Tibet.  Thence  they rode up, on the 8th November, to
        the gate of Tashi Rabgya,(2) the palace  of the Tashi
        Lama.   After  severed   interviews   with  him,  end
        residence  there  for some time, they, at his desire,
        accompanied  him  to his next  palace  and monastery,
        Tashi Lhunpo.  Here, during a sojourn  of dye months,
        Mr.  Bogle  picked  up some knowledge  of the Tibetan
        language,  acquainted   himself  with  the  religions
        tenets  and practices  of the  people, studied  their
        character, habits  and  manners, noted  their  unique
        marriage  customs, penetrated  into  the  mystery  of
        their peculiar hierarchical  government, threaded his
        way into the mysterious laby rinth of their polities,
        and, with  cautious  or rather  furtive  observation,
        acquired  a partial  knowledge  of  the  pro  ductive
        resources  and the trade  routes  of the country, old
        and  new, but  could  carry  out  the  object  of his
        mission in only a limited way. and the little that he
        was able to do in this  last  respect, was due to his
        frankness  end ability  to understand  the people and
        above  all  to  conform   to  their  ways  that  were
        innocent.  He himself  says, "The Lama need  daily to
        "send a priest to me in the ea rly morning, with some
        "based  and  tea  or some  boiled  rice  end  chopped
        "mutton, of which  last, as  I always  like  to do at
        "Rome as  they  do  at  Rome,  I  need  to  eat  very
        "heartily." He need even  to put on "a Tibetan  dress
        "consisting  of  a purple  satin  tunic  lined"  with
        "Siberian  furskins, a yellow  satin cap, faced round
        "with  sable, and crossed  with a red silk tape and a
        "pair of red silk Bulgar hide boots." He followed the
        Lama's  example  and gave alms  to the Sannyasis  and
        Faqirs.  He was not only  admitted  into the churches
        where  he saw the idols, and  the nature  of the holy
        service, but introduced  to the ladies  of the Lama's
        household;  and thus  there  grew  up between  1: Mr.
        Bogle  and the good Lama a real personal  friendship.
        Puran  Gir  Gosain,  who  enjoyed   the  esteem   and
        confidence  of both these  persons, contributed  in a
        great measure to bring about this desirable  state of
        things.  The deputation  left Tashi  Lhunpo, in April
        1775,  and  returned   in  June   following.   Warren
        Hastings, in order to keep up an inter.  course  with
        the  Himalayan  states, so anspiciously  opened, sent
        Dr.
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Phari-jong  is a pass  at the head  of the Chumbi
            valley  which  was need both by Bogle and Turner.
            Near  it is the  city  of Pare  which  Mr.  Bogle
            selected  as a trade mart for the merchandise  of
            Bengal and Tibet.
        (2) Tashi Rabgya  is a small place in which the Tashi
            Lama  temporarily  resided, when small-pox  broke
            out at Tashi Lhunpo.
                                p.66
        Hamilton, who had accompanied Mr.  Bogle to Tibet, to
        Bhutan  on two  successive  missions, one in November
        1775, and the other  in July  1771.  With  these  the
        present theme has no concern.
            Mr.  Bogle was again appointed  an envoy to Tibet
        in April 1779, and Puran Gir Gosain, who had returned
        with him, was also to have accompanied the mission as
        before, but  it  was  postponed  on  account  of  the
        arrival  of the news that the Tashi  Lama was, at the
        invitation of the old Chinese Emperor Kunglung, about
        to start for Peking.  During  this delay  Mr.  Bogle,
        with  all the persevering  seel  he possessed  in the
        cause  of the Government, made the grand  project  of
        presenting himself before the Chinese Court, th rough
        the  influence  of the  Lama, that  he might  thereby
        explain  matters  in a proper  way, in  the  hope  of
        removing Chinophobia  from the Tibetan authorities in
        the matter of dealings  with foreigners.  and in this
        affair  also, as on other important  occasions, Puran
        Gir, the trusted and favourite  agent of the Lama and
        the Bengal Government, was desired previously to join
        the  Lama  before  he left  Tibet.  This  the  Gosain
        accordingly did, when the Lama had already started on
        his journey, and accompanied  the Lama  to he Chinese
        capital  where his most importarnt  services  will be
        described   farther   on.   There  was  the  greatest
        probability of the success of Mr. Bogle's most wisely
        conceived scheme, which was founded upon the previous
        assurances  he had received  from  the Lama while  at
        Tashi  Lhunpo, and which, as the sequel  will show on
        the evidence  of Puran Gir, the good honest  Lama had
        almost  brought  about, but the death  of the Lama in
        November  1180  from small-pox  at Peking, and of Mr.
        Bogle  at  Calcutta  in  April  1781, preven  ed  the
        realisation of this great object.(1)
            According to the politico-religious  theory which
        regulates  the elective  hierarchical  Government  of
        Tibet,  end   of  its   dependencies,  and   of   the
        territories  which acknowledge  a theocratic  sway, a
        grand Lama revivifies himself after his death in some
        infant  form which  is discovered  by some signs, and
        the child becomes the succeeding Lama.  There are two
        principal  Lamas  in Tibet: one  the  Tashi  Lama, at
        Tashi Lhunpo, the other the Dalai Lama at Lhasa, with
        equal  authority, but the  latter, on account  of the
        esidence  of Chinese  officials  and  troops  at  his
        capital, is assumed to be the superior.
            At   the  time  of Bogle's  mission  in 1774, the
        Dalai  Lama  was a minor, and the Tashi  Lama was his
        Regent, end  on account  of his  learning, piety  and
        great  virtue, was  deservedly  esteemed  and revered
        throughout  Buddhadom.  On  his  death,  his  brother
        Chanjo  Kusho  was ruling  at Tashi Lhunpo, as Regent
        during the interregnum.
            This Regent communicated  to Warren Hastings  the
        sad intelligence
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Markham, ibid., Introd., p. lxx.
                                p.67
        of the death of the Tashi Lama at Peking  by a letter
        which was received an the 12th February 1782. In this
        letter, among other  things, the Regent  spoke of his
        fervent   hope   in  the  return   of  the  boar  "of
        trans"migration, that  the  bodies  may  be  speedily
        exchanged, and our depart"ed  Lama again  be restored
        to oar sight."(1)
            The happy news of the discovery  of the spirit of
        the Tashi Lama, incarnated in an infant in the valley
        of Painom,(2) was soon  received  by Hastings, end he
        determined to seize the opportunity  of communicating
        to the Regent his congratulations  on this anspicious
        event, as  the  best  occasion  for  sending  another
        mission  to Tibet.  He accordingly  selected  Captain
        Samuel  Turner  for  this  purpose, who, with  Lieut.
        Samuel  Davis  and  Dr.   Robert  Saunders   and  the
        inevitable  Puran  Gir  Gosain  as  their  guide  and
        adviser, left Calcutta on the 9th January 1783.
            Captain Turner followed the previous route of Mr.
        Bogle, and on arriving at Tashi Chhoijong  transacted
        such  affairs  relating  to  Bhutan  as he  had  been
        instructed  to attend  Co, and after  a stay of three
        months at this capital, proceeded to his destination.
        Early in the morning  of the 22nd September, dazed at
        the sight of the resplendent  beams of the rising sun
        reflected  from the gilt tops of the monasteries, end
        regaled   with  "the  deep  tone   of  many  sonorous
        instruments  which were "summoning  the religions  to
        their  morning  orisons," the party  found themselves
        ushered  into  the very  splendid  apartments  of the
        Tashi   Lhunpo   palace.(3)   The  Regent   gave  the
        (Governor-General's  envoy  a hearty  and  respectful
        reception, assured  him of the identity  of the  Lama
        who, in  his  previous  existence, had  been  a great
        friend   of  Hastings',  and  informed   him  of  his
        regeneration  having been acknowledged by the Emperor
        of China.  The mission had indeed arrived in Tibet at
        one of its most important eras; it was at a time when
        the nation  was preparing by a grand demonstration to
        announce their acknowledgment of the regenerated Lama
        who was then  being  removed  into  the  Tharpa  Ling
        monastery  for that customary training and education,
        for  which  the Chinese  Emperor  had  issued  strict
        injunctions.   The  Captain  witness.  ed  here  most
        interesting   objects   and   scenes,  and  collected
        materials by his intelligent observation and inquiry,
        whereby  he  confirmed   and  widened  the  knowledge
        regarding the country which had been laid open by his
        predecessor. hen the time came to leave the place, he
        was introduced  to the infant Lama, then only a child
        eighteen months old, and he gives the most surprising
        and most romantic  account  of this  audience, and of
        the manner  in which  this  little  Avatar  comported
        himself.  Throughout  the whole period of the sojourn
        of the mission our Puran Gir was most
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Turner, ibid., p. 450.
        (2) Turner, ibid., p. 240.
        (3) Turner, ibid., 230.
                                p.68
        actively engaged in all such departments  of business
        in which he could prove himself useful.  At length on
        the 2nd of December  the mission departed  from Tashi
        Lhunpo  on the return  journey  to Bengal, where they
        reached  Patna in March  1784, and there  the Captain
        submitted   to  Mr.   Hastings  his  official  report
        detailing an account of the result of his mission.(1)
            At  the  commencement  of  1785  Warren  Hastings
        contemplated   appointing   Puran  Gir  Gosain  as  a
        diplomatic  agent at the Tibetan court, and delivered
        to him despatches  for the new or rather  regenerated
        Tashi  Lama  and the Regent.  On the  8th of February
        1785,  he  resigned   his  Governor-Generalship   and
        embarked for England.  Captain Turner introduced  the
        Gosain  to  the  officiating  Governor-General   John
        Macpherson, and  he was  allowed  to  proceed  on his
        mission  which  started  in March  of the same  year.
        Passing  through  Bhutan  and  transacting   business
        there, the Gosain arrived at Tashi Lhunpo. He too had
        come here on a momentous occasion, he saw the removal
        of the child Lama from the Tharpa Ling monastery, and
        his installation  on the throne  of his predecessors,
        who in fact  were  believed  to have  been  different
        corporeal  forms  of his own spirit.  He had frequent
        interviews   with  the  Regent  and  various  Tibetan
        authorities, during  which he did his best to confirm
        the friendship  between the Bengal Government and the
        Tashi  Lhun po Court, under  the shadow  of which  he
        remained  for  five  months,  and  then  returned  to
        Calcutta, with letters  from the Lama and the Regent,
        which together  with his own report  he delivered  to
        the above statesman.(2)
            Thus ends a brief summary  of the salient  points
        of the missions to Tibet under Warren Hastings' rule;
        and in fact Puran Gir's diplomatic agency is the last
        of the missions which the British Government  has, up
        to this moment, been  able  to send  to that  land of
        mystery.
            The Bho.t Bagan originated  from the incidents of
        the first mission in the following way.  Mr. Bogle in
        relating the conversations he had with the Tashi Lama
        at Tashi Raabgya, says, that on one occasion the Lama
        assured  him  that  " his heart  was  open, and  well
        disposed  towards  "the English, and that  he gave no
        credit to the representations which "had been made to
        their disadvantage."
            "'I  Wish  to have  a place  on the banks  of the
        'Ganges to which I might  send my people  to pray.  I
        'intend to write to the Governor on this subject, and
        wish yen would  second  my application.'"  "I replied
        "that  as I knew  how desirous  the Governor  was  to
        "cultivate his friendship, I was persuaded on this or
        "on any other  occasion  he would find him very ready
        "to gratify him as far as in his power."(3)
        ____________________________________________________
        (1) Turner, ibid., pp. 326--358.
        (2) Torner, ibid., p. 419.
        (3) Markham, ibid., p. 138.
                                p.69
            Mr.  Bogle in his letter to Mr.  Hastings  of the
        5th December, which  perhaps  he wrote from the above
        place, alludes  to the Lama's  desire  of founding  a
        religious  house on the banks of the Ganges, and adds
        what  he had heard  from the Lama.  "About  seven  or
        "eight hundred  years ago, the Tibetan  Pontiffs  had
        "many monasteries  in Bengal, and their priests  used
        "to travel  to that  country  in order  to study  the
        "religion and languages  of the Brahmans and to visit
        "the  holy  places  in Hindustan.  The Musulman, upon
        "conquering  Bengal, plundered  and  destroyed  their
        "temples, and drove  them  out of the country.  Since
        "then there has been little intercourse  between  the
        "two  kingdoms.  The Lama  is sensible  that  it will
        "throw great lustre  on his pontificate, and serve to
        "extend  his fame and character, if he can, after  so
        "long an interval, obtain  a religious  establishment
        "in  Bengal, and  he is very  solicitous  about  this
        "point.  He  proposes,  also, to  send  some  of  his
        "Gylongs, during  the cold season, to wait  up on you
        "at Calcutta, and afterwards  to go on pilgrimage  to
        "Gays  and other  places, and has written  to Chedzum
        "Tamba,(1) at Peking, who has great interest with the
        "Emperor, informing  him that  the  English  are  now
        "masters of Bengal; that you, their chief, have shown
        "him great favour;  that the English  allow every one
        "to follow his own religion unmolested;  and advising
        "him to send some  persons  to wait upon  you, and to
        "visit  the  principal  temples  in Bengal.  I own  I
        "encouraged  all  this, in the view  of strengthening
        "the  intercourse  and  connection  with  Tibet,  and
        "thinking it would be of advantage  to the Company to
        "open any channel of communication  with the Court of
        "China; and although I am not so sanguine as the Lama
        "about   the  success   of  his  endeavours,  however
        "sincere, to obtain leave for you to send a person to
        "the  Emperor, I do not  altogether  despair, by your
        "favour, of  one  day  or other  getting  a sight  of
        "Peking."(2)
            Again, in the course of the first visit which Mr.
        Bogle paid to the Tashi Lama, on his return  to Tashi
        Lhunpo, the latter referred to his previous  proposal
        in  respect  of  forming  a religious  house  on  the
        Ganges, and on receiving the reiterated  assurance of
        the former, as to its compliance, the Lama  spoke  of
        the Chankya  Lama,(3) the high priest  at Peking, and
        of his great influence  at the Chinese  Court, and of
        his intention to
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Properly   Jetsun  Dampa,  identified   with  the
            Taranath  Lama.  He is the third  Pontiff  of the
            Gelugpa  or yellow cap sect, and resides north of
            Tibet among the Khalka tribes  of enter Mongolia,
            near Urga.
        (2) Markham, ibid., p. 134.
        (3) The Tashi Lama always spoke to Mr.  Bogle of this
            high  priest  of China  with  great  respect, and
            described  him as having great influence over the
            Chinese emperor. Through his mediation an attempt
            was made for resort of Chinese  trading  pilgrims
            to Hindustan.
                                p.70
        write  to  this  personage, to the  effect  that  the
        Feringis(1) were masters of Bengal, and had shown him
        great  favour, and added that he thought  it probable
        that  the priest  would  send some  of his people  to
        visit the principal  religious  places, and expected,
        in the event of his doing so, that the Governor would
        give them a good reception.(2)  at another interview,
        the Lama desired  that Mr.  Hastings  should  send an
        embassy to the Dalai Lama, when he would come of age,
        and that, in the event  of his obtaining  a grant  of
        land on the banks of the Ganges, he would place Puran
        Gir Gosain  there, and if he should  stand in need of
        any  small  matter, he  trusted  the  Governor  would
        supply him.(3)
            On Mr.  Bogle's inquiry as to whet site he  would
        prefer, the Lama said, he would  like some  place  in
        the neighbourhood of Calcutta, that the people  to be
        sent  down might  have opportunities  of  seeing  the
        Governor, to whom and to the Pandits  he  would leave
        the matter;  the only thing he would  press  for, was
        that  it  might  be  near  the  Ganges.  He   further
        explained  his  idea  on the subject  of building   a
        house there, end said, "I propose that Puran Gir  who
        "was then down in Calcutta  should  settle it.  I  do
        "not  wish  it to be a large  house, and  let  it  be
        "built in the fashion of Bengal." Be intimated,  that
        he would give the necessary  instructions  to  Puran,
        who, he said, "has served me well, and I have II  not
        "found him  guilty  of so many  lies  as most   other
        "fakirs, and  I hope  the  Governor  will  show   him
        "favour."  He here mentioned the name of another  old
        Gosain  'Sukh  Deb' who, he said, "has also asked  me
        "leave  to  go down  to Calcutta, he  will  accompany
        you;  and I have also "written to the  Governor about
        him, and I hope he will favour him."(4)
            On another occasion the Lama showed Mr. Bogle the
        images  with their  dress which  he intended  to send
        down  to Bengal, through  Puran  Gir, to be put up in
        the proposed temple, and inquired particularly  about
        the  situation  of  a town  called  'Sambhal.(5)  The
        reason assigned by the
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Feringis, a term usually applied in most parts of
            Asia  to  Europeans.  It  is  said  to have  been
            derived  from  Frank.  A  stranger  is  generally
            called Peling.
        (2) Markham, ibid., p. 146.
        (3) Markham, ibid., p. 164.
        (4) Markham, ibid., p, 165.
        (5) Markham, ibid., p.  168.  S'ambhal  is a fabulous
            city, the  Utopia  of the Northern  Buddhists, on
            which Babu S.  C.  Das has supplied the following
            information.  The Tashi Lama wrote  a book called
            Shambalai  Lamyig, i.  s., a, journey to Shambala
            According  to the Tibetan work "Selki-melon," the
            name  S'ambhala  is  derived  from  that  of king
            S'ambhaka of the S'akpa race.  Literally it means
            " one who melee  happy," end 'Sambha  is the name
            of  I'swara.   According   to  the  Tibetans  the
            position  of  the  country  of 'Sambh  ala  is as
            follows.  It is a vast  plain  of the shape  of a
            lotus of eight petals, entirely  surrounded  by a
            wall of snowy
                                p.71
        Lama  for his fondness  for Bengal was that "although
        "in the different periods of his reviviscence  he had
        "chosen many regions for the places of his birth, yet
        "Bengal  was the only  country  in which  he had been
        "born  twice;  for  which  reason, he said, he had  a
        "predelection  for  it  beyond  any  other,  and  was
        "desirous   of  making  it  a  place  of  his  abode,
        "apparently  esteeming the sanctity of the Ganges, as
        "a consideration of inferior importance."(1)
            The  religions prejudices  which endear Bengal to
        the  Tibetans, are again  thus  explained  by Turner,
        who  bases  his information  upon  what  he had heard
        from  the Regent and Sopon Chenpo:(2)--"But Bengal is
        "ren dared  peculiarly  dear  to them by the powerful
        "influence of religions  prejudice.  The regeneration
        "of their  Lama is said to have taken place, in times
        "of remote  antiquity, near  the site  of the ancient
        "and ruined  city of Gowr, and all those places  held
        "in veneration by the Hindoos, as Gya, Benares, Mahow
        "and Allahabad, are equally objects  of superstitious
        "zeal, with a votary  of the Tibet  faith, who thinks
        "himself  blessed  above his fellow  disciples, if he
        "can  but  perform  a pilgrimage  to  these  hallowed
        "spots."(3)
            After Mr.  Bogle's  return to Calcutta, the Lama,
        as he had proposed in his first conversation with him
        on the subject  of his proposed  temple, wrote to Mr.
        Hastings  on the  subject,(4) and  Mr.  Bog]e  in his
        general report, speaking of the apprehension of Tibet
        merchants, in respect  of the heat  and unhealthiness
        of Bengal, urged that "prejudices of this kind are to
        "be cured only by habit, and your compliance with the
        "Teshu  Lama's  desire  of founding  a monastery  and
        "temple on the banks
        _____________________________________________________
            mountains, and conveniently  intersected  by many
            great rivers. At the centre of this great country
            stands  as the filament  of a lotus, its capital,
            the city of Kalapa, with  extensive  gardens  and
            parka round it, which are protected by a circular
            wall  of very lofty  snowy  mountains  with  four
            gates.   Four  rivers  issuing   from  the  snowy
            barriers, water the city and its garden, and then
            flow  into  two  lakes,  called   Upasagara   and
            Pu.n.darika, which adorn the earthly paradise o f
            Kalapa.  At the southern  extremity  of the  city
            stands  the garden of Malaya, with the palace  of
            the Chakravarti Raja Chandra Bhadra. The mansions
            of the  25 Kulika  emper-  ors, who followed  the
            line of the seven Dharma Rajas, stand on the bank
            of the  river  and  line  the  lotus.  The  first
            Chakravarti emperor of 'Sambhala was Suryaprabha.
            In each  of the  eight  petal-like  divisions  of
            S'ambhala  there  are  12,  000,  000  cities, in
            consequence  of which 96,000,000  of cities cover
            th e entire  empire.  The  Enropean  scholars  Of
            Northern   Buddhism   are  inclined  to  identify
            'Sambhala   with  Europe,  making   London   (the
            Western) Kalapa.
        (1) Turner, ibid., p. xv.
        (2) Sopon Chenpo was cup-bearer  and minister  to the
            Tashi Lama;  he wee during the Regency  of Chanjo
            Kusho  second  in  rank  at  the  court  of Tashi
            Lhunpo.
        (3) Turner, ibid., p. 268.
        (4) Markham, ibid., p. 138, note.
                                p.72
        "of  the Ganges  will probably  tend to remove  these
        "strong prepossessions against the climate of Bengal,
        "and  to produce  an intercourse  with  the  northern
        "nations. The safe return of the people whom the Lama
        "proposes  to send  next  winter  to visit  the  holy
        "places  in  Bengal  will  serve  to  inspire   their
        "countrymen  with  confidence;  the  fondness  to the
        "Tibetans   for  every  thing  strange   or  curious,
        "strengthened  by religion, will  probably  lead many
        "others to undertake  so meritorious  a journey;  and
        "these  pilgrimages, like  the Hajj at Mekkah, may in
        "time open a considerable mart for the commodities of
        "Bengal."(l)
            Warren  Hastings, apprised  of the Lama's wish by
        his direct  communication, and urged by Mr.  Bogle as
        to the  paramount  necessity  of complying  with  it,
        issued  the necessary  orders  under which a piece of
        land was purchased  end given  to the Tashi Lama, and
        the construction  of a Buddhist  temple was commenced
        under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Bogle, who  had  been
        previously  trusted  by the  Lama  w h a considerable
        remittance  in money.  Be soon  tie it was completed,
        Hastings  wrote thus on the subject  to the Lama, who
        had previously sent images to be deposited in it--"By
        "the blessing  of God it will be the means  of making
        "your   name   known   in   this   country,  and   of
        "strengthening  the friendship  which is between  us,
        "and you Fill consider it as a mark of the confidence
        "and regard which I bear to you".(2)
            Mr.  Markham discovered  a note on the manuscript
        of  Mr.   Bogle  which  he  supposes  to  be  in  the
        handwriting of A. Dalrymple, Esq.  It records some of
        the above facts, and adds that "people from Tibet and
        "Bhutan  constantly  resorted  to it "(Bho.t Mandir)"
        during the time for which my knowledge reaches."(3)
            The connection of the British Government in India
        with  the Bho.t  Bagan  is now so far revealed  as to
        make it clear that Warren Hastings at the earnest and
        repeated solicitations  of one of the.Grand  Lamas of
        Tibet  designated  the  Tashi  Lama, end  wishing  to
        cultivate   his  friendship   in  the   interest   of
        Tibeto-Bengal  trade, made  choice, at his direction,
        of  (I little  upwards  of a hundred  bighas  of land
        (either  originally  rent-free  or subsequently  made
        such), purchased  it, and in 1778 by the sanad No.  3
        gave  it to him formally, and actually  to Puran  Gir
        Gosain as their protege  and deserved  favourite.  It
        does not appear  in the history  of the missions  how
        the 50 bighas of land, mentioned in the sanads Nos. a
        and  4, came  to be granted  to them  in 1783,(4) but
        from
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Markham, ibid., p. 198.
        (2) Markham, ibid., note 1, p.  138, note 1, p.  146,
            and Turner, ibid., Introd., p. xv.
        (3) Markham, ibid., note I, page 138.
        (4) It should be noted here that the Sanad No.  4 for
            50 bighas  was executed  in favour  of a Lama  in
            1783, but his name is identical  with that of the
            then  deceased  Lama, who  had, while  living  in
            1778, received a grant of 100 bighas by sanad No.
                                p.73
        an episode relating to the Bho.t Bagan, which will be
        noticed  hereafter, it  will  be  seen  that  Captain
        Turner  refers  to these  50 highs.s, when he says in
        one  of his  communications  to the  Governor-General
        (John Macpherson)  in 1786, that it "is a part of the
        "land  situated  on the  western  bank  of the river,
        "opposite  to Calcutta, which  was formerly  granted,
        "under a sunnud  of this government, to Teshoo  Lama,
        "for the foundation  of a place  of worship, and as a
        "resort  for those pilgrims  of his nation, who might
        "ccasionally   make   visits   to   the   consecrated
        "Ganges."(1)  Be also in the same paper describes the
        whole as Puran "Gir's little territory."
            History then corroborates  the statements  in the
        sanads  that the total  area of the Bho.t  Bagan is a
        trifle  upwards  of 150 bighas, and  shows  that  the
        object  of the  grant  was fully  carried  out by the
        liberality   of  the   Lama,  the  amount   of  whose
        remittance,   received   by   Mr.   Bogle   for   the
        construction  of the temple and dwelling, though  not
        traceable now, is stated to have been 'considerable,'
        and hence  the structures  were  no doubt  originally
        commensurate with the large expenditure that had been
        incurred  on  acc  ount  of  them.  There  were  also
        guest-houses,  (as  the   traditions   of  the  place
        confirm), in which  people  from Tibet, some  of whom
        were important  enough  to have been introduced  to J
        Warren  Hastings, were lodged.  The building  that is
        now seen, with partial reconstruction  of some ruined
        portions, must  be the remains  of what  was once  of
        much larger dimension and extent.(2)
            Of the grantees  whose names the sanads  mention,
        one  is the Lama, the other  Puran  Gir  Gosain.  The
        title  of the former, as given in the Persian, and as
        already  set  forth, is Teshi  Lamah  Panchan  Ardani
        Bakdeo  Panchan, which  I think  would  be  correctly
        Tashi Lama Panchan  Erteni  Vakya Deva, meaning  "the
        Tashi  Lama  Pa.n.dita, the gem of greet  Pa.n.ditas,
        Vakyadeva  (lord  of speech.)"  It was  thus  for the
        first  and  last  time  in the  annals  of Tibet  and
        Buddhadom  and of Britist  India, that an Avatar, the
        living  divinity, who from his palace  on the highest
        regions   where   man   can   dwell,  exercises   his
        hierarchical   away  over  the  largest   extent   of
        territories  in  the  world, condescended  to  accept
        sanads from the representative  of the British  Power
        in India  and to become  his Jagirdar  a hundred  and
        twenty years ago! The personage  who gave the kindest
        reception  to Mr.  Bogle  and formed  with him a real
        friendship,
        _____________________________________________________
            2. This anomaly may be explained by the fact that
            it is not the name  of a person, bot the official
            designation that is mentioned in both the sanads.
        (1) Turner, ibid., p. 432.
        (2) The Bho.t Bagan or rather  Bho.t  Mandir  in fact
            were constituted a ma.th in which character it is
            perhaps   the  only  one  besides   that  of  the
            celebrated Tarke'swar, in Bengal.
                                p.74
        and who was in fact the formal assignee  of the Bho.t
        Bagan land, is described by the latter as having been
        forty years of age, and of low stature, birer than an
        ordinary Tibetan with jet-black  hair, and eyes small
        and black.  He could speak Hinddustani tolerably. His
        disposition was open, candid, and generous, and merry
        end  entertaining  in  his  conversation.  Says  Mr..
        Bogle, "I endeavoured  to find out, in his character,
        "those defects  which are inseparable  from humanity,
        "but  he  is so universally  beloved  that  I had  no
        "success, and not a man could  find  in his heart  to
        "speak ill of him."(1) He remarks elsewhere, that the
        Lama's thirst for knowledge was insatiable. The other
        assignee's  name in the sanads appears in Persian  as
        Puran  Gir, and  in the  Bengali  inscription  on the
        tomb-house  door-top in the Bho.t Bagan as Puran Giri
        Mahanta.
            The  next  point  of inquiry  is, how  under  the
        influence of Buddhism, a religion so well-known to be
        antagonistic  in  its  main  tenets  to  Hinduism  as
        derived  from the Vedas and Pura.nas--representatives
        of Hindu and Buddhist mythology are found mixed up in
        the Bho.t Mandir?
            In the sixth  century  before  the Christian  era
        Buddhism was founded in India;  three centuries later
        it became  the state religion  of the country, and in
        the early part of the fourth century  before the same
        era, it  was  introduced  into  Ceylon  where  it  is
        believed to have been preserved  in its purest state,
        but as missionaries  began to spread  it in different
        countries  out of India, great  departures  from  the
        original  institution  began  to take  place.  It was
        accepted  in China, at the commencement  of the  era,
        and  it reached  Tibet,(2)  in the  beginning  of the
        seventh century through  the influence  of a, Chinese
        princess.  It came from China and India  in two mixed
        streams;  from  the former  country  flowing  through
        successive  beds  of  old  religions  and  indigenous
        philosophy, and  from  the latter, as from  its  main
        source,  it  came  in  continuous   currents  through
        translations end retranslations of its hagiology, end
        through  Puranic  and Tantric  literature  under  the
        teachings  of the Brahmans, and  from  both  weighted
        with exhau ess legends  since the days of 'Sakyamuni.
        Among the holy books  imported  into Tibet from India
        are  mentioned  the  Tantras  in twenty-two  volumes.
        according to the commentary on the Kalachakra Tantra,
        after Buddha's death "the compilers  writing in three
        books the three vehicles (or works on
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Markham, ibid., p. 84.
        (2) "It is raid that a native  king  established  the
            "seat of Government at Lhasa in 617 A.  D.;  that
            he "married  a Chinese  princess  of the Buddhist
            "persuasion, and that  he Plant  his minister  to
            "India, who returned with the great body of truth
            "contained  in the Buddhist canonical Scriptures,
            "framed the Tibetan alphabet  from the Devanagari
            "of India, and commenced  the translation  of the
            "canon  from  Sanskrit  into the language  of the
            "country. Markham, ibid., pp. xlv, xlvi.
                                p.75
        "three fold principles), they expressed all the three
        "true  repositories  of Sutra, of  Tathagata, in  his
        "language.  The Praj~nya-paramita  and the Mantras in
        "Sanscrit;  the several  sorts of Tantras  in several
        "languages,  Sanscrit, Pracrit, Apabhransha, in  that
        "of the mountaineers, and  all  sorts  of mlechchhas.
        "accordingly  all the three Vehicles (yanam) in Tibet
        "were  written  in the  Tibetan  language."(1)  Csoma
        Korosi describes  four different  systems of Buddhism
        derived from India.
            Mahamaya(2), a revered  name in Hindu  mythology,
        and  specially  in the 'Sakti  doctrine, is also  the
        name of the mother of Buddha, and as such, around  it
        have  accumulated  legendary  accretions,  which,  in
        Tibet, have greatly predominated.  The incarnation of
        the Grand  Lamas, though  it may at first  appear, in
        its  temporal  aspect, peculiar  to Tibet,is  in  its
        essence    the   widely    accepted    doctrine    of
        metempsychosis in Hindu mythology and philosophy.
            Besides  the circumstance  of the import of Hindu
        'Sastras  of different  periods  into Tibet, its very
        situation  in the midst of mountains and lofty peaks,
        sources  of greet rivers  and springs, and lakes held
        equally sacred by the Hindus and Buddhists, has, from
        the remotest  times, rendered  it the common  meeting
        ground of pilgrims of both faiths, not to mention the
        frequency  of such meetings  between the mountaineers
        and the people  of the plains  bent  upon  mercantile
        errands, whereby  a blending  of the  two rel  igions
        became inevitable.
            The history of the missions, moreover, brings out
        striking  proofs  of such  blending.  The very  first
        thing, at every  stage  of their  journeys  from  the
        duars(3)  of Bhutan  up to the mountain  terraces, to
        Tashi  Lhunpo, which the two envoys  Bogle and Turner
        marked, was the very great respect paid by the people
        and  the chiefs  to the  Gosains  and  Sannyasis, the
        Gelongs,(4) and even Faqirs.(5)  They both saw in the
        palace  of the Lama, in the temples  and monasteries,
        and in other places, idols and church  services  , to
        confirm them in the belief that Tibetan Buddhism  was
        intimately  connected  with many important  phases of
        mediaeval  and  modern  Hinduism.   Says  Bogle  "The
        religion of the Lamas is somehow connected  with that
        of the  Hindus, and many  of their  deities  are  the
        same, the Shaster is translated  into their language;
        and they hold
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Hardy's Eastern Monachism, pp. 188-189.
        (2) Mahamaya. In one of the Jatakas there is a legend
            that king Sanja became  Suddhodana, the father of
            Gotama Buddha;  the queen Phusati became Mahamaya
            Devi, his mother.  Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p.
            118, 133.
        (3) Duars from Sanskrit dvara, door, gate.
        (4) Gelong, i. a., dGe-slong, a monk.
        (5) Faqirs.  Though applied to Muhammadan mendicants,
            the term is loosely applied to mendicants  of all
            religions.
                                p.76
        "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;  probably it was
        that of Kartikeya. 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  places;  that  their
        "priests  used to travel  there  to study the Shaster
        "and  the  religion   of  the  Brahmans;   and  after
        "remaining   there  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  years,
        "returned  to Tibet communicating  their knowledge to
        "their   countrymen,  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  snob  as escaped  returned  to
        "their mountains  alone;  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 pointed out
        the connection  between  his faith  and  that  of the
        Brahman,  said, the  Tibetans  worshipped  the  three
        Hindu *6 gods Brahma, Vishnu  and Siva, bat not their
        inferior  deities.(1)  These three names symbolically
        express   the  three  attributes   of  the  deity  as
        comprehended  in the Vedic holy syllable O.m, but the
        three emblems  O.m 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 pilgrimage
        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  the late Tashi Lama, having  by his agents
        pilgrimized  to  Ka'si,  Prayaga,  Ganga  Sagar,  and
        Jaggannath  Purl.  among the assemblage of gods he aw
        in Tibet, he mentions  the Hindu  deities, Durga  and
        Kali, (Ga.ne'sa and Kartikeya. He refers elsewhere to
        a Bhutanese  Durga  Puja.  Thus cumulative  proof  is
        found to justify Tibeto-Buddhism, allowing Buddhistic
        and Hindu idols to be worshipped  in the same temple,
        as it is seen in the Bho.t Mandir.
            The public  services  of Puran  Gir commenced, so
        far as records  show, when  as a young  Sannyasi, not
        more than perhaps twenty-five  years old, he received
        from the 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.
                                p.77
            We see in our mind's  eye this  personage  in his
        ascetic  garb  with  da.n.da  and kama.n.dalu  in his
        hands, and with his tiger skin hung on his shoulders,
        ushered into the saloon of our Government  House, and
        introduced to the first Governor-General  as the holy
        envoy   from  the  Grand   Lama.   He  presents   his
        credentials  to him, and lays  before  him the Lama's
        presents, which included "talents of gold and silver,
        bulses of gold dust, and bags of "genuine musk." Long
        and searching  were the inquiries  which were made by
        the  inquisitive  Mr.  Hastings, and the  answers  he
        received  were most satisfactory  and suggestive, and
        led  to the mission  of Mr.  Bogle.  When  Puran  Gir
        accompanied  Mr.  Bogle on this mission, his services
        were found of immense value, and almost indispensable
        at every  important  stage  of the journey.  at Tashi
        Chhoijang, while the mission  waited  to receive  the
        Lama's  permission   to  proceed  to  Tibet,  Chinese
        intrigue  and  jealousy  at  Lhasa, operating  at the
        Tashi  Lhunpo  Court, threatened  to  cut  short  the
        progre  s of  the  deputation.  The  Tashi  Lama  had
        written letters to Mr. Hastings, to Mr. Bogle, and to
        Purau  Gir, which were received  by the Deb Raja.  In
        the  two former, the addressees  were  informed  that
        "his  (the  Lama's)  country  being  subject  to  the
        "Emperor  of China, whose  order  it is that he shall
        "admit no Moghul, Hindu stani, Patan or Fringy, he is
        "without remedy, and China being at the distance of a
        "year's journey, prevents his writing to the Emperor,
        "for permission, and desires  me therefore  to return
        "to  Calcutta."(1)  The  communication  to Puran  Gir
        again  informed  him that  he (the  Lama)  wished  to
        postpone  Mr.  Bogle's  visit to Tibet on account  of
        small-pox breaking out there.  Suspecting these to be
        mere pretences  to cover some real cause  of aversion
        on the part of the Lama to see him, Mr.  Bogle now at
        most in despair turned towards  our Gosain Puran, and
        says he, "In this  situation  all my hopes  of seeing
        "Teshu Lama were chiefly founded on the Gosain. As my
        "journey had been undertaken  upon his assurances, he
        "was engaged  in honour to see it accomplished, and I
        "endeavoured to strengthen this principle by powerful
        "motives.  While  he  remained  at Tassisudon  (Tashi
        "Chhoijang), he could be of no service, and I readily
        "consented to his proceeding to the Lama."(2)
            The noble Gosain was keenly alive to a true sense
        of honour;  he was much trusted  by the Lama, and his
        words carried  weight.  He explained  to him the true
        state  of things, and  disabused  his  mind.of  wrong
        impressions   against   the   English,  and   at  his
        suggestion  the Tashi Lama wrote to the Dalai Lama 's
        Minister, drawing his attention  to the courtesy  end
        high-mindedness  of the  Feringis  in their  dealings
        with the defeated Depa Shidar in compliance  with his
        request,  and  warning  him  of  the  consequence  of
        refusing permission to the admittance of the mission.
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Markham, ibid., p. 45.
        (2) Markham, ibid., p. 46.
                                p.78
        The  permission  was granted  slid  forwarded  to Mr.
        Bogle through  the Deb Raja.  Not content  with being
        instrumental  in obtaining passports, he came down to
        meet  the mission  in their  journey  up, and joining
        them at Giansu, conducted  them at once to the Lama's
        Tashi Rabgya palace.
            During the whole period of Mr. Bogle's sojourn in
        Tibet,  Puran   Gir  was  not  only   his   cicerone,
        interpreter, and adviser, but he was  unremitting  in
        his endeavours to establish a friendly disposition in
        the  mind  of the  Tashi  Lama, towards  the  British
        Government, and to bring  about  that intimacy  which
        grew up between these personages. He was the constant
        referee of both on various matters of importance, and
        often  cited by them as a witness  in respect  of the
        personal  dealings of each relating  to the missio on
        any  points  in  the  administrations  of  Tibet  and
        Bengal.  Bogle  asking  him  to say how  tolerant  of
        religious  matters, and how  successful  in promoting
        security  of life end property was the Government  of
        Hastings, and the Lama  inviting  him to testify  how
        peace-loving  and  quiet  were  his  people, and  how
        grateful were his sentiments towards Mr. Hastings for
        his ready  compliance  with  his request, of whom  he
        said "he (Mr.  Hastings) has made him very happy, and
        "has  done a very pious  action.  My servants  (among
        "whom was Puran  Girl who went to Calcutta  were only
        "little men, and the kind reception they had from the
        "Governor   I  consider   as  another   mark  of  his
        "friendship."(1)
            It has been already  stated that the contemplated
        second mission  60 Tibet under Mr.  Bogle in 1779 was
        prevented  by the departure of the Tashi Lama, at the
        time to Peking, and by the death of Bogle himself ill
        1781, and that Puran Gir Gosain  had, at the instance
        of the Government of Bengal, accompanied  the Lama to
        China.
            He showed  his  powers  of observation  by taking
        notes of every important  event in the journey of the
        Lama, of his interview  with  the Emperor  and of his
        reception. He actually wrote out a graphic account of
        all  this.  Who  translated  it is not  known, but  a
        translation was with Mr.  Hastings from whom, through
        various channels, Mr.  A.  Dalrymple obtained it, and
        published  it in the Oriental  Repertory.  It is most
        interesting  and of special value in connection  with
        the  present  subject, it, or rather  its origin  al,
        being  the  literary  production   of  our  versatile
        Gosain.  Among many facts contained in it, those that
        should   be  noted   here   are: -the   extraordinary
        veneration  and  esteem  which  the  Chinese  Emperor
        exhibited   towards   the   Lama   in  his   repeated
        entreaties, whereby  he pressed  him to come to China
        on his having at first declined  to go there;  in the
        grand  and  expensive  preparations  that  were  made
        throughout  the  entire  course  of a long  end  slow
        journey, and in the assiduous
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Markham, ibid., p.136.
                                p.79
        and  respectful   attentions  shown  him  during  his
        sojourn  in  Peking, where, on  his  arrival, he  was
        seated on the highest cushion on the imperial  throne
        on the right side of the Emperor;  the proceedings of
        the   spiritual   initiation   through   the   Lama's
        whispering  of the mantra  or sacred  text  into  the
        Emperor's ear after the Hindu fashion in the presence
        of Changya guru;(1) and the particular  interview  in
        which the good Tashi Lama, true to his word, informed
        the Emperor  that "in the country of Hindustan, which
        "lies on the borders  of my country, there resides  a
        "great  prince  or ruler for whom I have the greatest
        "friendship.  I wish you should  now regard him also,
        "and if you will write him a letter of friendship and
        "receive  his  in  return, it will  afford  me  great
        "pleasure, as I wish  you  should  be known  to  each
        "other, and that a friendly communication  should, in
        "future, subsist between you."
            The Emperor, on hearing  this  request  from  the
        much venerated Lama, replied that it was a very small
        one indeed, "but  that  this  or any  thing  else  he
        "desired, should be complied  with.  He continued  to
        "inquire  of the Lama what that Prince  or Governor's
        "name  was, the extent  of the country  he ruled over
        "and the number of forces &c." At this stage the Lama
        sent for his confidential  Puran  Gir, presented  him
        before  his  Celestial  Majesty, and desired  him  to
        answer  the inquiries  of the Emperor  regarding  the
        overnor of Hindustan "as (he) the writer(2) had often
        been in his country, The writer  "then  informed  him
        "that  the  Governor  of  Hindustan  was  called  Mr.
        "Hastings, that the extent of the country he governed
        "was not near equal to that of China, but superior to
        "any  other  he knew, and  that  the  troops  of that
        "country were upwards of three lacks of horsemen."(3)
            On another occasion  the Lama in the presence  of
        Puran Gir reminded the Emperor that "he had some time
        "before  mentioned  to him  a prince  or governor  of
        "Hindustan, called  Mr.  Hastings, with whom  he (the
        "Lama) held strict friendship, and repealed  his wish
        "that the Emperor  should  know him and hold friendly
        "intercourse  with  him  also  by writing  to him and
        "receiving  his friendly answers.  Much more was said
        "by  the Lama, on this  subject, to all of which  the
        "Emperor replied, that he could only assure the Lama,
        "he joined most heartily  with him in what he wished,
        "as  it would  give  him much  pleasure  to know  and
        "correspond  with  the  Governor  of  Hindustan,  his
        "friend;  and to convince  him  of his  sincerity, he
        "would,  if  the  Lama  desired  it, cause  a  letter
        "immediately to be written to the Governor in such
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) The Chinese high priest.
        (2) Puran  does  not  speak  of himself  in the first
            person but as 'the writer.'
        (3) Oriental Repertory, VII, pp. 145--164.
                                p.80
        "terms  as the Lama  should  dictate, or if the  Lama
        thought,  it  would   "be  more   effectual   towards
        establishing  the  friendship, he  wished  that  "the
        letter should be in readiness  when the Lame took his
        departure  "from  China, and that he should  take  it
        with  him, and have  the care  "of forwarding  it, in
        such manner as he thought  beat, to the Governor  "of
        Hindustan.  The latter mode the Lama made choice  of,
        end expres"sed much satisfaction."
            It was destined, however, that  all this friendly
        endeavour  on the very eve of bearing fruit should be
        frustrated, for  the  Lama  was  seized, as elsewhere
        stated,   with   small-pox,  about   which   he   had
        forebodings  before he left Tashi Lhunpo, and in fact
        had   written   to  the   Emperor   as  one   of  his
        apprehensions  which disinclined  him to go to China.
        Of this disease  the Lama died on the evening  of the
        12th November  1780 as he sat at prayer.  Puran  Gir,
        whom  the Lama  in his dying  hour  had sent  for and
        conversed  with, describes  his death  "to have  been
        remarkably tranquil."
            The Emperor who, on receipt  of the sad news, had
        come  to see  the  dead  body  still  remaining  in a
        sitting  posture  through  the  help  of pillows, was
        moved to tears.(1) In that position it was put into a
        coffin, then into a large temple-shaped receptacle of
        pure gold, with an outer covering  of copper, end was
        sent in great procession  to Tashi Lhunpo, under  the
        charge  of the departed  Lame's  brother, to whom the
        Emperor said that "he trusted to the Almighty soon to
        hear  of his  arrival  there, "but  above  all  other
        things  he  would  impatiently  long  to hear  of the
        "Lama's  regeneration,"  which  it  was  his  special
        request strictly to inform him of.
            Puran  Gir accompanied  this  procession, and saw
        the  gold  cased  earthly   tenement   of  the  Lame,
        deposited  in a mausoleum  in Tashi Lhunpo, while the
        Buddha world in the north remained expectant  for the
        appearance  of  an infant, vivified  by the  departed
        spirit of the Tashi Lame to be elected his successor.
            The Chinese Emperor Kuen-lung's proceedings  with
        reference  to the Lama closed  with a letter which he
        addressed  to the  Dalai  Lama, informing  him of his
        death, and  touchingly  alluding  to  the  foreboding
        which had at first disinclined him to visit China.(2)
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) The affecting scene described  by Puran Gir, when
            the Chinese  Emperor  was shedding  tease  at the
            bedside  of  the  dying  Tashi  Lame, bears  some
            resemblance to the great Akbar repairing with his
            Hakim  to the house  of his favourite  Faizi  the
            celebrated  poet  and scholar, when he found  him
            breathing  his last.  throwing away his head gear
            as  a  mark  sorrow  and  bitterly   uttering  an
            extemporised mourning verse.
        (2) A translation  of  this  letter  by  M.  Amiot, a
            missionary, is also  published  in the  Or.  Rep.
            vii,   p.   279.   Mr.   Amiot   had   previously
            communicated information to
                                p.81
            The Regent(1) above named as well as the minister
        to the late Lama Soipon  Chenpo, in two very  curious
        letters, conveyed  to Warren Hastings  the melancholy
        intelligence  of the  death  of the  Lama  at Peking,
        expressing  at the same  time  a hope  for the speedy
        incarnation  of his soul.  In both these letters  our
        Puran   Gir  is  often  and  often   mentioned   with
        expressions  of great confidence in his character and
        ability.  The Soipon Chenpo writes-"From the relation
        of Puran Gir inform  your"self  of those things which
        past, and of those  which  are present, and "of those
        things  which  are to come  to pass," and  the Regent
        after giving a brief account of the late Tashi Lama's
        visit  to China and his melancholy  fate and funeral,
        says, "Poorungheer  Gosein arrived  "here in the year
        1193, after the departure  of the Lama towards  China
        "and two letters, and nine strings of pearls, &c. &c.
        arrived safe" * a "I have communicated other matters,
        and  other  things, to the faithful  "Poorungheer  by
        whom  you  will  be informed  of them.  In compliance
        "with  your  wishes, you will  permit  him  to remain
        under the shadow  "of your protection, and favour him
        with such  marks  of your  kindness, (' as may enable
        him to pass  his days  in returning  thanks  for your
        good"ness.(2)
            There  is, in the  last  letter, allusion  in two
        places  to some "village  of the Raja "in respect  of
        which  Hastings  had shows  the Lama some favour  and
        likewise  with reference  to " the certain portion of
        land and " the mahsool  thereon  and in settling  the
        disputes  appertaining  thereto."  It is obvious that
        the allusions refer to the encroachment  on the Bho.t
        Bagan  to be noticed  further  on.  The  Regent  also
        applies  for  the grant  of "a, lot of land(3) in the
        noble  city  of Calcutta, on the bank  of the Fiver."
        Concerning  this affair says he, "I have spoken fully
        and " particularly  to the Gosein Poorungheer, and he
        will make known  to you "the  whole  thereof, and yon
        will  comply  with  my request."
            Puran Gir, when he accompanied  Captain Turner to
        Tibet, rendered  services in promoting  the object of
        the mission as valuable as in the case of Mr.  Bogle,
        and the Regent reposed in him the same confidence  as
        had been done by the deceased Tashi Lame;  and thongh
        the Captain  does  not, in his report  and narrative,
        refer to him as often as his prede-
        _____________________________________________________
            a Paris Journal of the imperial  preparation  for
            the celebration  of a ceremony on the seventeenth
            birthday  of the Emperor, to which  the Pan-tchan
            Erteni, as he calls him, was invited. The Emperor
            writes  in the above letter, "Althongh  I am well
            aware  that  to conte  anal  to go are but as the
            same  thing  to the Panchan  Erteni, yet  when  I
            reflect &c."
        (1) The Regent's letter has already been incidentally
            noticed.
        (2) Turner, ibid., Ap., pp. 449--456.
        (3) This seems to have been a, fresh request for land
            within the city of Calcutta.  It is not known how
            it was dealt with.
                                p.82
        cessor  did, he  always  speaks  of  him  with  great
        appreciation, calls  him  a Hindu  Gosain, a kind  of
        religious  hermit or pilgrim, end says, " Motives "Of
        religious  duty, which, among  the  order  of Goseins
        more specially, "attaches  peculiar  respect to every
        kind and degree of penance, having "occasionally  led
        Poorungheer among the different tribes of Tartars, he
        "had acquired, during his residence  amongst  them, a
        very competent  "knowledge  of their  manners, and of
        their  language, which he spoke "with apparent  ease;
        and by the exemplary  regularity  of conduct  he "had
        uniformly  preserved  in  his  intercourse  with  the
        inhabitants  of "these  regions, I found  that he had
        strongly  recommended  himself  to their "notice, and
        obtained  the  favour  of all  their  chiefs."(1) And
        again that he as well as the Tibetan Pauima "were men
        of acute  understanding  "and ready  information, and
        from them much knowledge  was collected  "both of the
        country  from  which  they came, and of the way which
        led " to it."
            It was a grand  and momentous  occasion  when the
        Bengal  Mission   arrived   in  Tibet.   It  was  the
        celebration  of a festival  on the  Tashi  Lama's  (a
        Boddhisatwa) having sacrificed his Buddhahood for the
        behoof of his devotees  and reappeared  in the flesh,
        There was a mighty  stir and flutter  throughout  the
        Buddha, domains, extending  on the one hand  to China
        end Tartary, and on the other  to Bhutan, Sikkim  and
        Nepal.   Magnificent   preparations,  calculated   to
        produce  a specta-  cular effect, were made to remove
        the infant  Lama from his house in the Painon  valley
        to the  monastery  of Tharpaling  for  his  training.
        Turner sought, through the mediation of Puran Gir, to
        obtain  for  him  admittance  into  the arena  of the
        imposing ceremony, but the assiduous Gosain failed in
        his  endeavour.  Chinese  jealousy  of strangers  was
        apprehended, and  the  Regent's  and Soipon  Chenpo's
        conversation  on a former  occasion  explained  this,
        when  they  cited  Puran  air  as  witness  to L' the
        anxiety they It had laboured under, in contriving  to
        conduct" the Captain to Tashi Lhunpo.  Captain Turner
        was perfectly satisfied as to the genuineness of this
        dread of Chinese  influence, though this nation deify
        the   Lama.   He  says   in  the  recital   of  their
        embarrassments, " though  they are averse "to own any
        immediate  dependance   upon  the  Chinese,  I  could
        plainly  "trace  the greatest  awe of the Emperor  of
        China, of his officers  "stationed  at the  court  of
        Lassa  styled  Umbas, as well  as of the Jasoos, "and
        the Raja  of that  place, Gesub  Rimbochay(2) who had
        usurped even,
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Turner; ibid., p. 38, note.
        (2) Properly  Gyetshab  Rinpochhe  (also called which
            Turner  finds  no exact  English  equivalent, but
            supposes  it to mean Prime minister and something
            more, ibid., p. 245) is a temporal sovereign who,
            during  the minority  of the Dalai Lama at Lhasa,
            presides  as the Regent.  As this minority  is of
            frequent occurrence, the
                                p.83
        "from  the  hands  of the  Dalai  Lama, the  greatest
        portion of his tem"poral power."
            The Regent  and the minister, however, soon after
        the retirement  of the Chinese  troops  and officers,
        who had been sent by the Emperor to escort the infant
        Lama  to the  monastery, allowed  Captain  Turner  to
        obtain,  through  the  Gosain's  endeavour,  a  ready
        compliance With such requests as he made from time to
        time.  He  was  admitted  into  the  monasteries, and
        allowed  to enter  the mausoleum  of the  late  Tashi
        Lama, the structure, adornments, and riches of which,
        end the ceremonies in which, he describe's with great
        circumstantiality.   He   saw   depicted,  upon   the
        pedestal, the imperial Chinese dragon--a  conspicuous
        indication  of the suzerainty  of this nation.  Under
        the portico of the mausoleum, sat a priest reading  a
        book(1) with the greatest  attention, indifferent  to
        what was going around;  there were others  to relieve
        him, it being their duty to pray perpetually upon the
        same  spot, end keep  alive  the sacred  fire(2) that
        burns  before  the shrine.  The departed  Tashi Lama,
        whose corpse cased in gold was deposited  at the base
        of  the  pyramidal   tomb,  in  as  upright   sitting
        devotional attitude, was represented on the top in an
        effigy   of  gold.   Puran  Gir  Gosain   and  others
        "prostrated   themselves   nine  times   with  devout
        humility."  The  Captain  saw  also  every  religions
        edifice  adorned  with  the head of the lion evincing
        the Tibetan veneration for the animal.
            Towards  the  commencement  of December, when, on
        the return  journey, the deputation  came to the foot
        of the  hill  on which  was situated  the  Tharpaling
        monastery  already noticed, in which the infant Lama,
        then  eighteen   months  old  had  been  lodged   for
        education, Captain  Turner was allowed  to visit this
        Lame, whom  he found  seated  in great  form upon his
        throne  with  his  parents  on each  side.  The child
        turned  towards  a crowd  of visitors  that  came  to
        worship him, " end received  them all with a cheerful
        look of complacency."  The father, among other things
        said, that the Lame rose earlier than usual, "because
        the English gentlemen  were arrived, and he could not
        sleep."  " During the time we were in the room," says
        the Captain, " I observed  that "the Lama's eyes were
        scarcely ever turned from us, and when our "cups were
        empty of tea, he appeared  uneasy, * * * until " they
        were filled again.  He took some burnt sugar out of a
        golden cup,
        _____________________________________________________
            Gesab   in  fact   is  cousidered   as  the  real
            sovereign,  the  Dalai  on  coming  to  years  of
            maturity  often tries to shake off the control of
            the ambitious  Gesabs, but the latter succeed  by
            foul means to retain power.
        (1) Like  the  reading  of the  Chandi  in the  Hindu
            shrines;  but the Tibetan practice of unremitting
            recitation is unique.
        (2) The preservation  of the sacred  fire  is another
            old  Hindu  religious  practicee  adopted  by the
            Tibetans.
                                p.84
        "containing  some confectionary, and, stretching  out
        his arm, made  a, "motion  to his  attendant, to give
        them  to  me.  * * *  *  *  "I  found  myself, though
        visiting  an infant, tinder the necessity  of "saying
        something;   for   it   was   hinted   to   me,  that
        notwithstanding  "he is unable to reply, it is not to
        be inferred  that he cannot  un-  "derstand"  He, the
        captain, then made a brief speech, beginning  with an
        allusion to his (the Lama's) death in China end happy
        regeneration, and to the joy of the  Governor-General
        at this  last  auspicious  event, and ending  with  a
        request  for an extensive  communication  between his
        votaries end the dependants of the British Nation. 'L
        The 'little creature  turned," writes captain Turner,
        " looking stedfastly towards "me, with the appearance
        of much  attention  while  I spoke, and nodded  "with
        repeated but slow movements of the head, as though he
        under"stood  end approved  every word, but could  not
        utter a reply.  "His whole attention  was directed to
        us;  he was silent  and sedate, "never  once  looking
        towards  his parents;  * * * his  be"haviour, on this
        occasion, appeared perfectly natural and spontaneous,
        "and not directed  by any external action, or sign of
        authority.  * * "He made the most  expressive  signs,
        and conducted  himself with asto"nishing  dignity and
        decorum.  *  * He  had  an  animated  expres"sion  of
        countenance;  altogether, I thought  him  one  of the
        handsomest  "children  I had ever seen." When a watch
        on another  visit was presented  to him, " he admired
        it,  but  with  gravity  and  without  any  "childish
        emotion."(1)
            The work performed  by Puran Gir, when he himself
        as envoy  of the Governor-General  presented  himself
        before  the  Regent  of  the  minor  Tashi  Lame, has
        already been briefly noticed.  In his journey through
        Bhutan, he received from the subjects of the Deb Raja
        the  most  ample  and  voluntary  assistance  to  the
        frontier  of his territory, and experienced  upon the
        borders of Tibet such an unusually inclement  weather
        by a heavy fall of snow as to leave  him no doubt  of
        his  falling  a victim  to  if, but  an early  change
        taking piece, the party were enabled to advance.  The
        mission  reached  Tashi  Lhunpo  on the 8th  May, and
        Puran  (;Fir  immediately  presented  himself  at the
        Durbar   of  the   Chanjo   Kusho,  Panchhen   Ertini
        Nomankhan, and explained  the object  of his  mission
        which was the same as the previous  ones.  The Gosain
        received  a most favourable  reception, as due to one
        in whom  the late Lama, the Regent.  himself  and the
        Governor-General   of  India   reposed   the   utmost
        confidence  and whom the people  of Tibet  and Bhutan
        venerated.  He was introduced  into the garden, where
        the young Lama(2) was then taking
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Turner, ibid., p.  334-86.
        (2) Then within his fourth year.
                                p.85
        his  recreation, attended  by the Regent, his parents
        and others. Here he melds his prostration, and showed
        other marks of veneration. The despatches were broken
        open by the Lama, who examined  every article  of the
        present brought to him, and regarded  the Gosain with
        a, very kind and significant  look, talked  to him in
        the  Tibetan  language, and  gave  his  dismissal  by
        laying his hand upon his head which he had previously
        uncovered for the purpose.
            Puran, Gir witnessed one of the grandest and most
        imposing  ceremonies  in Tibet, which was the removal
        of the child Lame, from the Tharpaling  monastery  to
        that of Tashi Lhunpo, and his installation  there  on
        the  throne   of  his  predecessors.   Here   he  saw
        ambassadors  from China, the Dalai Lama himself  from
        Lhasa,  and  deputies   from  many  other  countries,
        accompanied  by  numerous  trains  of attendants  and
        officers, swelled by an unprecedented crowd of people
        whose devotion  or the pleasure  of sight-seeing  had
        drawn   thither,  and  he  beheld   with   wonderment
        arrangements which were conducive to pomp and parade,
        grandeur and magnificence.
            The  Gosain  had  frequent  interviews  with  the
        Regent and the Tibetan  authorities  at Tashi Lhunpo,
        who all assured him of their desire to encourage  the
        commercial intercourse established under the auspices
        of the late Governor-General, and of the respect they
        entertained for the integrity of the character of the
        English  nation, of which they had been convinced  by
        intercourse  with  the  agents  of  Warren  Hastings,
        specially  as the Regent  said that "the views of the
        English  tended  to " no scheme of ambition, but were
        confined   merely   to   objects   of  utility   "End
        curiosity."
            With  Puran  Gir's  mission  in  1785  ended  the
        statesmanly  and most wisely concerted proceedings of
        the first Governor-General of India, to open friendly
        and  commercial   relations   between   the  Tibetan,
        Bhutanese  and  other  Himalayan  states  and Central
        Asian  regions  on  the  one  side, and  the  British
        Government  end  its subjects  on the other-relations
        which received  a rode shock under the Government  of
        Lord  Cornwallis,  when  he  failed  to  realise  the
        importance of promptitude of action in protecting the
        Tashi  Lama's  realm  from the unprovoked  and wanton
        invasion  by the Gurkhali  dynasty of Nepal, in 1792.
        The tardy  measures  which  led to "the  despatch  of
        Captain  Kirkpatrick, followed  too  late  after  the
        Chinese General Sund Fo had vindicated  the honour of
        the Tashi  Lame, end curbed  the ambitious  chief  of
        Nepal by a crushing defeat of his army."
            It will now be seen that while  the establishment
        of Bho.t Bagan and the despatch of the Tibet missions
        owe their origin remotely  to the Gurkha invasion  of
        Sikkim, followed by the Bhutanese invasion of
                                p.86
        Kuch   Behar,  in   1769,  and   the   masterly   and
        conciliatory   policy   of   Warren   Hastings;   and
        proximately   to  the  mysterious  doctrine  of  Lame
        metempsychosis  end the zealous and faithful  service
        of a Sivite  Sannyasi;  the most  audacious  Gurkhali
        invasion above alluded to, culminating in the sack of
        Tashi  Lhunpo  and  the flight  to Lhasa  of the same
        Tashi Lama who as an infant  had received  the Turner
        and the Gosain missions, as well as the foresightless
        and the masterly  inactive  policy  of the Cornwallis
        rule, are to be regarded  as immediate  causes of the
        final closure of the gates for British  officials  to
        the Cis- and Trans-nivean states.  It was also within
        a short while subsequent  to those events that in the
        Bho.t Bagan  the brave  Gosain  met his death  at the
        hands of robbers, as the sequel of the narrative will
        show.  The Gurkha  invasions, therefore, of 1769  and
        1792, should be remembered as the two mile-stones  of
        very important occurrences  in the history of British
        India.
            The  important   features  of  the  extraordinary
        character of Puran Gir, the co-assignee  of the Tashi
        Lame, have  been  gleaned  from  the  history  of the
        missions   to   Tibet.    Be   possessed   remarkable
        intelligence  and  wisdom, a  fund  of  inexhaustible
        energy, a mastery of many languages including Tibetan
        and Mongolian, a wide range of experience acquired by
        travel in and out of India, a practical  insight into
        all the commercial  relations  of Asia of which Tibet
        formed  the  heart,  and  enjoyed   end  deserved   a
        reputation for piety and integrity which made him the
        trusted agent of the Tashi Lhunpo authorities and the
        Bengal  Government.
            Of the personal  history  of this remarkable  and
        extraordinary.  Sannyasi, unfortunately  there exists
        no record;  whatever was known of him, has, like that
        of most  of our illustrious  countrymen, passed  into
        oblivion.   It  is  a  happy   thing   that  so  many
        particulars  end incidents connected  with his public
        life  and such abundant  testimony  to his character,
        capacity and comprehensive knowledge of the important
        affairs of the time, have been preserved in the pages
        of  Markham's  "Narrative  Of the  Mission  of George
        Bogle to Tibet "-a narrative  the materials  of which
        were  traced  by  the  author  in the  possession  of
        private individuals, and were not found in the public
        records of government;  and in the Reports of Captain
        Turner  as  well  as  of  the  Gosain  himself.   The
        statement  of the Gosain was taken down by Turner and
        submitted  to  the  Governor-General  Macpherson, and
        this forms ar annexure  of the Report.  But even such
        information as is here given from these works is of a
        meagre  character, and is so promiscuously  scattered
        rather  as  digressive  matter  that  it  had  to  be
        collected with great circumspection.
            Among the papers which were kindly  delivered  to
        me by Umrao
                                p.87
        Gir,  the  present  Mahanta  of  Bho.t  Bagan, is, as
        already  stated, a passport(1) in Tibetan, which  had
        been given  to Puran  Gir by the Tashi  Lame, for his
        pilgrimage  to the  celebrated  sacred  Lake  of Mana
        Sarovara, the source  of the Sutlej, 800  miles  from
        Lhasa.  This document  shows  what great  regard  and
        respect  the  Lama  had  for  our  Gosain, for  whose
        comfort and convenience  most minute injunctions were
        given in it.  A facsimile  of the text (see Plate II)
        with  a,translation  by Babu  Sarat  Chandra  Das  is
        annexed.
            Some  particulars  about  the  Gosain  have  been
        gathered  from  the statements  of the said  Mahanta.
        According  to him  Puran  was  a Brahma.na  by caste,
        though   as  a  Da.n.di(2)  he  had   cast   off  his
        sacrificial thread.  His title Gir (or Girl) shows he
        was a follower of 'Sankaracharya's  teachings and one
        of  the  Da'sanami   da.n.dis,  and  must  have  been
        initiated  at the Jyosi  ma.th.  In the passport  the
        Tashi  Lama  describes  him  as an Acharya.  He was a
        young  man when he went to Tibet as a pilgrim, he had
        fair features, and was tall, strong  and sinewy.  His
        usual dress consisted of the Sannyasi's kaupina, with
        a short red ochre-dyed  piece of cloth wrapped  round
        his  loins,  and  a  tiger   skin  thrown   over  his
        shoulders, but on certain public occasions  he wore a
        kind of toga, and covered his head with a turban.  He
        was also  a, good  rider, as testified  to by Messrs.
        Bogle  and Turner, with  whom  he rode  races  on the
        Himalayan  plateau.  His habits  were simple  and his
        heart pure, he took a single  spare  meal, and cooked
        his own food consisting of rice and vegetables  only.
        He never ate before feeding his guests.  Pious men of
        all sects frequented  his monastery, and many of them
        lodged there.  He used to be entrusted  with valuable
        commodities, chiefly gold, for sale in Bengal, and he
        had a concern  of his own also, but he never  amassed
        any fortune, which he could easily  have done, but he
        bestowed  what  he gained  in large  and  open-handed
        charities.  It was the special  wish of the Lama that
        in the
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) The passport  granted  to Puran  Gir by the Tashi
            Lame, from Tashi Lhunpo, may be compared with the
            one granted  by the Dalai Lama, from Lhasa, to an
            Armenian in 1868, published with a translation by
            Csoma de Koros in the 2nd volume of this Journal.
            Though indeed they are for different purposes. It
            may  be here  stated  in passing  that  the  seal
            attached  to Puran  Gir's  passport  is the  oral
            signet  seal  of the Tashi  Lama, and that on the
            Armenian's passport is a square seal of the Dalai
            Lame.  If the  engraving  in the latter  had been
            shown, there  would  have been an opportunity  of
            comparing it with the seals on the Persian sanads
            given to Puran Gir. Puran Gir is described in the
            passport as an Acharya.
        (2) Da.n.di, lit.  one who carries  a da.n.da  in his
            hand.  Though  this term applies  generally  to a
            mendicant  carrying  a staff, it is the  peculiar
            appellation  of  a mendicant  of that  particular
            order    which   follows    the   teachings    of
            'Sankaracharya.
        (3) Kaupina  is  a  strip  of  cloth  worn  crosswise
            between the thighs to cover the privities.
                                p.88
        Bho.t  Bagan  monastery  Tibetans,  who  resorted  to
        places of pilgrimage in Bengal and its neighbourhood,
        should  meet with Puran air's hospitability.  Captain
        Turner himself gives an instance of a tall, emaciated
        Sannyasi  pilgrim  from  Tibet, whom  he met  in  the
        streets    of    Calcutta,    introduced    to    the
        Governor-General, and made  over  to Puran  Gir to be
        lodged  in the Bho.t Bagan during  the period  of his
        sojourn in Bengal. Mr.  Dalrymple also, as alluded to
        elsewhere, testifies  to such  facts  by his personal
        knowledge.
            In speaking  of Puran Gir's  last mission  it has
        already been stated that he returned  to Bengal after
        its successful  prosecution.  Captain  Turner, in his
        most  valuable  memorandum  of information, which  he
        gathered  from the Gosain  and which he submitted  to
        Mr.  Macpherson on the 6th February 1786, draws among
        other  things, the attention  of the Governor-Generel
        to the  important  facts  which  he ascertained  with
        infinite  satisfaction  from  the Gosain  and says "I
        learn   from   the   reports   "of  Poorungheer,  the
        flourishing  state of the lately projected  scheme of
        "trade; to promote which, he assures me, not anything
        has been want- "ing in facility of intercourse;  that
        the  adventurers, who had invested  "their  property,
        had experienced  perfect security in conducting their
        "commerce, had carried their articles to an exceeding
        good   market,  and  "found   the  rate  of  exchange
        materially  in their  favour."(1)
            When  puran   Gir  was  away  in  Tibet   on  the
        Government  service, he had left the Bho.t  Bagan  in
        charge of his chela or disciple  Daljit Gir, but when
        he returned  with despatches  from the Tashi Lame, he
        found to his mortification  that a portion of his, or
        the Lama's, property  on the banks  of the river  had
        been invaded  and taken possession  of by a zamindar.
        On the subject of this encroachment, the good Captain
        Turner  thus  put  in a paragraph  in the  memorandum
        alluded  to:--"  the "little  territory  his  adopted
        chela  was  left  in charge  of, having  during  "his
        absence  been  violently  invaded  by  Raaj  Chund, a
        neighbouring  "zemeendar, and  to the  amount  of  50
        begas forcibly taken out of his "hands.  Prevailed on
        by  his  earnest  and  repeated  solicitation, I am "
        induced  to say  for him, that  in your  justice  and
        favour  are  his  only  "hopes  of  relief  from  his
        embarassments, and he humbly asks your pro"tection in
        restoring  and securing him in the possession  of his
        invaded "rights.  The liberty of this intercession, I
        am confident  to think, would  "be forgiven, were  it
        not in favour of one who has rendered various "useful
        services  to this Government;  but though  of trivial
        importance, "it affords  also an authentic  instance,
        of   the   encroaching   disposition   of   "inferior
        zemeendars.  Yet another  circumstance, it may not be
        improper  "to point out;  that the ground alluded to,
        is a part of the land situated
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Tamer, ibid., p. 433.
                                p.89
        "on  the  western  bank  of  the  river, opposite  to
        Calcutta,  which  wets  "formerly  granted,  under  a
        sunnud  of this Government  to Teshoo  Lame, "for the
        foundation of a plane of worship, and as a resort for
        those "pilgrims of his nation, who might occasionally
        make visits to the "consecratad Ganges."(1)
            It will be remembered  that  in one of the sanads
        already  described,  dated  11th  February   1783,  a
        portion  of the 50 bighas of land, thereby granted to
        Puran  Gir  or  the  Lame, is stated  to be  situated
        within  the  property  of Rajchand  Rai.  Now  in the
        absence  of  Puran  from  his  ma.th, this  Rajchand,
        believing perhaps he was dead and not recognising the
        title of his chela  to the property, seized  not only
        the portion of land which no doubt had been purchased
        of  him  or  his  brother  Ramlochan, but  the  other
        portions  which, together  with  it, made  up the  50
        bighas  mentioned  in the sanad.  It does  not appear
        what was the result of Captain Tamer's mediation  for
        the restoration of the lend;  probably Puran regained
        possession of it.
            Our Puran Gir Gosain, now between  1785 and 1786,
        settled  down for good  in his demesne, which, in his
        time, it is said, was exclusively bad rigidly devoted
        to the purposes intended by the Lama.  They were both
        religious and secular, that is, the encouragement  of
        the TibetoBuddhist  religion and the promotion of the
        interests  of the  Tibeto-Bengal  trade.  His  little
        territory  had numerous  cottages  all around for the
        accommodation of pilgrims and traders from Tibet, and
        he divided his time between devotion and the carrying
        out of mercantile  projects, which  latter, so far as
        he  was  concerned, he  advanced  to  enable  him  to
        perform those acts of piety and charity, in which the
        Lame, his patron, and he took supreme pleasure.
            He  is  said  to  have  understood  the  esoteric
        principles  of the 'Sakta  Tantras  as well  as those
        which, perhaps  in a modified  form, found  their way
        into Tibet or were of indigenous origin there, and he
        adopted  the  ideas  of  the  Vedanta  philosophy, as
        represented  in  'Saivaism  by Srtnkaracharya, to the
        Giri  branch  of  whose  school   he  belonged.   He,
        moreover,  was  constituted   an  agent   to  conduct
        mercantile  transactions  in which regular traders as
        well as pilgrims  from Tibet and Bhutan participated.
        With  reference  to the  latter  it is stated  by Mr.
        Bogle and Turner, that Sannyasis used to be entrusted
        with "articles  of great value bat of little bulk and
        weight."  His principal  agency business was directed
        to help the traders  or their people in disposing  of
        their  wares  and  making  purchases.  The  principal
        commodities,
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Turner, ibid., pp.  431, 432.
                                p.90
        which people from the various regions  used to bring,
        were  gold dust(1) in bambu  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  end
        usefully  in  the  Bho.t  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 ~overnorGeneral, it is said, used  to
        visit him at times in his math.
            But a terrible  catastrophe  soon happened  which
        cut short his extraordinary  career end the happy and
        useful  life he was enjoying  under  almost  the very
        shadow  of the Government  Hones.  The fame  of Bho.t
        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 manwantara of
        '76, were then the order of the day. The ranks of the
        dakoits(2) were  also  swelled  by  roving  bands  of
        sannyasis, who in the guise  of mendicants  traversed
        different  countries, and  lost  no opportunities  of
        ravaging   and   plundering    them.    The   offcial
        correspondence  of the time is rife  with  statements
        regarding  them, and projects  for their suppression.
        If will be remembered  that, in the treaty  with  the
        Deb  Raja  already  noticed, there  is an extradition
        clause regarding these sannyasis.
            On an unlucky  night  a gang  of dakoits, whether
        dakoits  or  hypocrite   sannyasis  who  had  perhaps
        experienced the hospitality of the Bho.t Bagan, it is
        not   known,   burst   within   its   precincts   and
        sacrilegiously  entered  the ma.th 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 overpowered  and fell senseless, pierced with the
        thrust of a sarki or bambu spear. The robbers took no
        further  notice of him, and swept dean the temple and
        dwelling   of  whatever  valuables   could  be  found
        therein, end  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  victim  of  violence   and  perhaps
        treachery  and ingratitude, after lingering for about
        thirty-seven  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 need to come from
            Tibet every year. This quantity at the rate of 16
            Its. a told would be worth 51,200 Rs.
        (2) Dacoits, properly .dakait, i.e., robbers.
                                p.91
        to the  undisturbed  security  of life  and  property
        under  the British  raj at that  time.  This occurred
        most probably  in the early part of 1795, the date of
        the consecration  of the tomb being the 23rd Vaisakha
        of 1202, 3rd May 1795.  at this time  his age is said
        to have been not lees  than fifty  years, a statement
        which harmonises  with the fact, which Mr.  Bogle has
        incidentally  noticed  in his  narrative, that  Puran
        Gir, when  be first  saw him, that  is in 1774, was a
        young man.
            Thus  ended  the  life  of the  great  Puran  air
        Gosain,  the  Bho.t   Bagan   mahant,  the  linguist,
        traveller, religionist, and merchant, the  first  and
        the only ambassador of the Tashi Lame sent to Bengal,
        the guide and material helper of the British missions
        to Tibet, the companion of the Lame in his journey to
        China, where in the court  of Peking  he stood before
        the Emperor, and perhaps in Chinese described  to him
        the grandeur of the Raj of Hindustan ruled by a great
        king of the name of Hastings Sahib who was solicitous
        to open a friendly and commercial intercourse between
        Bengal  and Tibet and his empire, and lastly, the man
        who exhibited  such strong and repeated instances  of
        his    ability,    intelligence,   intrepedity    and
        faithfulness as to be appointed, by that keen-sighted
        statesmen  Warren Hastings, the sole envoy accredited
        to the court of Tashi Lhunpo in 1785.
            One may be excused  in indulging  a hope that had
        this Gosain's  life been prolonged, he would no doubt
        have succeeded, with officers  of the style of Bogle,
        Turner   and   Hodgson,  to  open   that   desirsable
        commercial  intercourse  between the Himalayan states
        generally,  and  specially   the  commerce-promoting,
        peace-loving and peace and knowledgeseeking Tibet, on
        the one hand, and the Indian provinces  on the other,
        and saved that trouble, expense, end waste  of energy
        which our ~Xovernment, under one policy or other, is,
        up  to this  time, undergoing  to attain  that  great
        object.
            Daljit Gir Gosain mahant, the chela and successor
        of Puran Gir, formally reported  the melancholy  news
        of his death to the Government. Sharp was the enquiry
        and   quick   the   vindication   of   justice   that
        followed:-four dakoits  expiated  their guilt  on the
        gallows, erected in the Bho.t Bagan itself.
            The pious Daljit  lost no time in performing  the
        funeral rites of his guru or spiritual teacher, whose
        corpse was laid in a coffin in a sitting  posture, as
        was the case  with the Tashi  Lama's  dead  body, and
        interred  in a place behind  the main portion  of the
        ma.th.  A samadhi stambha or tomb was raised over the
        grave with the already mentioned  inscription  in the
        Bengali language and character, and the structure was
        crowned  at  the  top  with  the  phallus  emblem  of
        Mahadeva,  into  whose  spirit,  as  the  inscription
        describes, that of Puran Gir was absorbed. In
                                p.92
        order to carry the account  of Bho.t Bagan  and Puran
        Gir Bho.t mahanta, down to the present time, I should
        say in passing, that the Lame, or rather  the Regent,
        had requested  Captain  Turner  to take  with  him to
        Bengal  the old Suk Deo (Sukha  Deva) Gosain, who was
        afraid  to travel  through  Bhutan  with  his  wealth
        accumulated  by his forty years' mercantile  journeys
        over various distant countries reaching to Siberia on
        the north.  This old Gosain is said to have lived for
        a short time in the Bho.t Bagan monastery.
            After Puran Gir's death, his successor Daljit Gir
        continued  to be the  head  of the  math  for  nearly
        forty-three  years, as hip death  is recorded  on the
        said tomb to have happened  oh the 6th Magha  1243 B.
        S. His place was taken by Kali Gir Mahanta, who built
        one of the 'Siva temples in the vicinity  of the math
        previously  noticed, on the 15th A'swina 1254 B.  S.,
        and died on the 2nd Vaisakha  1264 B.  S.  One 04 the
        two  present(1) Mahantas, Bilas  Gir  Gosain,  having
        consecrated the said temple in the month of Vai'sakha
        1265 B. S., wets installed on the gaddi of the ma.th.
        There  was some  litigation  between  him and another
        Gosain, named Umrao Gir, who, having established  his
        claim, heft become  an associate  Mahanta  with equal
        rights and privileges.
            The Bho.t Bagan has gradually  lost its primitive
        character;  for a long time since the murder of Puran
        Gir, and the plunder  of the ma.th, the place  became
        notorious  as a nest  of robbers  and wicked  people;
        guest  houses  fell  into ruins, and hospitality  and
        charity  died away, a mere mummery of unmeaning  puja
        has been  kept up, the lands  have  been leased  away
        piecemeal   in  maurusi  and  muqarrari  tenure,  and
        nothing   but   the  math   now  remains,  enshrining
        grotesque  and  even  obscene  figures  of Hindu  and
        Tibeto-Buddhistic  mythology, a solitary monument  of
        the genius  and policy  of the first Governor-General
        India, of the  piety  of the  Tashi  Lama, and of the
        Tibeto-Bengal  trade which flourished  centuries ago,
        and  was  restored,  though  in  a  stiflect  form, a
        century ago.
            Before  concluding  this  paper  I am tempted  to
        point  to certain  facts  and make some observations,
        which the account  of Bho.t  Bagan  and the story  of
        Puran  Gir Gosain  suggest.  In the first  place, the
        history of the missions connected with these accounts
        unfolds the fact that Tibet from time immemorial, has
        been the resort of merchants.
            Tibet, in the days of Warren Hastings, was little
        known except to readers  of the rare works containing
        accounts of the travellers ant Capuchin Missionaries,
        whom curiosity, love of knowledge, or religious
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Bilasa Gir Mahanta, who had been suffering from a
            lingering  disease  for some time, expired on the
            28th  February  1889, and was duly buried  by his
            associate  Umrao  Gir  Gosain, who has now become
            the sole mahanta of the ma.th.
                                p.93
        zeal impelled  to visit that place, and it is said by
        his faithful Boswell, Gleig, that he prepared himself
        by a study  of some  of these  books  to give  proper
        instructions to the first mission under Mr. Bogle, as
        to how he should proceed, and what he should do. With
        an eagle's  glance  he ascertained  what  wealth  the
        bleak  regions  on the summits  of the lofty Himalaya
        could yield, and through his missions  completed  his
        knowledge  of the trade and commerce, end of the most
        curious hierarchical  form of government  existing in
        the world  that, with  the aid of religion, minimises
        the dangers of an elective monarchy. His grand policy
        was to tap, by a really sincere and friendly  method,
        the vast productive resources of that region, to link
        the trade of Bengal with those com mercial  arteries,
        which  from  Tibet  as their  beast, ramify  down the
        Himalayan  slopes, and extend  to China  and Scythia,
        and confines  of Siberia;  and well  did he, with his
        reputed sagacity  for selection, choose his officers,
        not despising the mendicant  Gosain Puran Gir to mage
        one  of  his  ambassadors.  He  moved  step  by step,
        understood the difficulties  of his friend, the Tashi
        Lama, inspired  though the latter  was with a natural
        and sincere desire to promote Tibeto-Bengal trade, in
        the face  of Chinese  opposition.  He understood  the
        people   he  was  dealing   with,  an  nn  ambitious,
        peace-loving, peace-seeking race, bent upon promoting
        commercial  prosperity,  and  in  spite  of  repeated
        attempts by interested P: monopolisers and prejudiced
        Chinese, embracing  Europeans  with open arms, who by
        their   learning,  sincerity   and  ways  of  dealing
        captivated their hearts.
            Great  and most powerful  are the ties which bind
        Tibet  to  Bengal;  the  religions  associations, the
        traditions  and  remembrance  of  ancient  commercial
        intercourse   should  attract  the  Tibetans  to  our
        country.  If the policy of the first administrator of
        India,  had  been  only  continuous,  our  Government
        could, by this time, have enjoyed its best results. A
        sensitive   people   like   the  Tibetans,  where   a
        disturbing  object is rightly or wrongly apprehended,
        shrinks  from contact, as the tortoise  draws  in its
        limbs   under   a   similar   instinctive   fear.   4
        statesmanship   with  tact,  caution,  delicacy   and
        foresight,  and  guided   by  a,  knowledge   of  the
        political   history,  religion  and  customs  of  the
        country, cannot  but serve to restore  the old policy
        of the  last  century.  Nor  at times  should  native
        agency, about  which  Bogle and Hodgson  say much, be
        despised.  Even if sannyasi  agency  be sought, there
        would  be  no difficulty  perhaps  to find  men  who,
        though  not equal to Puran Gir and Puran Puri,(1) may
        be their  nob undeserving  followers.  We lately  saw
        sannyasis,
        _____________________________________________________
        (1) Puran Puri. Turner saw him in 1783 in the streets
            of  Calcutta  riding  upon  a Tangan  horse  from
            Bhutan.  He was  then  forty  years  of age.  Two
            Gosains attended him sud assisted him in mounting
            and slighting from his horse, for his hands were
                                p.94
        learned  in the 'Sastras, with an unquenching  thirst
        for  knowledge, in their  mendicant  dress, and  with
        matted hair, orating cleverly in English in the midst
        of a large  audience  at the Town  Ball, and at other
        places.
            And cannot  Bho.t  Bagan  or any other  place  be
        utilised to draw the affections  of the Lame, towards
        Bengal?
            I cannot resist the temptation  of quoting here a
        kind of peroration and prayer of Mr. Bogle.
            "Farewell  ye honest  and simple  people! May  ye
        long enjoy  that happiness  which  is denied  to more
        polished  nations, and while they are engaged  in the
        endless pursuits of avarice and ambition, defended by
        your  barren  mountains, may ye continue  to live  in
        peace  and contentment, and know no want but those of
        nature." and who would not say Amen!
            

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        _____________________________________________________
            immovably  fixed  over  his head with the fingers
            looked  into  each  other.  "The cir"culation  of
            blood  seemed  to have  forsaken  his  arms, they
            were,   withered,   void   of   "sensation    end
            inflexible," but he essured  the Captain  that he
            would  recover  their  use in the Following  year
            when his penance  would  end.  He is said to have
            been a Panjabi of the Kshatriya caste, he started
            "by  crossing  the  Peninsula  of India, "throngh
            Guzerat;  he then passed by Surat to Bassore, and
            thence to Constanti"nople, from Turkey he went to
            Ispahan;   and  sojourned   so  long  among   the
            different   "Persian   tribes,  as  to  obtain  a
            considerable  knowledge  of  their  language,  in
            which "he conversed with tolerable  ease.  In his
            passage  thence towards  Russia, he fell in "with
            the  Kussaucs   (hordes  of  Cossacks)  upon  the
            borders  of the Caspian  gee, "where  he narrowly
            escaped being condemned  to perpetual slavery: at
            length  he "was suffered  to pass on, and reached
            moscow;  he then  travelled  along  the nor"thern
            boundary  of  the  Russian  empire.  and  through
            Siberia  arrived  at Pekin in "China, from whence
            he  came  through  Tibet, by the  way  of  Teshoo
            Loomboo  " and Nipal, down to Calcutta."  Turner,
            ibid., p. 271.
        (1) Of the two square  seals on Sanads  I and II, the
            red  seal  is larger  than  the  black  one.  The
            former, which is the Grand Lama's  seal, contains
            a  legend,  in  three  perpendicular   lines,  in
            Lantshan  (Nagari) characters, the exterior  ones
            beings @@@(man-
                                p.95
        

sy18.gif (27415 bytes)

          ________________________
            gala), the  medial, an  illegible  monogram.  The
            latter  is the  Court  seal  of the  Tashi  Lune,
            containing    an   illegible    legend   in   two
            perpendicular  lines, in the square  form  of the
            ancient  Mongolian  character, called  the Yugar,
            used  in Mongolia  in the 11th end 12th centuries
            A.  D.  In the upper  margin  of the red seel  is
            inserted  the sign of the lingam, in that  of the
            black seal the mark .
                        
                          p.96
          

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                         p.97
             

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                                p.98

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              Translation of Sanad I.
            Know  ye, the  Muta.saddis  of  affairs, for  the
        present   and  future  times,  Chaudharis,  Qanungos,
        Ta'aluqdars,  tenants   and   cultivators   of   Dari
        Barbakpur,  etc.,  in  pargapah   Bore  etc.,  sarkar
        Satgaon, appertaining to chaklah Hoghli, in the.subah
        of Bengal, the  Paradise  of countries, (1)[that  100
        bigahs and 8 biswahs of cultivated land, out of which
        66 bigahs  are  situated  in mauza'  Dari  Barbakpur,
        parganah  Bore, and 34 bigahs and 8 biswahs in mauza'
        Ghusa.ri,  parganah  Paikan,]  and  all  collectively
        situated  on the  bank  of the  Ganges, are rent-free
        granted to (2)[Purangir  Gosain], the store of wisdom
        and prudence, the head of the unpretending seekers of
        truth, and  the source  of perfect  righteousness, in
        consideration  of his righteousness  and devotion  to
        truth, for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a temple  and
        planting a garden, from the beginning  of the Bengali
        year  (3)[1185].  It is desired  that  in erecting  a
        temple and planting  a garden  on the land, he should
        possess  and enjoy  the same.  You must know the said
        land to be free of rent;  you shell  not receive  the
        rent  thereof, shall  not  in any way  interfere, and
        shall not demand any new sanad.  You are to know that
        in this matter strict observance is required.
            (3)[Dated the 12th June 1778 English,  correspond
        -ing to the let Asa.rh  1185 Bangali  and 16th of the
        Inner  month  Jamadi-l-Awal  of the 20th year  of the
        reign].
            Sanad  II  is  identical  with  Senad  I in every
        respect, excepting the two portions, marked(1) and(3)
        in brackets, which run as follows:
            (1)[that 50 bigahs of cultivated land in the said
        mauza' Barbakpur, out of which 9 bigahs and 7 biswahs
        are on the property  of Maharajah  Nabkish, 29 bigahs
        in that of Rajah Rai Chand Rai, and 11 bigahs  and 13
        biswahs in that of Rajah Ram Lochan].
            (3)[Dated the 11th...... 17.. English, correspond
        -ing to the 2nd of Falgun 1189 Bangali].
            Sanad  III  is identical  with  Sanad  I in every
        respect, excepting  the portion markeds  in brackets,
        which runs as follows:
            (2)[to  Teshi   Lamah   Panchan   Ardani   Bakdeo
        Panchan].
            Sanad IV is identical with Sanad II, but contains
        the portion, marked(2) in brackets, as given in Sanad
        III.  The date, which  is mutilated  in Sanad  II, is
        perfect in this Sanad, end runs as follows:
            (3)[Dated   the   11th   February  1783  English,
        corresponding to the 2nd of Falgun 1189 Bangali].
                                p.99
              Literal translation of the Lam-yig  or passport
              from Tashi Lhunpo.
            To--the districts of Narthan, Gya-chhun, No-dson,
        Phun-tshog-lin,  Lhar-tse, Namrin  and  the  Lame  of
        Nerin.  Take notice-that  one of the servants of this
        (Government) Acharya  Punagiri  with three attendants
        proceeds   to  make  ablution   in  the  lake  Mapham
        (Mansarawara) and  to walk  round  it.  in the  above
        mentioned places, (the party) should be provided with
        fuels, earthen  ware, &c., cooking  utensils, ponies,
        cook servants, Be., other necessaries  when required,
        during morning and night halts.
            Four ponies  and seven  strong  beasts  of burden
        will  be required.  The  relay  of ponies  should  be
        arranged    from   here   to   Phun-tshog-lin,   from
        Phun-tshog-lin  to Lhar-tse, from Lhar-tse to Namrin,
        from Namrin  to Sagah-wa.  The chief grooms in charge
        of the pasture lends in the different  districts  and
        sub-divisions,  should, as  directed  by  the  letter
        preceding this, arrange for relaying strong ponies of
        the above  named number  and also send pony returners
        quickly and render (the party) all possible  help (in
        the  journey).  The  relay  of the  beasts  of burden
        should  be arranged  from  the town  of Shiga-tse  to
        Phun-tshog-lin`,  from   Phun-tshog-lin   to   Namrin
        through, from  Namrin  to Nerin  and  from  Nerin  to
        Sagah-wa  at once.  The party should be furnished  at
        every stage with returners of the conveyance  animals
        and an experienced and intelligent guide to accompany
        them (in their journey).  All possible help should be
        rendered to (the party).  Similar arrangements to the
        above  effect  should  be  made  during   the  return
        journey.  This  is important--dated  year  Earth-Dog,
        1778 A.D.