pathetic man. Chandra Das stayed with him for
some time at Dongtse, on his way to Lhasa. A year
or two after Chandra Das had returned to India the
truth leaked out about his individuality. The Lhasan
Government threw the entire blame upon the careles.s-
ness of the authorities in the province of Tsang. Upon
the Sinchen Lama they visited their anger in a fearful
manner. His servants were taken— all except one—-
they were beaten, their hands and feet were cut off,
their eyes were gouged out, and, they were left to die in
the streets of Tashi-lhunpo. The Sinchen Lama was
reserved for another fate. He was taken to Gong-kar,
a fort on the right bank of the Tsang-po, a few miles
below the confluence of the Kyi chu.
The rest of the story must be told, as it is believed
by the common people, who had known and loved the
Lama in his life. A message was received from Lhasa
to the effect that the Sinchen Lama must commit suicide.
This he quietly refused to do. He said, “ I am indeed
in your hands ; you will do with me what seems good
to you. But I will not kill myself, and if you kill me, you
will incur for yourselves a terrible reincarnation.” This
answer produced another peremptory demand that
the Lama should lay violent hands upon himself. To
this the Lama made no reply at all. The days went
on, and at last the authorities in Lhasa determined
to take his life, though they still hoped that they might
avoid the awful consequences to themselves of blood-
guiltiness. A boat was taken, and innumerable holes
of different sizes were bored in her. In this the Lama
was placed, and he was sent spinning down the current
of the great river. Thus he would be drowned, but to
the ingenious minds of the hierarchy it seemed that the
responsibility lay perhaps with their victim, whose
weight would have sunk the unsea worthy craft. Blood,
at any rate, would not have been spilled. But the
Lama was in no way dismayed ; he raised a prayer,
and fishes innumerable came; they intruded their
blunt noses into the holes in the boat, and slowly propelled
it safely to the shore. The Lama disembarked
and walked quietly back to his prison. The news of
this miracle produced but momentary consternation in
Lhasa; the brute. creation might indeed be at the
orders of this holy man, but die he m u s t; they must
try another way. Therefore, almost immediately,
another attempt was made; large rocks of granite
were bound upon his back, and he was once more
thrown into the river. But again they had reckoned
unwisely. If the Sinchen Lama’s life were to be taken,
the sin of murder must accompany it. This was the
eternal law, and as the sainted Lama’s body touched
the water, the rocks were turned into pumice stone,
and his friendly fishes soon nuzzled him again to shore.
Thereafter Lhasa grew desperate. They sent a wicked
man, a Kashmiri Mohammedan, for whom the prospect
of reincarnation as a louse had no terrors, and the
Sinchen Lama’s head was hacked from his body.*
Nor was this all. Having destroyed the body, the
.hierarchy at Lhasa proceeded to annihilate the soul.
No further reincarnation of the Sinchen Lama has
been recognised from that day. In the long gallery
of reincarnated Bodisats who occupy the chief place of
Lamaism there is one frame, as there is in the Venetian
* This is the native tale, and it is almost a pity to correct it in any particular. Another
story is that the Sinchen Lama with his hands tied behind him was thrown into the
river and never seen again.