time he twirled the prayer-wheels which we passed
fixed in the walls, and everybody before us and behind
us did the same, until there was a whirr of revolving
cylinders. The monastery at Taklakot thinks a great
Hanging ball
to avert the
Dragon evil eye
Feathers Chorten, or Caitya, Feathers
with prayer-flags_
t h e g r e a t b u d d h a in th e t ak l a k o t sh iv l in g (t em p l e )
The altar is terraced, and on the terraces are images of the Saints, bowls
for lights which bum in butter, and stands for lights. The whole is
covered with precious stones. I think the feathers are
peacocks’ plumes
deal of itself, and, owing to increase of wealth, has
begun to look upon itself as even superior to the Gompa
at Toling, and as the head of the church in Western
Tibet. To be, then, literally, conducted by the hand
by the Lama in charge was a great honour, and this
elderly gentleman even went so far as to say that
he hoped I would give him a photo of the great brass
Buddha inside, but as the idol was in a peculiar light
it was not at all such an easy matter to take a photo.
Still, he had windows opened and shut, kept the
people back, and showed the greatest interest in all the
preparations. At the entrance to the shrine there
are pictures of demons and of the Wheel of Life, i.e.,
of the phases of life in the Buddhist world, while in
the main room, where the monks have their meals,
Drum beaten by stick
Banging cymbals like a reaping hook.
TIBETAN DANCERS WEARING MASKS
one sees a row of Chortens or funeral memorials facing
the main door and lights burning before each, and
images between the Chortens. All round the room
there were hanging representations of deities (some
of them very indecent), but the Lama, when questioned
about them, said they were all old, and nobody there
knew the stories of the gods or even their names.
Certainly he could not tell the name of any deity, and
had it not been for the assistance of Waddell’s “ Buddhism
of Tibet” the whole would have remained a
mystery. The Lama apparently did not wish to