and virile race that lives in that country. In its aspect
towards the church we find that in every family one
boy must be set apart invariably for the priesthood,
and similarly of the daughters one or more are
assigned to perpetual virginity, nor are the children
in the least consulted as to their own particular wishes.
The .¿ girl’s head is shaved, and she remains with her
family in her village as a nun (Jamoo), or she goes
and lives in some monastery where there are monks,
or she combines a little of both lives; but it is not to
be forgotten that owing to the inferior status of women
a nun is considered scarcely better than the ordinary
layman. At the Shivling at Taklakot there are some
three hundred and fifty monks, who are distributed from
the headquarters among numerous petty shrines, while
there are only sixty in actual residence in that place.
There are also here forty nuns, whose quarters are
separated from those of the men; but although some
attempt is made at this the headquarters to keep the
sexes apart, yet in the smaller monasteries their
rooms'are side by side. lI t is small wonder, then, that
men and women, who have been set apart to a life of
celibacy from early childhood without their own
wishes having been in the least consulted, should
live in an immorality which is universally known,
and which casts round all things holy an association
of degraded impropriety. Yearly monks and nuns
are ejected from their holy office, and girls who have
taken the vow and are living in their own villages
are punished for wrong-doing (and in respect of penalty
Taklakot is three times more severe than Khojar-
nath); however, it is not the individual but the
system which is to blame. What else can be the result
of a society which is fundamentally rotten at the core ?
Convents for nuns are unknown in this part of Tibet,
but are apparently common in the central portion.
The marriage relations are quite wrong, as the prevailing
practice of polyandry, combined with the fact
A TIBETAN WEDDING I THE BRIDE
that families never split up, but always and invariably
(speaking broadly) remain joint, .that is, all the
descendants of common ancestors dwell in the same
family mansion, removes from the home circle that
veil which consecrates the marital ties and drags
into garish publicity what should ever remain impenetrable.
Should family dissensions compel the
members to part and start for themselves a separate
ménage, the whole property is divided into shares