The floor was covered
with pigments, and materials of all kinds, and the little community,
in the midst of the surrounding apparent solitude, were working away
like a hive of bees. They appeared to have a hive-like dislike also
of the approach of a stranger, and one old Lama, with a twisted mat
of hair erected on the top of his head - a drone of the hive -
took a particular dislike to me, and scowled savagely as I quietly
examined the curious designs upon the walls.
The eternal "Um mani panee" formed a very large part of the decoration,
being painted over the walls in every variety of coloured letters. In
the inner part of the temple was a large coloured statue, with eight
arms, and two-and-twenty heads.
The heads were placed in threes, looking every way, in the shape of
a pyramid, a single head crowning the whole.[29] One of the hands
held a bow, but the implements contained in the others were entirely
Buddhist in character, and to me unknown.
Behind this figure was a star, with innumerable radiating arms from
the centre, while from the points of the fingers were five other
rows of hands, continuing the star-like circle.
