From The Summit Of This Pass We Descended About Three
Kos To Lamieroo, Without Passing A Single Hut Or Village On The Entire
Road.
The only natives we encountered were a party of three from Ladak,
on their way to Cashmere, with a couple of fine native dogs, as a
present from the Thanadar to some of his visitors.
The pedestrians one
generally meets now are old ladies, carrying conical baskets filled
with sulphur or saltpetre, in the direction of Cashmere, and so shy
are they, that on beholding "the white face" they drop their loads as
if shot, and scuttle away among the mountains, so that, if inclined,
we could seize upon the Maharajah's munitions of war and carry them
off without difficulty. On reaching the vicinity of Lamieroo, the
inscribed stones became more frequent than ever. They were placed
generally upon long broad walls, the tops of which sloped slightly
outwards, like the roof of a house. Supplies of uncut stones were also
in many instances collected together in their vicinity, as if for the
benefit of any pedestrian who might feel inclined to carve out his
future happiness by adding to the collection. Lamieroo, as its name
would seem to imply, appears to have been a headquarters of the Lamas
and their religion. It contains a curious monastery, or Lamaserai,
built upon the extreme top ledge of a precipice of concrete stone,
and at its base (some hundred feet below) the habitations which
constitute the village are also perched on pinnacles of rock, and
scattered about, often in the most unlikely spots imaginable. Entering
the bason formed by the valley in which this curious settlement is
situated, one opens suddenly by an ascending turn upon the whole
scene, and anything more startlingly picturesque it would be hard to
conceive. As the view appears, the first objects presented are a host
of little monument-like buildings, which line the path and are dotted
about in groups of from three to twelve or fourteen together. They
stand about seven feet high, and, as far as we could make out from
the natives, are erected over the defunct Lamas and other saints of
the Buddhist religion, after which they become sacred in the eyes
of the living, and are referred to with scrapings and bowings and
"Um mani panees" innumerable. In the monastery we found twenty Lamas
at present domiciled - fat, comfortable-looking gentlemen they all
were, dressed in orange-yellow garments, and not a bit cleaner than the
rest of the natives, nor looking by any means more learned. Mounting
the side of the bill, and passing under one of the red-ring pillared
monuments, we entered the precincts of the monastery, and threading
some very steep and dark passages in the interior of the rock, were
received by a deputation of Lamas, with the salutation of "Joo, Joo!"
We were then ushered with great ceremony into their temple, much to the
awe and consternation of our guides, who apparently expected to see
us as much overcome by the sanctity of the place as they themselves
were. The temple we found a small square room with a gallery round
it, from which were suspended dingy-looking Chinese banners, flowers,
&c., and at one end were about twenty idols of various designs, seated
in a row staring straight before them, and covered with offerings of
Indian corn, yellow flowers, butter, &c. They were for the most part
dressed in Chinese fashion, and in the dusky light had certainly a
queer weird-looking appearance about them, which was quite enough
to overawe our village guide; not being accustomed to such saintly
society, he could hardly raise his eyes or speak above his breath,
but stood with hands joined together and in a supplicating posture,
enough to melt the heart of even the very ugliest of idols. The service
(by particular desire) began by three of the most unctuous of the
Lamas squatting down on some planked spaces before the divinities,
and raising a not unmusical chaunt, accompanying themselves at the same
time with a pair of cymbals, while two large double-sided tom-toms or
drums gradually insinuated themselves into the melody. These were each
fixed on one long leg and were beaten with a curved stick, muffled
at the end. The performance of the cymbals was particularly good,
and the changes of time they introduced formed the chief feature
of the music, and was rather pleasing than otherwise. The service
as it drew to a close, was joined by a duett upon two enormous brass
instruments like speaking-trumpets grown out of all decent proportions;
they were about five feet long, and were placed on the ground during
the performance, and as two of the fattest of the Lamas operated and
nearly suffocated themselves in their desperate exertions, the result
was the most diabolical uproar that ever could have been produced
since the first invention of music.
Not being able to trust the sepoy in such a delicate undertaking, I was
unable to get any information from the Lamas on religious subjects;
and all signs and suggestive pointings, &c. were immediately and
invariably answered by "Um mani panee," so that we left about as wise
as we entered. The most interesting object in the place was a library
of Thibetian books. It consisted of an upright frame divided into
square compartments, each with a word cut deeply into the wood over
it, and containing the volumes. These were merely long narrow sheets,
collected between two boards, also carved on the outside with a name
similar to the one on the shelf. The characters were beautifully
formed, and I tried to purchase a small volume, if a thing about two
feet long could be called so, but without effect. There were about
thirty of these books in the place, ponderous tomes, carefully covered
up, and little read, to judge by the quantity of dust collected on
them. They read us, however, a small portion of one, in a drawling,
sonorous tone, and with no very great facility.
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