National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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us also several obscene representations of a man and a woman, and said that it was always a grand moment, when these pictures were shown to the girls on the occasion of a Mela. This will serve to show what a religion which worships the creative powers leads to. The slanting gable beams of the temple had again representations of walking lions, like those at Sungra.

As regards the houses of the ordinary peasants, here at Urni, and in other places since we passed the Wangtu bridge, the Tibetan flat roof is becoming prominent. Here at Urni village most of the roofs exhibit the Tibetan style. But the mandirs still show the old slanting roof of the Indian hill tribes. The first temple with a flat roof I saw at Rogi on the 28th. It is of the square tower type and has wood carvings on the beams.

We spent the night of the 28th and the 29th June at Chini, in the Moravian Mission house. The view from Chini towards the snow mountains on the other side of the river is one of the grandest imaginable. The local name of these glaciers is Kailasa and a certain pinnacle is called Siva by the people.'

Looking down from the Mission house, there is a large mound to the left of

the village (Plate VII, a). This is said to be the site of a castle of an ancient Thdkur who came here from the ` Upper Country ' (apparently Tibet) . Mr. Bruske, who used to reside here as a Moravian missionary, was told that there exists a song which treats of the exploits of this Thiik ur. But it has not yet been reduced to writing. On the site, many fragments of hand-made pottery can be found, but, people assured me, never any coins. The site is now occupied by small Lamaist buildings, a square tower and an enshrined mchod-rten. The fact that Lamaism has taken possession of the site, speaks in favour of the alleged Tibetan origin of the Thákur.

Mr. Bruske informs me that there is another mound below the village where many red

bricks can be found. This is held to have been the principal (perhaps winter) residence of the same Thàkur. At both sites excavations might prove successful. The most interesting feature in connection with this ancient chief is, as Mr. Bruske tells me, that traces of his aqueducts are met with from time to time by people when digging. They consist of earthenware pipes, and the water was conducted in them for miles.

Above the door over the staircase which leads up to the mound, there is a stone lion,

which looks very old indeed. People told me, however, that it was made only a few years ago. Older are the carved slabs of stone on the mound, near the Lamaist temple. They show lines similar to those on a chessboard. On these ancient slabs, the Tibetan game of mig-mang was probably played.

Mr. Bruske tells me that stories of Thákurs are told also of other ruined sites on the way from Chini to Poo. These Thäkurs, although independent in a way, probably acknowledged the supremacy of the Tibetan chiefs of Guge, before the country came under Bashahr.

The Kali temple of Chini is situated below the village. No stranger is allowed to enter it . It has been the scene of human sacrifices, and there is a rumour that such

' The earliest picture of Chilli and the Kailása is found in ` Reise des Prinzen Waldemar von Preussen,' 1845, Plate XVI.