Page:Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet.djvu/183

Ch. I. the chief is, after his elevation, debarred the use of women. If the institution is true, it seems to indicate a very high advance in political establishments. Rude men have no apprehension of losing their independence; people only become jealous of their liberty when they grow doubtful of their resolution to retain it.

The religion and hierarchy established in Tibet is, however, a matter of mucb greater curiosity. We are told that the Dalai Lama is held to be an incarnation of the legislator prophet, or god Buddha or Fo, who over all Hindustan gives his name (like Thauth or Mercury, the prophet legislator and god of the Egyptians) to the planet Mercury, and to the fourth day of the week. When the Dalai Lama dies, a child is said to be pitched on as possessing certain marks which show that the soul of the deceased has been transmigrated into him; and the divinity and identity of the new manifestation of the god is of course acknowledged.

Among the different Tatar tribes which are of this religion, there are persons called Ku-tchuck-tus, who are likewise esteemed living Fos. It is, however, said that though each tribe pays a particular respect to its own Ku-tchuck-tu, the divinity of those of other tribes is not the less acknowledged, and it is even pretended that the Ku-tchuck-tus admit a superiority in the Dalai Lama, so that his excrements are sold as charms at a great price among all the Tatar tribes of this religion. I have already mentioned that no less than eight Lamas in Tibet, besides the Lama of Lhasa, have the title of King, and are called Grand Lamas. But I do not know whether these, too, are esteemed incarnations of the divinity, or what subjection, if any, they pay to the Dalai Lama.