Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/388

364 his piety to throw one or more as he goes by." (Jülg.) Abbé Huc describes them thus: "They consist simply of an enormous pile of stones heaped up without any order, surmounted with dried branches of trees, while from them hang other branches and strips of cloth on which are inscribed verses in the Tibet and Mongol languages. At its base is a large granite urn in which the devotees burn incense. They offer besides pieces of money which the next Chinese traveller, after sundry ceremonious genuflexions before the Obö, carefully collects and pockets. These Obös are very numerous."

6. The sacred mountain of Meerû. See note 4, Tale III.

6. Chotolo has the same meaning as Chamuk, the one in Kalmuck and the other in Tibetian.

7. See note 4 to Tale V., and note 7 to "Vikramâditja's Birth."

8. Kun-tschong = all-protecting (Tibetian). (Jülg.)

1. Heaven-gods, sky-gods, devas. They hold a transition position between men and gods, between human and Buddha nature. Their etherial body enables these lowest of gods, or genii, to withstand the effects of age better than mortals; also they can assume other forms and make themselves invisible, powers seldom allotted to mortals, but they are subject to illusion, sin, and metempsychosis like every other creature. (Schott, Buddhaismus in Hoch-Asien, p. 5, quoted by Jülg.)

2. Garudâ.—Garut'man (whence Garudâ), means the winged one. In the epic mythology of India Garudâ was son of Kashjapa and Vinatâ, daughter of Daxa, king of the Suparn'a ("beautiful winged ones"), divine