An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal. Francis HamiltonЧитать онлайн книгу.
as they were supposed too much inclined to favour its infidel chief. They never seem to have had any share in the government, nor to have been addicted to arms, but always followed the profession of agriculture, or carried loads for the Newars, being a people uncommonly robust. Their buildings are thatched huts, often supported on stages, like those of the farther India.
The Kiratas, or Kichaks, have been already mentioned as occupying the country east from Nepal Proper. They seem always to have been a warlike and enterprising people, but very rude, although not so illiterate as many of their neighbours. The Lamas have made great progress in persuading them to adopt their doctrines; and the Lamas, who gave them instruction, were skilled in the language of Thibet; but many adhered to their old customs, and the old priesthood continued to perform the ceremonies of all. The Rajputs, on obtaining power, induced many to abandon part of their impure practices, and to employ Brahmans to perform their ceremonies; but in general this compliance was only shown when they were at court. The abstinence from beef, which the Gorkhalese enforce, is exceedingly disagreeable to the Kirats; and, although the Lamas have been banished, this people still retain a high respect for their memory, and a longing after the flesh-pots. Agam Singha, the chief of the nation, now in exile, told me plainly, that, although he received a Brahman as an instructor, it was only because he could not procure a Lama, and that he considered the chief Lamas as incarnations of God.
The Kirats, being vigorous beef-eaters, did not readily submit to the Rajputs. Previous to the invasion of these Hindus they had, it is true, been compelled to retire to the hills; but there, until the vast power acquired by the family of Gorkha, they retained, as I have already mentioned, a great degree of independence.
I have deposited in the Company’s library a full vocabulary of the Kirata language. They are said to have had a written character peculiar to themselves; but Agam Singha, their chief, is no penman, and the people with him, born in exile, have contented themselves with acquiring the Nagri character. The Kirats are allowed to marry several wives, and to keep concubines. Their property is divided equally among their sons by wives; but the sons by concubines are allowed a share, though smaller than that given to the offspring of a virgin spouse.
Among the Kirats was settled a tribe called Limbu, the manners of which were very nearly the same, and, indeed, the tribes intermarry; but their languages are said to be different, and it would not appear that the Lamas had made any progress in converting the Limbus. Since the overthrow of the Kirats, and since the reluctance with which they submit to the Gorkhalese has become evident, it has been the policy of the court of Kathmandu to show a decided preference to the Limbus, who have not been disgusted by the loss of power which they never possessed, nor by the banishment of their priests. They are not, however, reconciled to the loss of beef; but are certainly less discontented than any other neighbouring tribe. Their profession is that of agriculture, and they live in huts. I was unable to procure any vocabulary of their language, but Colonel Kirkpatrick [55] gives a short list of the words of the Limbu tongue, which he calls Limbooa. It has no affinity to the Sangskrita.
Another considerable tribe of Nepal, taken in its most extended sense, are the Lapchas, who occupy the country between the Kankayi and Tista, and east from that of the Kiratas; but by most Hindus they are included under this odious name. Their manners were very nearly the same with those of the Kirats. The Lapchas are a set of vigorous barbarians, about one half of whom had been deluded by the monkish austerities, and superior learning of the Lamas.
The Lapchas ate beef, pork, and every other thing reckoned abominable, and drank strong liquors without shame. Their women did not marry until after they had arrived at the age of maturity, and had become sensible to the assiduities of courtship. The Lapchas were chiefly armed with swords and bows, with which they shot poisoned arrows. Spears were not in use, being ill fitted for a mountainous country, thickly overgrown with wood, and where men cannot charge in compact order. They had a few muskets, but too large to be fired from the shoulder. They were tied to a tree, and fired by a match.
It must be observed, that the inhabitants of both Thibet, and of what we call Bhotan or Bootan, are by the natives of India called Bhotiyas, and their countries Bhotan or Bhot. Some of these people, who inhabit near Kathmandu, call themselves Sayn; and the same name is given by the Newars to the whole nation. Thibet, I am inclined to believe, is a Persian word, totally unknown to the natives. At Kathmandu I had a patient who had been chief of a territory north from Lassa, and who had been dispossessed by the Chinese; and, so far as I could learn from him, the native appellation, at least of the territory subject to Lassa, is Borka, from whence Bhotiya is perhaps a corruption; but I could not ascertain any general name for the countries which we call Thibet. These, however, and also Bhotan, are inhabited by kindred tribes of people, who resemble each other strongly in features, complexion, language, and manners. In the plate opposite to page 40 of Kirkpatrick’s Nepaul, are well represented, in a sitting posture, two persons of this nation, although, by some mistake, probably in the publisher, they are called natives of Nepal.
The Lamas are the priests of the sect of Bouddh, in Thibet and the adjacent territories, and are monks, who have nominally at least forsaken the pleasures of the world. They totally reject the doctrine of cast, and a person of any nation may be admitted into the order. The whole, at least of those at a distance, consider themselves as under the authority of Sakya Gomba, who came from India about the time of Jesus Christ, and has ever since resided at Lassa, where he remains in perpetual youth. On this account he is not considered as an incarnation, (Avatar.) There are, however, many personages of this sect who are considered as incarnations of different Buddhas, or persons who have obtained divinity. These enter into the bodies of children, and inspire them through life; and when the body dies, the deity enters into another. Of this nature is the Dharma Raja, or spiritual chief of what we call Bhotan; and still more celebrated is the Tishu Lama, who resides at Degarchi, and is the spiritual guide of the Chinese emperors. This class of supposed deities seems to be pretty numerous, as, in the territory of the Lapcha and Kirats, their number would appear to have been at least twelve, as so many were known to my informant, who was only well acquainted with the former territory. The ordinary lamas pretend only to be saints. The best account I have seen of their doctrine is that given by the learned Pallas, which is much more complete than any I could procure in Nepal. The followers of Buddh have had five great lawgivers, and a sixth is daily expected. As each of these is supposed to have been an incarnation of a Buddh or Bourkan, and as all have been usually taken as one person, we may readily account for the difference that prevails in the opinions concerning the era when this sect arose. Gautama is the fourth of those lawgivers, and his doctrine alone is received by the priests of Ava, who reject the fifth as a heretic; but by the Bouddhists of Nepal, Thibet, Tartary, and China, he is named Sakya. Gautama, according to the best authorities, lived in the sixth century before the Christian era, and Sakya in the first century after the birth of our Lord.
Although there is no distinction of cast among the Sayn or Bhotiyas, yet they are not without differences in religious opinions; for some of them in Nepal worship at Swayambhunath, while others prefer a temple of Bouddhama, which is situated near Pasupanath. The doctrine of Sakya Singha differs most essentially from that of Gautama. The Bhotiyas, following the former, worship all the spirits, that by the Burmas are called Nat, a practice which is held in abhorrence by the Rahans of Ava. They also consider the Buddhs as emanations from a supreme deity, view many of their Lamas as incarnations of a Buddh, and accordingly worship them as living Gods, although they do not consider them as equal to Sakya, who is the Lama of Lassa. There is among the Lamas no prohibition against the laity from studying any character or any book; but they must have wonderfully degraded the human understanding, when they can induce the people to swallow the belief in the deities living among them. It is true, that these are in all probability very much secluded, and rarely shown to the vulgar, except at a very great distance, and in obscurity; but still this seems to be nearly the utmost height of human imbecility.
The belief of Sakya having lived among them since about the commencement of the Christian era, is probably confined to Nepal, and other remote parts, where no means of knowing the contrary exists. Such an absurdity could scarcely pass among actual observers, however degraded in understanding, and in Thibet the Lama of Lassa is probably considered as merely an incarnation of Sakya.
Besides the countries which we call Thibet