Prayer walls you must always pass on the right
Editorial contextGerard describes mani walls: long dykes of loose, uncemented stone, topped with slates carved with the prayer 'Om mani padme hum'. The Tartars always keep them on the right hand, even if it means a detour of a quarter of a mile. On nearby pages he describes chortens, prayer flags on every house, and prayer wheels turned by water and wind.
the most common are tumuli, named Mane, consisting of a dyke of different lengths from ten to two hundred feet, two broad, and three or four high; they are constructed of loose stones without cement, and upon their tops are numerous pieces of slate of all shapes and sizes, carved with sentences in the Oochen or sacred character.
About Tibetan Buddhists ('Lamas')
Continue in this sourceGerard's account of Kinnaur and the 'Tartars' of the Tibetan frontier1800 to 1839 · 13 passages'Tartar or Tatar is unknown here, and so is Tibet'
Editorial contextGerard lists what the people actually call themselves and their land: Bhoteeas or Zhads to the lowlanders, Bhot for the country, Keao for the people of Gnaree, and he notes that Zhad is an insult. Then he says flatly that neither 'Tartar' nor 'Tibet' was known there. 'Tartar' was the European name he was using for convenience.
The Tartars are called by the inhabitants of the lower parts, Zhads, Bhoteeas or Bootuntees, and their country is often named Bhot and Bootunt … Zhad is reckoned a term of reproach, and is applied by the Hindoos to those who eat bullock's flesh … Tartar or Tatar is unknown here, and so is Tibet.
About Tibetans of upper Kinnaur and western Tibet
Continue in this sourceGerard's account of Kinnaur and the 'Tartars' of the Tibetan frontier1800 to 1839 · 13 passagesTea that tastes like soup
Editorial contextTibetan butter tea, bought at the Gartok fair, is made with butter, salt, spices and a little meal instead of milk and sugar. Gerard grew to love it. Every traveller arriving at a Tartar village was offered a dish of it, and it was kept ready most of the day.
During my stay at Soongnum, Putee Ram insisted on bringing me daily tea, prepared after the Tartar fashion, which tastes like soup, and I took a great liking to it. The Tartars drink it in large quantities ; and when they arrive at their encamping ground, their first occupation is to make the tea
About Tibetans of Kinnaur
Continue in this sourceGerard's account of Kinnaur and the 'Tartars' of the Tibetan frontier1800 to 1839 · 13 passagesA nine-foot prayer wheel worked by a winch
Editorial contextAt Soongnum Gerard saw three prayer cylinders kept turning by water, and at Nisung others turned by the wind. The largest, about nine feet high, stood in a square house with a wooden dome, lined with China silk, and needed two people to work it with ropes and a winch.
At Soongnum there are three cylinders kept constantly in motion by water, on the same principle as the water mills, and at Nisung several are turned by the wind.
About Tibetan Buddhists
Continue in this sourceGerard's account of Kinnaur and the 'Tartars' of the Tibetan frontier1800 to 1839 · 13 passages