DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22459#0148
Eight ifiimalaunn vTimrs April 13, 1952
THE LAND OF THE LAMAS
BY PROF. K. C PETER
St. Thomas College, Trichur
TIBET, famed as roof of the
world’, is fast being oommunized.
Its 47,000 sq miles, peopled by 5 million
souls, has embraced the Chinese brand
of Communism. Perched beyond the
towering Himalayas, 20,000 feet above
sea-level and girdled by bleak deserts,
table—lands and glacier-capped mountains,
thi3 keeper of Mt. Everest' seemed
safe from communist virus. It proved
otherwise, l he Red China’s forces, before
waiting to cast, horoscopes, goose-stepped
into Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. The
Hammer and Sickle forced a breach in
the feudal solitude of a religious people,
bossed over by 200,000 Buddhist monks.
Hospitals, trains, buses and newspapers
which are inevitable for moderns are
what the Tibetans are immune from.
Nonetheless. Tibet is a fact, Tibetans
facts, strager than fiction.
For centuries on end, Tibet nursed
up a culture, unique by itself It isn't
primitive. Tibet owns some of the
world’s most picturesque architecture.
The imposing monasteries carved out of
rock, hanging from high cliffs, are marvels
of Tibetan architecture. Their exquisite
religious sculpture and tapestries express
the sublime heights of Tibetan art.
Music and dancing too play a dominant
role in religious arid social functions.
Tibetan folklore also is immensely
rich.
Domesticated animals in Tibet are
few and far between. The white black-
faced Tibetan monkey would gibber rolling
his long tail, as a traveller crossing the
14,800 feet Indo-Tibetan border throws
atones to frighten away evil spirits. The
people respect animals, birds and insects,
for in them, they thought, souls may
reincarnate. Though all deliberate killing
is forbidden, Tibetans need plenty of
meat to withstand the biting wintry
cold. Hence, they were forced to kill
beasts; but a religious ceremony is
performed before all killing is done
for meat.
Yak, a buffalo like animal, is the
only one that is domesticated. It is an
all purpose animal it is the beast of
burden, it gives them milk, meat, wool.
Its hair is woven into rope; its skin
for boats and shoes, its bones and horns
for house construction, its dung dried for
fuel. Yoked to the plough, it ploughs the
land. The Tibetans plough from corner to
corner inazig-zag way to trap and destroy
evil spirits, they say. In the absence
of the Yak, instead of conquering
Nature, Tibetans would have been its
victims, Nowr, Nature, her iebellion over,
is back in harness.
Tibetan hospitality is warmhearted
and generous. Festivities with plenty of
food and barrels of barley beer to wash
down with formed part and parcel of their
recreation. Sports, magazines and radios
were unheard of in Tibet.
Lamaistic Culture
Tibetan culture is an unholy mix-up
of crude theocracy and primitive feuda-
lism. A third of the population live
behind the high walls of Buddhist
monasteries, wrapt up in meditation.
'1 hough wheeled transport is unknown,
inside the Sanctum Sanctorum of the
monastery huge prayer-inscribed wheels
THE LAND OF THE LAMAS
BY PROF. K. C PETER
St. Thomas College, Trichur
TIBET, famed as roof of the
world’, is fast being oommunized.
Its 47,000 sq miles, peopled by 5 million
souls, has embraced the Chinese brand
of Communism. Perched beyond the
towering Himalayas, 20,000 feet above
sea-level and girdled by bleak deserts,
table—lands and glacier-capped mountains,
thi3 keeper of Mt. Everest' seemed
safe from communist virus. It proved
otherwise, l he Red China’s forces, before
waiting to cast, horoscopes, goose-stepped
into Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. The
Hammer and Sickle forced a breach in
the feudal solitude of a religious people,
bossed over by 200,000 Buddhist monks.
Hospitals, trains, buses and newspapers
which are inevitable for moderns are
what the Tibetans are immune from.
Nonetheless. Tibet is a fact, Tibetans
facts, strager than fiction.
For centuries on end, Tibet nursed
up a culture, unique by itself It isn't
primitive. Tibet owns some of the
world’s most picturesque architecture.
The imposing monasteries carved out of
rock, hanging from high cliffs, are marvels
of Tibetan architecture. Their exquisite
religious sculpture and tapestries express
the sublime heights of Tibetan art.
Music and dancing too play a dominant
role in religious arid social functions.
Tibetan folklore also is immensely
rich.
Domesticated animals in Tibet are
few and far between. The white black-
faced Tibetan monkey would gibber rolling
his long tail, as a traveller crossing the
14,800 feet Indo-Tibetan border throws
atones to frighten away evil spirits. The
people respect animals, birds and insects,
for in them, they thought, souls may
reincarnate. Though all deliberate killing
is forbidden, Tibetans need plenty of
meat to withstand the biting wintry
cold. Hence, they were forced to kill
beasts; but a religious ceremony is
performed before all killing is done
for meat.
Yak, a buffalo like animal, is the
only one that is domesticated. It is an
all purpose animal it is the beast of
burden, it gives them milk, meat, wool.
Its hair is woven into rope; its skin
for boats and shoes, its bones and horns
for house construction, its dung dried for
fuel. Yoked to the plough, it ploughs the
land. The Tibetans plough from corner to
corner inazig-zag way to trap and destroy
evil spirits, they say. In the absence
of the Yak, instead of conquering
Nature, Tibetans would have been its
victims, Nowr, Nature, her iebellion over,
is back in harness.
Tibetan hospitality is warmhearted
and generous. Festivities with plenty of
food and barrels of barley beer to wash
down with formed part and parcel of their
recreation. Sports, magazines and radios
were unheard of in Tibet.
Lamaistic Culture
Tibetan culture is an unholy mix-up
of crude theocracy and primitive feuda-
lism. A third of the population live
behind the high walls of Buddhist
monasteries, wrapt up in meditation.
'1 hough wheeled transport is unknown,
inside the Sanctum Sanctorum of the
monastery huge prayer-inscribed wheels