centre of each tent are estrades of carved and gilt sandal-wood (?), on which the abbots, head lamas, and guests of distinction take their seats, while on lower seats are the other guests. A number of lamas, with little tables of sandal-wood in front of them, on which different instruments of music, and implements used in church ceremonies, such as dorje, bells, damaru, etc., are placed, occupy another portion of each tent. When the preliminary service is over the grand "black hat" dance, of which I have previously made mention, begins.[1]
The dancers are eighty in number, and their gowns are made of white, red, and green satin. Each one holds in his left hand a wooden skull, and in his right a short club, from which hang five silk scarfs of different colours. They prance about, wildly waving their arms, for half an hour or so, when suddenly there is heard wild shrieking, and a second set of dancers, or masks called Kambab, come in. They are dressed to represent the various gods, most of them extraordinarily hideous to look at. These continue the wild dance to the music of cymbals, drums, and flutes for a couple of hours.
When the Kambab have stopped, four skeleton-like figures appear: they are the Durdag, or "lords of cemeteries," and they dance in their turn. These are followed by sixteen figures representing Indian atsaras, who, by their dress and contortions, excite wild mirth among the people. A number of dancers wearing stag heads then appear, and finally the "black hat" dancers come out once more, each with a cymbal or a drum in his hand, and the dance comes to an end.
At the termination of the dance the lamas who performed the religious service earlier in the day form in a procession and proceed to throw away the torma offering.
Five hundred soldiers and twenty-four flag-bearers accompany the procession. Three lamas carry on an iron tripod the tsamba torma, which is of pyramidal shape, about ten feet high and painted red, with projecting edges to represent flames, and frequently surmounted by a skull moulded in tsamba. Three other lamas bear on a large iron tray supported by a tripod a skeleton also made of tsamba. The procession goes to about a mile from the temple to where a shed, or hom khang, of straw or brush has been made, in which the torma and the skeleton are placed and then set on fire.
- ↑ See p. 114. On the New Year festivities, see Waddell, op. cit., 518.
