The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-03
SIGNS AT BIRTH
IN GRAND LAMA or THIBET DwELLs SOUL or FORMER AU-
 LER.
Pathetic Figure ef the Holy Chila is Drawn by Rare visitors-suDreme viceregent of Buddha on Earth
 Has Gorge0us Palace.

No living white man, unless Colonel Younghusband has found him. has even seen the grand lama of Thibet, who has I shut himself up. the telegrams say. for three years. Dominating the mysterious city, the forbidden land where gates are opening to the world. is the palace of the young priest king. Set on a hill which can not be hid. rising in the center nine stories high, the golden roofs of the Potala palace would draw the first gaze of the first white man who carried the | British flag to this corner of the earth, | in which 1t had never before been un- furled.
 The world has heard little of him except that he loves Russia, hates Chi ma and has great contempt for En- gland. He has no authority for sit- ting among the worlds kings save that a Buddhist theory puts him there. Humbly born, 2s years old. with no great gifts of his own. Tubdangyamtso | is ruler of Thibet because of a strange | sign at his birth. real or imagined. marked him out as the child in whom | the soul of the previous ruler had been | reborn. So. not long ago, the little son | of poor fuel seller came to the throne l of Thibet; so for centuries have the destinies of the mountain kingdom fall len Into the hands of a little child. Legends of the Buddhists. Long ago. when Charles Stuart was being driven from his throne in En- gland, a dalai lama was raised to the throne of Thibet by a Mongol prince | whom he had called in to conquer the land. The Chinese emperor let go his | hold on Lhasa and gave the ambitious priest the title which his successors have kept ever since-the title of dalai | lama, "the great gem of majesty" When the grand lama died his soul, | the Buddhists say, was born again in another child. and so from age to age the eternal life of the dalai lama goes on.
 Almost before his eyes were opened, though his mother and father knew 1t not. the dalai lama was destined for the place on the red hill. Some sign at his birth-once 1t was the sound of music at another time the dropping of milk upon the pillars of the house-de- | termined the choice. But there were | other signs and other children and for a few years it was not known in Thibet l whether Tubdangyamtso would be | dalai lama or a common Thibetan's son. l Then the names of the three children whose births had been attended with
 
 each inscribed upon a slip in Chinese and Thibetan characters, and at a sol- emn service and In the presence of the | people and all the lamas the dalai lama was chosen by lot. placing it be yond a doubt that the actual and genu- inc embodiment of the dalai lama has l appeared In the world, and the vel low church has a ruler for its govern | ance."
 Taken to Palace to Live.
 Henceforth the child's home was at the palace, the palace into which no woman must go. His parents were given d residence for life about a mile away the mother seeing her son in certain hours. the father being raised to higf rank. At years old the dalai lama was enthroned: at eight he was or. dained a monk and head of the church at eighteen he took into his own handl the reins of government. For ten years Tubdangyamtso has ruled in Lhasa, ye he Is still youth of twenty eight.
 There are not many more pathetic sights on earth than the sight of dala lana seated on his throne. For gen erations the grand lamas have beei mere boys; many of them are said tt have died mysterious deaths. It is, a best, a sad enough life. Manning, tn, | now ninety years ago, could think O nothing else but the beautiful face O the doomed child. Yet this child wa. ruler of Thibet, with a palace bigge than the vatican and an environment as gorgeous as that of king.
 There Is man living in India wh. has seen the dalai lama. the first anC last man to enter his presence in dis guise, and he brought away from tn, forbidden city the same sad picture al the Englishman.
 Sad and Solemn Scene. He sat three rows from the thron at a reception by the dalai lama, il the grand hall in which the state of ficials walked from left to right witt gravity becoming their exalted ranl : in the presence of the supreme vicere gent of Buddha on earth The dala . lama was eight years old. seated on , great altar, pillared on lions of carve, ' wood and covered with costly sill scarfs. He wore a yellow miter ove his head, his body was robed In a vel low mantle and the child sat cross legged with the palms of his hand joined in blessing.
 . Sarat Chandra Dass. in the few mo ments he stood before the king -child was filled with sorrow for him. Tn . child had "a really bright and fair com plexion. with rosy checks" His eyes were large and penetrating } The thinness of his person was probab ' ly owing to the fatigues of the ceremo nies at the court. of his religious dutie and of ascetic observances to which h } had been subjected since taking tn vows of monkhood.
 A steward poured tea into the dala lamas golden cup from a golden tea pot and before he lifted the cup to hi lips a grace was solemnly chanted Then the steward placed a golden disl
 full of rice in front of the child, whicl he barely touched before the rice wa
 distributed. 1 Praises the Holy Child.
 After grace had been said the hol child chanted a hymn in a low, indis
 tinct voice, and a venerable gentleman rose from the middle of the first roy
 of seats and. addressing the grand lam
 as the Lord Avalokita incarnate, re
 cited many deeds of mercy which tha
 patron saint of Thibet had vouchsafe, toward It's benighted people. At tn conclusion he thrice prostrated himsel
 before his holiness. when a soleml
 pause followed, after which the au
 dience rose and the grand lama retir ed
 The dalai lama. in truth Is an au
 tocrat hardly less absolute on his tin, stage than the czar
 He rules his Kingdom in central Asia eight times as big as Great Britian. bu
 with population no larger than Lon, don's, from one of the noblest palace. in the world. His capital stands high. CT than Mount Etna above the level oi