Note 1 — Chapter IV · RESIDENCE AT TASHILHUNPO, AND PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY TO LHASA.

On July 31, 1879, the thirteenth incarnation of the Dalai lama was placed on the throne of Lhasa. Chandra Das speaks of this event in the following terms: “The princely infant, into whose person the spirit of the late Dalai had passed, had been brought up till now in a small palace of Gyal-kup, near Lhasa. Last year the Tashi lama, at the invitation of the Emperor of China and the high officials of Tibet, had gone to Lhasa to examine the infant Dalai, and report if the spirit of the last Dalai had really passed into his person. For several days oracles were consulted, the result being to establish beyond doubt that the infant was the incarnate Shenrazig, the patron of Tibet. On the day when he pronounced the infant’s claim to the pontifical throne to be good and valid, a magnificent rainbow is said to have appeared over the palace of Potala. The Tashi lama had fixed July 31 for the Dalai’s accession to the throne” (see ‘Narrative of a Journey to Tashilhunpo,’ p. 25). ↑