Picturesque Nepal . y from between theelephant and dragon, and gaze around in therapidly fading light at the wealth of art andornament with which this extraordinarybuilding was covered. In front a large metal thunderbolt lay enthroned amid a back-ground of deities in niches, applied on thecarved wood or riveted on to brass mouldingsor embossed panels. On each side were metalscreens of boldly hammered patterns withlifelike bronze lizards crawling over the blankspaces. But the light began to die out fromthe sky ; as I looked the darkness came onapace, and all faded into a jumble of leeringdeitie
Picturesque Nepal . y from between theelephant and dragon, and gaze around in therapidly fading light at the wealth of art andornament with which this extraordinarybuilding was covered. In front a large metal thunderbolt lay enthroned amid a back-ground of deities in niches, applied on thecarved wood or riveted on to brass mouldingsor embossed panels. On each side were metalscreens of boldly hammered patterns withlifelike bronze lizards crawling over the blankspaces. But the light began to die out fromthe sky ; as I looked the darkness came onapace, and all faded into a jumble of leeringdeities and scrambling griffins framed in anatmosphere of gloom. White slits of eyesblinked at me from dark corners, and strangeanimals glowered from diapers and doorways,so I reluctantly left this fascinating buildingwith the feeling that I had seen one of theweirdest sights in the whole of Nepal. As in India, two of the most popular festivalsin Nepal are those of the Dassera and the Dewali, and coming as they usually do. BRASS TEMPLE UTENSIL FROM PATAX. A GAMBLING FESTIVAL 193 in immediate sequence, for a period extendingover almost a month the Valley is given upto prayer, feast, and rejoieing. Added tothese, one of the strange recreations of thefestival, and one that seems difficult to recon-cile with any religious function, is that ofgambling. It is true that a portion of thisholiday time is considered sacred to Lakshmi,the goddess of good fortune, and luck andgambling are not widely separated, but thefact remains that cards, dice, and kindredpastimes are indulged in excessively allover India by those who observe this Nepal this particular festival is the onlytime when public gambling is permitted bythe authorities, and for several days it iscarried to excess, the whole State being en-gaged in some form of licensed play. Withinrecent years strenuous efforts have been madeby the administration to limit the numberof days devoted to this sport, with verysatisfactory results
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbrownper, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
