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Volume 3 93 |
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A–Z |  |
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MASKS AND TRUMPETS THAT GO BEFORE A PROCESSION OF LAMA DANCERS The grotesque coverings that conceal the features of these leaders of the barbaric rout whose long shadows stripe the grass beneath the trumpets, indicate what is coming. The devil worship that has gnawed its ugly way, like some insidious parasite into the sonorous liturgy of Buddhism must needs find some forcible expression. This it has obtained in dances and ceremonies designed to placate the eldritch conceptions of the Oriental mentality — the evil spirits. And the adjuncts of these gruesome rites are as bizarre as their instigation, but are impressive, too, at this pageant in the Maidan at Calcutta |