Naxi script resource centre

I’ve written about the character for ‘tiger’ before, but seeing as I’ve just uploaded the Origin of the Tiger scripture along with a translation and commentary from Bai Gengsheng, I think it’s time to say a little more about tigers in Naxi culture.

The tiger is very important in Naxi mythology, and also plays a large role in the Naxi language – la33 la21′, ‘healthy’, literally means ‘tiger tiger’, although it is generally written as ‘tiger hand’ to reflect the tonal difference in the second la.

Many places around Lijiang also use tiger in their name, such as Lashi county, la33 sɪ55, and Lugu Lake, la33 t’a33 hɰ55 .

Some Naxi believe that the tiger was the forefather of all humans; and the Naxi character dzɪ33 la21 a31 p’v33, the Naxi god and father of ts’e55 ho21 bu33 be21 mi55, the legendary ancestor of the Naxi people, bears this out. The character depicts a god in heaven, with a tiger’s head and human legs. That many Naxi historically took the surname ‘la’ (tiger) attests to this close relationship between man and tiger. In fact, Naxi legends of the mythical Jade Dragon kingdom recount that red tigers serve as mounts there, instead of horses.

There’s an interesting panel at the Lijiang Museum (formerly Dongba Culture Museum) that shows various Naxi characters in comparison with their oracle bone / Egyptian hieroglyph counterparts. Excuse the rubbish blurry cameraphone photo, which was also taken behind a pane of glass  (click for big):

You get the IPA for the Naxi, but that’s it.

I was privy to the first meeting of the month at the Lijiang Municipal Museum yesterday, which, like all such meetings in Chinese work places, was a complete snoozefest, apart from a couple of interesting tidbits interspersed among the admonitions of ‘no playing mahjong in the workplace’.

It seems the Museum is getting ready to re-publish the 东巴文化报 (Dongba culture newspaper), with the help of yours truly. The newspaper will be bilingual English/Chinese and will no doubt feature Dongba legends, local news and reports on any local sacrifices/rites that are taking place.

Also, the local cultural heritage bureau apparently unearthed some twenty-odd relics in Ninglang prefecture (half way to Lugu lake),all of which have been classified as level 3 or above national historical relics.

On that note, I have heard (purely speculation) that a lot of the digging going on around the Lijiang old town area has to do with the bureau’s search for the tomb of the local 土司 tusi (hereditary headmen) Mu family, which has yet to be discovered. When and if they find it, there’s a good chance of there being a lot of tasty goodies inside.

I myself have done some rather limited research on Naxi fengshui and burial practices, and it seems unlikely in the extreme that the Mu family tomb would be underneath the old town. As I understand it, the best burial fengshui is at the middle peak of a three peak mountain range (ie not the highest or lowest).

So yes, I’m going to be donning the fedora and doing some archaeology over the next weeks.