A Qualitative Study of the Tici of Dongba He Nianheng in Baidi

Abstract

Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in Dongba secular documents whereby scholars can carry out ground-breaking research on Dongba script and Naxi culture. The Dongba Tici is of great significance in Dongba secular written records, which play an invaluable role in daily life for Naxi people. In previous studies of the Dongba Tici, the different types of the Dongba Tici have been found to be written for people, for institutions, for meetings, for the commemoration of tours and journeys, and so on. So far, however, there remains a paucity of research on the Dongba Tici, which was written by Dongba religious priests for themselves. In this study, we draw on a linguistic approach to exploring Baidi He Nianheng’s Tici written in Dongba script. The results indicate that He Nianheng, one of the Dongba religious priests in Baidi, showed responsibility for being a Dongba shaman in his later years and conveyed his deep feelings about a sense of living on borrowed time in his Dongba Tici. In addition, we also find a new Dongba pictogram and several unusual variants of Dongba pictograms, which can be added to the reference books of Dongba script.