import Media from './components/media'; import { Gallery } from './components/wrappers';

Description:

Dance manual for the ritual dance ritual of Vajrakīla by the 5th Dalai Lama (apparently Drepung Ganden Phodrang print from among his collected writings)

Title: ༄༅། །དཔལ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་འཆམས་ཀྱི་བརྗེད་བྱང་ལྷའི་རོལ་གར་བཞུགས་སོ།། [dpal kun tu bzang po'i 'chams kyi brjed byang lha'i rol gar bzhugs so//]

Object biography

Drongshar, Tsering, Mathias Fermer and Uwe Niebuhr. Annotated Catalogue of the Text Collection of René Nebesky-Wojkowitz (1923–1959) at the Weltmuseum Wien. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien. (forthcoming 2024).

Nebesky-Wojkowitz †, René de (and C. von Fürer-Haimendorf (ed.)). 1976. Tibetan Religious Dances: Tibetan text and annotated translation of the 'chams yig. With an appendix by Walter Graf. The Hague, Paris: Mouton, 109–245: see chapter 'Tibetan text and translation'.

Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René. 1958. "Tibetan blockprints and manuscripts in possession of the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna." Archiv für Völkerkunde 13, 189–190: No. 134.471; Title: dPal kun tu bzang po'i 'chams kyi brjed byang lha'i rol gar bzhugs so; Title on margin: 'Chams yig; Blockprint, 40 folios; size 54x9 cms; A work describing the performance of a religious dance under the auspices of the Adi-Buddha Samantabhādra (Tib. Kun tu bzang po) and two related deities of the yi dam class. Heruka and Vajrakīla (Tib. rDo rje phur pa). Books of this type—they are called "dance books" ('chams dpe or 'chams yig)—, are extremly rare. To my knowledge only one other 'chams yig has so far reached the West. [fn41: According to information received from M. Rolf A. Stein (Paris), another 'chams yig is in possession of M. A. Migot who acquired this book in the course of his travels in eastern Tibet.] The book here under discussion has been composed, in its greater part, by the fifth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho (1617–1682), who, however, left it unfinished. The text was later completed by the incarnate lama Ma chen and by the chief sacrificer (dkon gnyer dpon) Byams pa kun dga' 'byung gnas. The 'chams yig begins with a short historic introduction and with a few general observations on the way in which a 'chams should be performed. The description of the dance itself is divided into two main sections: in the first the so-called "root dance" or rtsa 'chams is discussed, while the second part treats the so-called brub 'chams, whose main purpose is the "killing of evil" (gdug pa'i sgrol ba). The rtsa 'chams is usually danced by 13, 16, 21 or 23 lamas dressed in the attire of so-called "Black Hat" magicians (zhva nag). The introduction to the rtsa 'chams gives a short description of the attire which the dancers wear and discusses in particular the symbolism of their charcteristic hats. The text then describes the various phases of the rtsa 'chams which is essentially to mystic creation of the [190] maṇḍala od Heruka by relevant dance movements. The main figures of this maṇḍala of Heruka and his śakti, ten wrathful deities (khro bcu) occupying the nadir, zenith and the main and subsidiary quarters of the world. Further are the ten "servants" (phyag brnyen) and ten witches (phra men), "four ferocious gate-guards" (sgo ma bzhi) who guard the four gates leading into the interior of the maṇḍala and finally the twenty-eight yoginīs (rnal 'byor ma) who stand in groups of seven in the four main quarters of the world. The second part of the 'chams yig consists of two main sections. In the first is discussed a drum-dance (rnga 'chams) under the auspices of Vajrakīla and performed by masked dancers who accompany their movements by drum-beats. The special from of brub 'chams described in the second section culminates in the "killing" of a dough effigy (linga). [fn42: On this action see especially Nebesky-Wojkowitz: Oracles and Demons, p. 360 sq.; R. A. Stein: "Le liṅga des dances masquees lamaiques et la theorie des âmes", Sino-Indian Studies, Vol. V, nos. 3–4, Liebenthal Festschrift, Santiniketan; P. H. Pott: "Een Duivels Dans in Tibet's grensgebied", Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, deel 114, 's Gravenhage 1958, pp. 197–209.]

Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René de. 1956a. Oracles and Demons of Tibet: The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities. The Hague: Mouton, 402: [fn5: Tibetan works giving instructions of the performance of religious dances and their meaning ('cham yig, 'cham dpe) are extremely rare. The printing-blocks are generally kept under seal, and copies of these texts may be printed only with the permission of the church authorities, which is difficult to obtain. During my research in the Himalayas I acquired a 'cham dpe on the performance of the Kun tu bzang po'i 'cham as carried out by members of the rNying ma pa sect. The title of this blockprint, which counts 40 fols., is dPal kun tu bzang po'i 'chams kyi brjed byang lha'i rol gar bzhugs so (Collection Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Museum für Völkerkunde, Wien). — Three works on religious dances, which had been composed by Bu ston, are mentioned under nos. 5092, 5111 and 5136 in the Tohoku Catalogue. — On Tibetan folk-dances see H. Siiger, 'Dancing pilgrims from Tibet,' Geografisk Tidsskrift, LI, Copenhagen 1951, pp. 1–26.]

Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René. 1953e. "Neuerwerbungen aus Sikkim und Tibet." Archiv für Völkerkunde 8, 271: Die Neuerwerbungen der Tibet-Sammlung umfassen weiters zwanzig verschiedene tibetische Drucke und Manuskripte, bei denen es sich in der Mehrheit um seltene Werke handelt. Unter ihnen wären besonders zu erwähnen: ein vorzüglich gedrucktes, aus der Bibliothek des im Jahre 1912 zerstörten Klosters von Tengyeling in Lhasa stammendes Ritualbuch des Kun tu bzang po Religionstanzes [...].

Inventory of the Weltmuseum Wien, Post XIII/1953: Drucke über deren Inhalt vom Sammler keine näheren Angaben gemacht wurden. Es handelt sich (mit Ausnahme von Nr. 470) um tibetische Bücher aus handgeschöpftem Papier, die im Blockdruckverfahren mit tibetischen Schriftzeichen bedruckt sind und religiöse Texte beinhalten; Maße: Nr. 471; Tscham Yig, ein kostbares und seltenes Tanzritual, Blockdruck 56x10 cm, mit 2 Holzdeckel.

Shipping list, René Nebesky-Wojkowitz & Karl Anton Nowotny, 28 May 1954: Außerdem vorhanden: 12 Bündel Blockdrucke, 2 Bündel Manuskripte, 1 gebundenes Manuskript [...] 2 Bündel Blockdrucke, 1 Bündel Manuskripte waren nicht bei der Sammlung aufbewahrt und sind ebenso vorhanden.

Inventory list, René Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Kalimpong, 15 December 1951: -