CENSUS, a general catalogue and index of Dongba manuscripts

                                    

Introduction to CENSUS categories

Manuscripts belonging to Dongba pictographic tradition are religious scriptures, dedicated to certain ceremony of Naxi Dongba religious tradition. This is a foundamental and common feature to all manuscripts which CENSUS means to reflect into manuscripts' general index implementation, thus this structure shoud be reproduced into manuscript's catalogation and layout.

Moreover, being CENSUS a global catalog of Dongba manuscripts, and because of existence of many collections of Dongba manuscripts organized and implemented with criteria and solutions, one independently to the others, CENSUS aims to be convergence system, a resuming resource-point of Naxi - Dongba manuscripts.

This, in practice, consists in implementing a new type of archive, a databse system projected directly on the whole manuscripts' corpus of Dongba tradition, and not just implemented over a local collection, which the wider it could be, it always could be considered as a partial representation of Naxi - Dongba pictographic literature.

CENSUS thus is thougth to be implemented grounding on Dongba ceremonial corpus, which to every pictographic manuscripts written was dedicated, so adopting this skeletons as its architecture CENSUS system is implemented as a meta-system, able to cross-over the etherogeneity and differences made by peculiar approaches used by idependent collections and various institution which possess Dongba manuscripts.

The first step for CENSUS architecture implementation then consisted in understanding the local colections' architecture for catalogation and layout of manusctipts; again the pilot resources because of web-availability of data were the Library of Congress and the Harward Yenching Library, which evinced the following cathegories:

  1. The Harvard Yenching Library Naxi Manuscript Collection
    1. Worship to Dongba Shiluo
    2. Worship of the Dragon King
    3. Worship to the Wind
    4. Prayers for Long Life
    5. Worship for the Worthy
    6. God of Victory
    7. Worship to the House Gods
    8. For the Living
    9. Remove Filthiness
    10. Closing the Door to Death
    11. Venerating the Dead
    12. Divination
    13. Lingza Scripture
    14. Scrolls
  2. The Collection of Naxi Manuscripts of the Library of Congress, Asian Division, Washington, D.C.
    1. Sacrifices to Heaven - Ji tian
    2. Sacrifices to the Highest Deity - Ji shi luo
    3. Sacrifices to the Serpent King - Ji Long wang
    4. Romance and love-related ceremonies - Ji feng
    5. Blocking malicious ghosts - Guan si men
    6. Prayers for longevity - Qiu shou
    7. Aspirations for wisdom - Ji xian
    8. Sacrifices to the God of Bravery and Victory - Ji sheng li
    9. Ancestral worship - Ji zu
    10. Casting out evil spirits - Chu sui
    11. For a better reincarnation - Ti sheng
    12. Divination - Zhan bu
    13. Ghosts and Spirits - Gui shen lei
    14. Naxi pictographic art - Hui hua
    15. Harrison Photostat Collection

Analysys and cross-study of manuscripts and manuscripts' indexes of the two collections permitted the identification of the following concordances:

Library of Congress
Harward Yenching
Sacrifices to Heaven - Ji tian
  
Sacrifices to the Highest Deity - Ji shi luo Worship to Dongba Shiluo
Sacrifices to the Serpent King - Ji Long wang
 Worship of the Dragon King
Worship to the Wind
  
Blocking malicious ghosts - Guan si men
 Closing the Door to Death
Prayers for longevity - Qiu shou
 Prayers for Long Life
Aspirations for wisdom - Ji xian
  
Sacrifices to the God of Bravery and Victory - Ji sheng li
 God of Victory
Ancestral worship - Ji zu
  
Casting out evil spirits - Chu sui
 For the Living
For a better reincarnation - Ti sheng
  
Divination - Zhan bu
 Divination
Ghosts and Spirits - Gui shen lei
  
Naxi pictographic art - Hui hua
  
Harrison Photostat Collection
  
  Worship to the House Gods
  Remove Filthiness
Sacrifices to the Deceased - Ji si zhe
 Venerating the Dead
  Worship for the Worthy

 

Such concordances then were cross-referred to Jospeh Rock classification of Naxi - Dongba ceremonies with the following scores:

Joseph Rock

Library of Congress
Harward Yenching
Nature worship (earliest primitive ceremonies)
Sacrifices to Heaven - Ji tian
  
Funerary ceremonies
Sacrifices to the Highest Deity - Ji shi luo Worship to Dongba Shiluo
Propitiation of Nagas 1Ssu, serpent spirits
Sacrifices to the Serpent King - Ji Long wang
 Worship of the Dragon King
2Har 2la 1llu 3k'o - propitiate soul of suicides or people died an unnatural death
   
Romance and love-related ceremonies - Ji feng
 Worship to the Wind
  
Prevention of Evil arising from the Sky and Land
Blocking malicious ghosts - Guan si men
 Closing the Door to Death
Prolongation of life
Prayers for longevity - Qiu shou
 Prayers for Long Life
  Aspirations for wisdom - Ji xian
  
Nature worship (earliest primitive ceremonies)
Sacrifices to the God of Bravery and Victory - Ji sheng li
 God of Victory
Nature worship (earliest primitive ceremonies)
Ancestral worship - Ji zu
  
Propitiation and eviction of demons
Casting out evil spirits - Chu sui
 For the Living
  For a better reincarnation - Ti sheng
  
Books of divination
Divination - Zhan bu
 Divination
Propitiation and eviction of demons
Ghosts and Spirits - Gui shen lei
  
  Naxi pictographic art - Hui hua
  
  Harrison Photostat Collection
  
Ceremonies for prosperity of family and herds
   
Propitiation of Mountain and Tutelary spirits
   
Marriage ceremony
  Worship to the House Gods
Purification
  Remove Filthiness
Funerary ceremonies
Sacrifices to the Deceased - Ji si zhe
 Venerating the Dead
Funerary ceremonies
  Worship for the Worthy
Inviting ancestors
   
Elimination of accumulated sins
   
Ceremonies performed by Llu-bu or San-nyi
   

According to identified concordances CENSUS General Cataolgue cathegories were deduced, implementing wider set named according to Rock wider groups of Naxi Dongba ceremonial corpus and labelled with capital roman letter, nesting inside such wider gropus smaller sets labelled with lower roman letters implemented according to Dongba ceremonial corpus subdivision and collections' internal classifications.

Joseph Rock categories Zhu Baotian (Library of Congress) Harward Yenching Library CENSUS MAIN CENSUS sub MAIN Id sub Id
Nature worship (earliest primitive ceremonies) Sacrifices to Heaven - Ji tian   Propitiation Sacrifice to the heaven E c
Funerary ceremonies Sacrifices to the Highest Deity - Ji shi luo Worship to Dongba Shiluo Propitiation Cult of Dongba Shilo E d
Propitiation of Nagas 1Ssu, serpent spirits Sacrifices to the Serpent King - Ji Long wang Worship of the Dragon King Propitiation Serpent deities - Naga cult E e
2Har 2la 1llu 3k'o - propitiate soul of suicides or people died an unnatural death Romance and love-related ceremonies - Ji feng Worship to the Wind Funeray ceremonies Violent and un-natural death B a
      Funeray ceremonies Dongba funeral B b
      Funeray ceremonies Natural death funeral B c
Prevention of Evil arising from the Sky and Land Blocking malicious ghosts - Guan si men Closing the Door to Death Prevention Close door to malicious ghosts - Guan si men D a
Prolongation of life Prayers for longevity - Qiu shou Prayers for Long Life Propitiation Longevity E f
  Aspirations for wisdom - Ji xian   Propitiation Aspirations for wisdom - Ji xian E g
Nature worship (earliest primitive ceremonies) Sacrifices to the God of Bravery and Victory - Ji sheng li God of Victory Propitiation Sacrifice to the spirit of victory E h
Nature worship (earliest primitive ceremonies) Ancestral worship - Ji zu   Propitiation Nature ancestral cult - Ji zu E i
Propitiation and eviction of demons Casting out evil spirits - Chu sui   Purification Casting out evil spirits - Chu sui F a
  For a better reincarnation - Ti sheng   Propitiation For a better reincarnation - Ti sheng E m
Books of divination Divination - Zhan bu Divination Divination Divinatpry books A a
Propitiation and eviction of demons Ghosts and Spirits - Gui shen lei   Ceremonies for propitiation and evicting of demons Propitation and evicting demons - Gui shen lei E n
  Naxi pictographic art - Hui hua   Misc Naxi pictographic art - Hui hua C a
  Harrison Photostat Collection   Misc Harrison Photostat Collection C b
Ceremonies for prosperity of family and herds     Propitiation for prosperity E b
Propitiation of Mountain and Tutelary spirits     Propitiation propitiation of tutelary spirits E o
Marriage ceremony   Worship to the House Gods Propitiation for family, marriage and house E p
Purification   Remove Filthiness Purification Remove Filthiness F b
Funerary ceremonies Sacrifices to the Deceased - Ji si zhe Venerating the Dead Propitiation Cult of ancestors - Ji si zhe E q
Funerary ceremonies   Worship for the Worthy Propitiation Cult of the Worthy E r
Inviting ancestors     Propitiation Inviting ancestors E a
Elimination of accumulated sins     Purification Elimination of accumulated sins F c
Ceremonies performed by 2Llu 1bu or 2Ssan 1nyi     Misc Ceremonies performed by Lu-bu or San-nyi C c
  Scrolls Scrolls Scrolls Scrolls G a
      Undefined not studied yet H a
    Lingza Scripture Misc Lingza Scripture C d

Finallly, from previous resuming table implemented doruing CENSUS categories identification, an ordined list of CENSUS cathegories of Dongba manuscripts corresponding to the left navigation main menù.

CGC - Census General Catalog Categories

  1. Divination
    1. Divinatory books
  2. Funeray ceremonies
    1. Dongba funeral
    2. Violent and un-natural death
    3. Naturally death funeral
  3. Misc
    1. Naxi pictographic art - Hui hua
    2. Harrison Photostat Collection
    3. rituals performed by Llu-bu or San-nyi
    4. Lingza Scripture
  4. Prevention
    1. Close door to malicious ghosts - Guan si men
  5. Propitiation
    1. for ancestors
    2. for Prosperity
    3. Sacrifice to the heaven
    4. Cult of Dongba Shilo
    5. Serpent deities - Naga cult
    6. for Longevity
    7. Aspirations for wisdom - Ji xian
    8. Cult of the spirit of victory
    9. Nature ancestral cult - Ji zu
    10. for the Living
    11. For a better reincarnation - Ti sheng
    12. Propitation and evicting demons - Gui shen lei
    13. Cult of tutelary spirits
    14. for family, marriage and house
    15. Cult of ancestors
    16. Cult of the Worthy
  6. Purification
    1. Casting out evil spirits - Chu sui
    2. Removing filthiness
    3. Elimination of accumulated sins
  7. Scrolls
    1. Scrolls
  8. Undefined
    1. not studied yet

                                      

Xiulong - Stefano Zamblera, 11/01/2011 h. 12:22