1. Text number

Drangsong 042

2. Text title (where present) in Tibetan

༄༅།།སྟག་ལ་སྤུ་གྲི་ནག་པོའི་འཕྲིན་ལས་བཞུགས་པའི་དབུས་ཕྱོགས་ལགསྷོ།། བཀྲ་ཤིས།

3. Text title (where present) in Wylie transliteration

sTag la spu gri nag po’i ’phrin las bzhugs pa’i dbus phyogs lags s+ho/ bkra shis/

4. A brief summary of the item’s contents

Manual for the practice from the cycle of the meditational deity sTag la me ’bar the Black Razor.

5. Number of folios

12

6. Scribe’s name

None

7. Translation of title

Ritual text of the divinity sTag la the Black Razor.

8. Transcription of colophon

khod spungs dran pa bdag gis kyang/ rma gnyan pom ra’i thugs kar btad/ gser gyi nyi ma bshar [shar] bar bshog [shog]/ dung gis [gi] zla ba tshes par bshog [shog]/ rgya rgya rgya/ sprul sku kyu ra’i gter ma’o// dge zhang [zhing] bkra shis par bshog [shog]/ mgang+ghalaṃ / shu bhaṃ/

9. Translation of colophon

I, who am called Khod spung Dran pa, hid [this scripture] on Mount rMa gnyan pom ra. may the golden sun rise and the conch moon rise. Seal the threefold bond (rgya rgya rgya). Rediscovered by sPrul sku kyu ra, may it be virtuous and enjoy prosperity.

10. General remarks

The 13^th folio is missing. Rediscovered by spul sku Kyu ra (12^th century) on mountain rMa chen spom ra, in mGo log, Amdo.

11. Remarks on script

A yig mgo consisting of four curls painted in the negative on a black rectangular background, and a rubricated section made of a wide ornate rgya gram shad, the bīja syllable āḥ written in smar chung script, and the title of the text according to the ‘everlasting divine language’, written in regular ’bru tsha. Instructions written in ’khyug ma tshugs.

12. Format

Loose leaves

13. Size

9 × 33.5 cm

14. Layout

On the first folio, the title is written at the centre of a rectangular frame traced with double red lines and painted green, which extends to the sides into two compartments partly painted in a dark shade of red.

On the next two folios, where the text begins, miniatures are displayed on both sides, enclosed in an elaborate green framework recalling that of the title folio.

15. Illustrations and decorations

The first three folios of this manuscript are richly illuminated with paintings.

On the first folio, the title is written at the centre of a rectangular frame traced with double red lines and painted green, which extends to the sides into two compartments partly painted in a dark shade of red.

On the next two folios, where the text begins, miniatures are displayed on both sides, enclosed in an elaborate green framework recalling that of the title folio. These miniatures represent two pairs of Bon masters turned toward each other, forming together a four-figure lineage of transmission related to the text.

The two masters portrayed on the second folio have their right hands raised in the discussion gesture and their left hands resting in their laps. Seated cross-legged on blue disks and lotuses, they have their bodies and heads surrounded by halos of light on a blue-sky background. Their skin colour is unexpectedly dark, which may result from an alteration of pigments. They wear Bon lotus hats, each featuring a golden tip, a blue cap, red flaps folded on the front and sides as if lotus petals, and red ribbons falling down on the shoulders; waistcoats with red edges; and shawls, according to the monastic sartorial style.

In contrast with these two masters, the one represented on the third folio in senior position (on the viewer’s left) has both his hands resting in the lap, and that in junior position (on the viewer’s right) joined in the gesture of homage, turned to the latter. They do not wear hats but short hair. On the evidence provided by the colophon, the first two of these four figures may be identified as Dran pa nam mkha’, who hid the text, and sPrul sku kyu ra, who rediscovered it.

Beside these miniatures, one may also note the special scribal features that open the text: a yig mgo consisting of four curls painted in the negative on a black rectangular background, and a rubricated section made of a wide ornate rgya gram shad, the seed-syllable āḥ written in smar chung script, and the title of the text according to the ‘everlasting divine language’, written in regular dbu med.

16. Paper type

Woven, 2 layers

17. Paper thickness

0.15–0.21 mm

18. Nos of folio sampled

f. 1

19. Fibre analysis

Daphne sp. with admixture of singular other fibres such as cotton and artificial fibres; significant amount of swellings on the fibres, possible presence of singular fibres of Stellera sp.

20. AMS ¹⁴C dating

21. XRF analysis

Main elements: Ca, Fe

Trace elements: K, S, Si, Cl, Al, Sr, Ti, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb

22. RTI

A)    Rendering mode:  Default                      B) Rendering mode: Diffuse Gain

23. GCMS