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99Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies
www.aaatec.org ISSN 2310-2144
A Comparison of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions between Dabaism and Dongbaism
Xu Duoduo
Division of Chinese, HSS, NTU, Singapore, 14 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637332
Email: duoduo001@e.ntu.edu.sg
Abstract
The present study compares the twenty-eight lunar mansions of Dabaism and Dongbaism, from the perspective of pronunciation, writing, and star atlases, with new data of Daba calendars collected from my fieldwork. I try to decipher the questionable Dongba stars documented by scholars before according to Daba stars, since they share similarities, with reference from the commonly shared 28-lunar mansion systems among Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese. One of the differences between Dabaism and Dongbaism is the choice of starting lunar mansion. According to records about the stars "on duty" on the first day of each month in Dongba classics, I suggest the star from the constellation "human" should be in agreement with the Dongba tradition. In this case, the starting lunar mansion in Dabaism could be an additional written proof of this tradition.
Keywords: Dabaism; Dongbaism; calendar; twenty-eight lunar mansions; the starting lunar mansion
Introduction
Dabaism and Dongbaism are very ancient (primordial) local religions of Na and Naxi People living in South-West China. Dabaism and Dongbaism have the same origin and have developed in the regions where they are widespread according to an independent path for a long time in history. Systematic investigations of Dongbaism started in 19t century, with the arrival of Christian priests in South-West China. They studied the ethnic cultures of those territories. The local writing system, called Dongba scripts, is now recognized (and well-known) as the unique pictographic writing still alive all over the world. The cognate belief of Dongbaism, Dabaism, has remained untouched over time, being attested in a remote mountainous area. Traditionally, from the dawn of time, Dabaism and Dongbaism use lunar mansions in order to calculate the dates. Some of the records about their lunar mansions can be found in Dongbaism classics that have been written in Dongba scripts (as shown here in Table 2).
Since the discovery of Daba calendars in 1930s, the atavistic calendars and the only written texts of Dabaism discovered so far, some studies have been done on them in order to decipher the
ancient symbols, including [1, p. 32], [2, p. 43], [3], [4]. However, the interpretation of these symbols still needs to be worked in-depth. Firstly, they have used Chinese characters to write down the pronunciations of the symbols in local language, which is quite different from Chinese phonemic system. Secondly, the versions of the calendars have not been documented clearly in some of the publications so that the number and meanings of the symbols are varied from version to version.
During my two-month fieldwork in January and July, 2011, on the border area of Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, I have visited ten Daba, the priests of Dabaism, and two Lama, the priests of Tibetan Buddhism. With the cooperation from them, I have interpreted eight Daba calendars from four villages1 in the area. The Daba scripts are conventional religious symbols used to write down the lunar mansions in the calendar. However, they are not able to transcribe the target language. The interpretations I have collected for the lunar mansions include: the lunar mansions' symbols, IPA transcriptions of their names in Na, translation of Na, IPA transcriptions of the meaning of them in Na, word-by-word translation and interpretation as sentences, and, finally, the conclusion of divination meanings of the lunar mansions. In the following Table 1 it is possible to find an example elicited from my interpretation work. Basing my analysis on the roar data, there are twenty-eight symbols representing the lunar mansions of Dabaism and seven symbols borrowed from Tibetan Buddhism.
Table 1. Example of Interpretation of Dabaism stars
Daba Scripts 00
IPA ^WœHkmH
Chinese Ma Xing (Hugua)
IPA ^ws- tehiH mvH d^A-l, leH xwaH mvH dzA-l.
Translation horse to sell NEG. good, to buy NEG. good.
Interpretation (On the day of Hugua), the exchanges of horses are not auspicious.
Divination Meaning The day that Hugua is "on duty" is not good for horse exchange.
Due to the sound changes happened in the local language, some meanings of the lunar mansions have remained mysterious since they could not be related to the current vocabulary. However, the designations of the lunar mansions in Dabaism and Dongbaism share the same meanings, but different pronunciation according to the local dialects. This has provided more possibilities in discovering more about the meanings of the stars. In order to do this, I tried to take reference from the twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dongbaism. Many scholars have investigated the
2 3
twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dongbaism. For example, [5, p. 513-517] , [6, p. 28-30] , [7, p. 92-
1 The four villages are: Wujiao MMVillage, Mull ^MCounty, Sichuan Province; Lijiazui ^^^Village, Mull County, Sichuan Province; Qiansuo ^^Village, Yanyuan ^MCounty, Sichuan Province; Wenquan S^Village, Ninglang ^^County, Yunnan Province.
2 The book of Joseph Rock was published in 1963, while the fieldwork had been conducted at the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century.
3 Yang Zhonghong's dictionary of the writing system of Dongbaism was written in 1930. However, it has not yet been published. In this paper I take reference from the scanned pages cited in Zhou Yin's master degree thesis. The scanned pages have been collected by Professor Yu Suisheng
95], [8, p. 7-9], [9, p. 319-3204, p. 314-315], [10, p. 145-148], [11], [12, p. 377], [13, p. 33], [14, p. 226-228], [15, p. 399]. The characters of the stars have been collected from various regions and the Dongba priests had various interpretations of the stars' characters. Among these data, those provided in [8] have been considered the most convincing version, as they have reached the agreement of many Dongba priests and their locations have been checked with the stars in the sky. Besides this version, the fieldworks conducted by Zhu Baotian in E'ya ^^Village and Li Guowen in E'luoju ®^#Village in Dadong Xiang have also yielded reliable roar information of the
Dongba's twenty-eight lunar mansions. According to the materials published so far, the stars and their order are almost the same among different versions in Dongbaism. In most versions the twenty-eight lunar mansions starts with the star called [tg'walts'AJ] and ends with [t'alkmJ]5, with the exception of the Divination Figure displayed in [11], which starts with the star called [py33bu21kv33] and ends with [zy21pa21].
The pictographic writing system used in Dongba classics can write down the lunar mansions' names as well as to transcribe the language to some extent. Table 2 is an example of Dongba Classic record related to the 28 lunar mansions. It is elicited from Volume 92 of Naxi Dongba Guji Yizhu Quanji [An Annotated Collection of Naxi Dongba Manuscripts].
Table 2. Example of Interpretation of Dongbaism stars
Vol. 92, "Yi Sizhe Wangling de Shiri, Yue, Xing, Zhan Wangling de Dongxiang [Astrology about the Movement of Deads according to the day, month, and star "on duty"]" 6
Dongba Scripts I ^ 7 <B ft
IPA ig2' pe2' ts'e33 do21 dra2i py33 bu2i kv33 to55 dar"
Chinese yi yue yue xian yi ri benbügü shang lun
English the 1st month month see the 1st day Altair Loc. on duty
Translation The first day of the first month, Altair is the star on duty.
There are also atavistic figures of the 28 Mansions in Dongbaism besides the Dongba classics recording the sentences that interpret the divination meanings of the stars. One example is the Divination Figure documented in [11], as reported in Figure 1. The inner circle lists the twelve stars "on duty" of the first days of each month. The outer circle displays the twenty-eight lunar mansions.
4 Zhou Rucheng's material has been collected in 1958. It has been cited in a confidential way in Zhu Baotian & Chen Jiujin (1985), pp. 319-320.
5 The transcriptions of the stars' names are different in various versions because of the dialect issue. Here I use the transcription from Li Lincan (1972) as representatives.
6 The example is cited from Zhou Yin (2008: 47-48), who has added annotations to each Dongba characters on the basis of the original philologic work in Naxi Dongba Guji Yizhu Quanji. According to the addtional annotations in Zhou Yin (2008: 47-48), ^ is a Geba Script, a branch in the pictographic writing of Dongbaism, which is generally called Dongba Scripts.
Figure 1. Divination Figure Interpreted in [11]
There are also comparative studies of the twenty-eight lunar mansions with the main cultures around Dongbaism. For example, the correspondence of the twenty-eight lunar mansions among Naxi, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit researched by [5, II, p. 513-517]. However, there are also scholars consider the twenty-eight lunar mansions knowledge originated from the astronomical observation of ancestors of Na and Naxi People and passed down via local religious classics [16, p. 301].
Materials accessible so far suggest both similarities and differences of the twenty-eight lunar mansions between Dongbaism and Dabaism in the perspective of the stars' names and the shape of the stars' characters. In the present study, I try to compare the twenty-eight lunar mansions in the two cognate local religions in order to discover the correspondence between the two systems in an exhaustively way and to solve questions noted in previous research about the lunar mansions' names. Further on, I try to display the relationship of the twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dabaism and Dongbaism with those in other main-stream cultures.
Methodology
Investigating about the Dabaism lunar mansions, I have checked through the characters of the stars/asterisms in Daba's calendars and I have found out the correspondences of the characters among the eight versions of calendars. In Dabaism there are thirty days every month and twelve months in one year. Moreover, four to five days would be added according to the locations of the stars in the sky. The days are marked by twenty-eight lunar mansions in a certain order. With the repetition of the twenty-eight lunar mansions, each day of the whole year is represented by one mansion. I take the first circulation of twenty-eight lunar mansions from the beginning of the first
month, the month of tiger, in Daba's calendar, for numbering them. Among these hand-writing calendars, the ones from Wujiao Village and Lijiazui Village have been most exhaustively and correctly explained. The two Daba priests contributed to the work are AwoM^ and Mupa Tfi. The two most ancient calendars in Qiansuo Village are held by Daba He LuzudfflM^ and Lama A Luzuo the two most respected priests in the village. In the Tibetan calendar held by Lama A
Luzuo, the stars' names of Dabaism have been transcribed in Tibetan scripts on the pages of the first month. Lamas use the Daba calendar as an additional reference to Tibetan calendar when they have to establish days for rituals. However, they don't know exactly the meanings of the stars' names. The calendar from Wenquan Village is very ancient and damaged. The owner Daba Awu was not able to interpret the stars' symbols.
Studying the Dongbaism lunar mansions, I have selected the highly reliable first-hand materials collected by other scholars and I have compared these versions of Dongba's twenty-eight lunar
H
mansions. These materials include: [8], [9], and [11]. The nuances among different versions are annotated under star groups in Section 3.
Among the recordings of twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dongbaism, most of them start with "Liu Xing" (the constellation "six stars"). A plausible reason for this is a kind of tradition set in the beginning of the studies on this topic, seeking for the similarity of Naxi People's lunar mansions with Chinese constellations. In Rock's dictionary, one of the earliest work on Dongbaism lunar mansions, Ch'wua- ts'er- k'o] and Ch'wua- ts' er gv] are the first two stars. The second of them corresponds to "Kang Xiu" the constellation of the "neck" (of the "dragon" in the east) in Chinese twenty-eight lunar mansions, which is the second in the series. Yang Zhonghong also connected "Liu Xing" with "Jiao Xiu", the constellation of the "horn" (of the "dragon" in the east) in Chinese twenty-eight lunar mansions. Since "Jiao Xiu" is the first in Chinese lunar mansions, He considered "Liu Xing" the first star in Naxi People's lunar mansions. Li Lincan follwed this tradition [8], as well as Zhu Baotian & Chen Jiujin did [9]. The only exception is the Divination Figure interpreted in [11], in which "Liu Xing", i»»&€[tg'ua55ts'321k'o33], is the eighth in the sequence of lunar mansions.
Basing my analysis on the results of the comparison within both Dabaism and Dongbaism, I analyze the two 28-lunar mansion systems of Dabaism and Dongbaism. As mentioned above, Dabaism and Dongbaism are the eastern branch and western branch of the same local religion. The local dialects of Dabaism and Dongbaism are also considered eastern and western dialects of the same language. The eastern dialect is called Na and the western dialect is called Naxi according to the endonyms in each of the dialects. People speaking different dialects, Na or Naxi, could not communicate without learning each other's dialect. However, linguistic studies have discovered systematic phonemic correspondences between the two dialects [17, p. 112-113], [18]. Considering the sound correspondences between Na and Naxi, I take the relationship of the stars from Dabaism
7 Data about twenty-eight stars Li Lincàn (1972) were collected from Zhongdiàn ^^ County, Diqing ^^ Prefecture,
Yunnan Province. The first-hand materials in Zhu Bâotian & Chén Jiujin (1985) were collected in their fieldwork in É'yà
Village, Mùli County, Sichuan Province, with three Dongba priests in 1981. The information about their fieldwork has
been recorded in Zhou Yin (2012). The translation of the Dongba classic named "Bogé fffêTigure" by Zhou Ruchéng is
recited from Zhu Bâotian & Chén Jiujin (1985). The Chinese translation of "Bogé Figure" is "the Figure of Frog"
according to Li Guowén (2006: 108). The Divination Figure interpreted in Li Guowén (2006) was discovered from É'l uôju
Village, Dàdong Xiâng, Lijiang, Yunnan Province.
and Dongbaism reflected by pronunciation of the stars' names into first account, while the similarities remained in the shape of the symbols/characters of the stars as secondary criteria.
The results of the comparison are presented in the following section. I have chosen the symbols from Lijiazui Village as the representative scripts of Dabaism stars, since they are ancient but also clearly written. The interpretations of the symbols and the meanings of the stars are based on the interview with Daba priests from Lijiazui Village, Wujiao Village, and Qiansuo Village, with justification according to my knowledge of the local language. For Dongbaism stars, I have used Zhu Baotian's material from E'ya Village as the main object for comparison and the stars atlases drew by Zhou Rucheng as additional references for the interpretations of the stars' names. The variations appeared in other versions of twenty-eight stars systems are noted at the end of each group of the stars. The starting point is the constellation of "human", with respect to the habits of Daba priests I have interviewed in fieldwork, who always explain the 28 lunar mansions from "Pami".
In Section 5 I try to present the 28 lunar mansions in Dabaism and Dongbaism in the Cultures' background by listing the corresponding stars in Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit, with reference to the comparative studies of the 28-lunar mansion systems in different cultures in [19, p. 50-52], [20, p. 308-309], and the table comparing 28 (or 27) lunar mansions of Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese in [21] and [22]. For the additional reconstructions of mid-Chinese and old-Chinese, [23] and [24] have been referred. Most of the locations of Daba and Dongba lunar mansions and their relationship with Chinese and European star names have been discovered by Li Lincan [8], with the cooperation from Dongba priests. Later on, Zhu Baotian [9] has made complementary discoveries and observations for some of the non-identified stars on the basis of that.
The Comparison of the 28 Lunar Mansions of Dabaism and Dongbaism
In this section I explain the details of the comparison between Dabaism and Dongbaism stars. The stars have been grouped according to the meanings of their names. These star groups can be considered as constellations of Dabaism and Dongbaism, since they are generally body parts of animals or human.
Daba Scripts 28 1 2
o -s- oo OO
IPA phœ^mi \ ^wœikmi
Chinese "Pami" "Nizhi" Mä Xîng SM
Dongba Scripts 22 23
0 o o
IPA pyJbuJ zguaidzei
Chinese Hâozhû Xîng WÊÊL Mä Xîng
Star Atlas o o 0o°o° 0° 0
Annotation 1) In Dabaism "Pami" and "Nizhi" are from "Rén XlngAJT, the constellation "human". According to Daba Awo, this constellation corresponds to "Niulâng Xing«!' in Chinese ("Deneb" in English). In the materials of Lï Lincàn and Zhou Ruchéng "Hâozhu Xîng" (literally it means "the star of 'porcupine'") is the Dongbaism designation for Chinese constellation "Niu^". According to the notes of Zhou Ruchéng, there are two
stars belonging to the constellation "human": [pytoyJky^] "Niulâng (the body of the "human") and [py^byJmœ^] "Niulâng Wei (the tail of the "human"). The star atlas for the tail of the "human" is _:. The two stars in correspondence in the Divination Figure interpreted in Li Guowén (2006) are the first two stars in the sequence: ^[py33bu21kv33] and ^;ss-[py33bu21m2e33].
2) "Ma Xing" (the constellation "horse") is written as à' [zgacHmo-ltselkiuJ] in [8, p. 9] and [Xua33tse33] in [11].
Daba 3 4 5 6
Scripts $ SJ5 ? O
IPA pA^khWA^ pA^dzm^ dzm^km^ pA^kmJphmJ
Chinese Wa Zuï Wa Niào Shuï Xîng Bái Wa Xing
Xing mm Xing 7KM É^m
Dongba 24 25 26 27 28
Scripts 0 P Ö <& X ^ $ ^
IPA pa^k'u^ pa^by^ pa^mœ^ nœ^gu^ t'algaJ
Chinese Wa Zuï Wa Zhi Xing Wa Wëi Wa Wëijian Shiwëi Xing
Xing mm. Xing mm Xing №
Star Atlas o o o o o o° o O 0 SB- C?ogoo00
Annotation 1) "Wa Zui Xing" is the mouth of the constellation "frog", "Wa Niào
Xing" is the urine of the "frog", "Shuï Xing" is the star of "water", "Bâi
Wa Xing" is a white star from the constellation "frog", "Wa Zhi Xing"
is the limb of the "frog", "Wa Wei Xing" is the tail of the "frog", "Wa
Weijian Xîng" is the tail-peak of the "frog", "Shiwëi Xîng" is "the tail
of time".
2) "Wa Wëi Xing" appears only in the materials collected by Zhu
Baotián, in which the star's atlas is depicted as
Daba 7 8 9
Scripts o a 0 o o o
IPA qh¿lt§aelqhjl qh^ltgœlgY^mH (soJthaJ)qjœJhY^
Chinese "Kezha" Jiäo "Kezha" Shen Hôngyân Xing
-m'ft
Dongba i 2 3
Scripts MS.
IPA tg'ualts'AJk'al tg'ualts'AJgo^mo^ miaJhyJ
Chinese Liù Xing Jiäo*M£| Liù Xîng Shen rmM Hôngyân Xing
Star Atlas V°0 o o o O o O o 0 o
Annotations 1) "Kezha Jiào" is the horn of the constellation "six stars", "Kezha
Shen" is the body of the "six stars". In [8] only one star/asterism from
the constellation "six stars" has been chosen to mark the days. It is written as [tg'walts'AJ] and translated as "Xiongdi Xlngi^!^', literally means "the star of the brother". In [11] "Liu Xing Jiao" is written as [tg'ua55ts'a21k'o33].
2) "Hongyan Xing" is the constellation "red eye". In [11] the name of -f^jM^oa"Hongyan Xing" is [mi32lhy2lno55lo21].
Daba Scripts 10 11 12 13
% o oo ®
IPA soJthaJKo^ soJthaJlo/i soJthaJtghwA imH soJthaJkm^phmJ
Chinese San Xing Tôu San Xîng Shöu San Xîng ChuömT San Xîng Bâi Xîng HMâM
Dongba Scripts 4 4-b 5 6 7
toi O O O 'S"
IPA smit'olk'a 1 smit'oJlaJ smit'oigo imoi dziJkui dziJmœ \
Chinese San Xing Jiäo =M№ San Xîng Shöu San Xîng Shen Shuïtôu Xing Shuïwëi Xing 7KMM
Star Atlas °°° o ù ° °° o o o O O 0 Ö
Annotati ons 1) "San Xîng Tôu" is the head of the constellation "three stars", "San Xîng Shôu" is the hand of the "three stars", "San Xîng Chuômî" is the "Chuômî" (the meaning of the word remains unknown) of the "three stars", "San Xîng Bâi Xing" is a white star from the "three stars"; "San Xîng Jiào" is the horn of the "three stars", "San Xîng Shen" is the body of the "three stars". 2) The latter two lunar mansions in Dongbaism corresponds to "San Xîng Bâi Xîng" in Dabaism according to the pronunciation of their names. "Shuïtôu Xîng" means the head of the "water" and "Shuïwëi Xîng" means the tail of the "water". 3) The lunar mansion numbered as "4-b" is the second star from the constellation "three stars" in [8], which is different from the second star from this constellation in other Dongba materials that numbered as "5". The star atlas of "San Xîng Shën" in Zhou Ruchéng's data is - . It has the similar shape with the symbol of the 11th star in Dabaism. Moreover, the meaning of "ChuomT" remains unknown. The evidence for "San Xîng Shen" correpond to the 12th star in Dabaism is slim. In order to sum up, the first two stars from the constellation "three stars" chosen to mark the days are the head and the hand of the "three stars" in Dabaism. While in Dongbaism, they are the horn and the body of the "three stars", or the horn and the hand of it, according to varies versions.
4) The star [kmJp'urJdzAJkH] in [8, p. 7] is identified as "Tianlang Xing ^IIM" ("Sirius"). Its short form, [dziJku^ "Shuitou Xing", appears in Zhu Baotian [9, p. 314] and Zhou Rucheng [9, p. 320]. Similarily, the star ¿3^\uiJp'urJdzAJmaH] in [8, p. 8], located as "Nanhe Xing ^MM" ("Procyon"), is shorten as [dziJm^] "Shuiwei Xing" in Zhu Baotian and Zhou Rucheng's materials. However, the transcriptions in [11] are similar to those in [8, p. 8-9].
5) Basing my analysis on the pronunciations of the two stars' names transcribed in [8, p. 8-9] and [11] I connect "Tianlang Xing" (or "Shuitou Xing") and "Nanhe Xing" (or "Shuiwei Xing") to the star "San Xing Bai Xing" in Dabaism, since the first two syllables of two stars in Dongbaism are the same as the last two syllables of the star in Dabaism.
Daba 14 15
Scripts <e
IPA ho^km^ kAJkm^
Chinese Yeji Xing WXlM Yîng Xîng 0M
Dongba 8 9( 22-b)
Scripts ^ o
IPA fv^kmJ ga^kmJ
Chinese Yëjî Xîng Yîng Xîng
Star Atlas Q
Annotations 1) "Yëji Xing" is the constellation "pheasant" and "Ying Xing" is the
constellation "eagle".
2) The constellation "pheasant" is Beehive Cluster in Western stars. In
[8, p. 8] "Beehive Cluster" is ^[tg'yJk'o-l] "Guï Xiùj&ît" (the
constellation/lunar mansion of "ghost" in Chinese constellations).
There is the record of the similar star in Zhou Ruchéng's data. In [11] it
is written as $ 4[tg'u21k'o33], with similar pronunciation to "Guï Xiù" in
[8, p. 8].
3) "Ying Xing" in [8, p. 8] is [guaJk'uaJ] and written as Si, which is
quite different from the character in [9, p. 314] but similar to the 26*
star in Dabaism. On the other side, "Ji Xing^M" in [8, p, 9] is written
as . The pronunciation of the star's name is [fvlle-lkAlkuiJ]. The
corresponding star in [9, p. 319] is named as [fv^lmlkAJ]. Considering
the pronunciation and shape of the character, the Naxi name for "Ji
Xing" in [8, p. 9] and [9, p. 319] should be the name for "Ying Xing",
i.e.: the Naxi name for "Ying Xing" is [fv^ldkAlkmJ] or [fv^lmlkAJ],
while the name for "Ji Xing" is [guaJk'uaJ]. Further on, since the stars
atlases, instead of pictograms of the stars, presented in [9, p. 319] depict
the stars as they were in the sky, the star atlas for "Ji Xing" should
correspond to the star [guaJk'uaJ]
4) In [11] the one before f- & is called [fv55ka55], written as a
combination of two ideograms, pheasant and eagle: It could be
the lunar mansion for "eagle".
Daba 16 17 18 19-b
Scripts Q ao ? goo
IPA boJkhwA^ boJdzml boJmœ^ boJmal
Chinese Zhû Zuï Xîng Zhu Niào Xîng Zhû Wei Xîng Zhu You Xîng
mmm mmm mmM
Dongba 10 11 12
Scripts "go nw 6 •
IPA buJk'u-l buJto-l buJmaJ
Chinese Zhû Zuï Xîng Zhu Yao Xîng WMM Zhu You Xîng
Star Atlas e>°e> o o o o O 0
Annotations 1) "Zhû Zuï Xing" is the mouth of the constellation "pig", "Zhû Niào Xîng" is the urine of the "pig", "Zhû Wei Xîng" is the tail of the "pig",
"Zhû Yóu Xing" is the fat of the "pig", and "Zhû Yao Xing" is the waist
of the "pig".
2) Most of the versions of twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dabaism and
Dongbaism have three stars from the constellation "pig" for marking the
days, with the exception of the calendar from Lijiazuï Village, which
has four stars from the constellation "pig". The third one, numbered as
"18", is the one not included in other calendars of Dabaism. The similar
pronunciations of the two words, "tail" and "fat", could be the origin of
this additional star.
Daba 19 20-b 20 21 22 23
Scripts goo Y X D<r if
IPA ZÍJz¡V^ zijz¡v^qh-|j ziJqh|-j ziJlil zíJ^JAH ziJgy-l
Chinese Pianniú Pianniú Si Pianniú Pianniú Pianniú Pianniú
Si Jiäo Jiäo Er Yän Zhäng
«^Ä «W «« ««
Dongba 13 14 15 16 17 18
Scripts A, X 'H. ^
IPA zyJnvl zyJk'al zyJha^ zyJmiaJ zyJteaH zyJgu^
Chinese Zhínü Zhînu Zhînu Er Zhînu Zhínü Bó Zhínü
Zuï Jiäo Yän m-B Shen
m-m m-Ä mkR m-M
Star Atlas O-O-O-O. H ft rn
Annotations 1) The phonemic transcription of the constellation's name in Na is [ziJ], whose
Romanized transcription is "Zi". The Daba priests from Wujiào MWVillage and
Lijiazuï ^'J^^Village did not give a shared and well-established translation of the
name of the constellation called "Zi". They consider it just as a name. The priests from
Qiansuo MfRVillage translated it as "mdzo". "Mdzo" is the Tibetan form for a kind of local livestock, which is also called "Yak-cow hybrid" in English. In various versions of Dongba's 28 lunar mansions the constellation of "Zi" is read as [zyJ] or [dzyJ] (Zhou Rucheng's work cited in [9]). Li Lincan [8, p. 8] and Zhou Rucheng [9, p. 320] have kept the symbol as the translation of this word in all the related entries. Zhu Baotian ([9, p. 314-315]) has translated it as "Zhinu", the legendary fairy in the story of "Deneb and Vega". Li Guowen has used the Chinese character "Rui^" as a close transliteration of the local word and suggests that it could be a kind of animal [11]. Since the pronunciation of the constellation's name is similar among all the versions of calendars, while the translation has not yet been recognized and shared, I propose an interpretation, in this paper, according to hints from the different points of view: a) the stars from this constellation are different parts of its body including "horn"; b) Daba priests from Qiansuo Village have given a plausible explanation, indicating this animal, which is common in their region. For that reason, I prefer to call it "Pianniu Xing" in the current stage, using the translation of Qiansuo Dabas.
2) "Pianniu Si" is the constellation of "mdzo". Literally, the name means the whole body of "mdzo". "Pianniu Si Jiao" means the horns of the "mdzo" on four facets. "Pianniu Jiao" is the horn of the "mdzo", "Pianniu Er" is the ear of the "mdzo", "Pianniu Yan" is the eye of the "mdzo", "Pianniu Zhang" is the foot of the "mdzo". In Qiansuo Village, there is not the star named as "the foot of the 'mdzo'", but "Pianniu Shen" ("the body of the 'mdzo'"), which is written as
3) "Zhinu Zui" is the mouth of the "mdzo", "Zhinu Jiao" is the horn of the "mdzo", "Zhinu Er" is the ear, "Zhinu Yan" is the eye, "Zhinu Bo" is the neck, "Zhinu Shen" is the body.
4) The 19t star in Daba's calendar has similar star atlas with the 13t in Dongba's 28 lunar mansions documented in [9, p. 314].
5) The lunar mansion numbered as "20-b" in Dabaism scripts comes from the calendar in Lijiazui Village. The name is the combination of the 19t and 20t lunar mansions from the calendars in the versions from Wujiao Village and Qiansuo Village considering the syllables in the names.
6) The first in the star group from the constellation "Rui" in [11] is A t [zy21kv33ly33] "Rui Tou Xing^^M" (the head of the "mdzo"). While "Rui Zui Xlng^fM" (the mouth of the "mdzo") is not included in the Divination Figure.
7) There is not the star of the eye of the "mdzo" in the Divination Figure interpreted in [11], which is included in other versions of Dongbaism twenty-eight lunar mansions. However, as a compensation for the number of stars, it contains [zy21tea33] "Rui Bo Xing^^M" (the neck of the "mdzo") and ^Hs^1] "Rui Jian Xing^^M" (the shoulder of the "mdzo"), while in other versions of Dongbaism twenty-eight lunar mansions exists either of these two stars.
8) There is not the body of the "mdzo" in the Divination Figure interpreted in [11]. In [8, p. 8] there is a star written as /Sfi* [zyJt'ral] "^XTng ZhT Yao" -'-'Mzi (the waist of the "mdzo"). According to the annotation of this entry, it could also be read as [zyJzyJgv^], the body of the "mdzo".
Dongba Scripts
19
19-b
20
A ^
21
A Q>
21-b
A ^
IPA
zyJdvJ
zyJt'ml
zyJba^
zyJba^
zyJmœ^
Chinese
Zhinü Dù
^XTng Yäo
Zhi
Zhinü Yin
Zhinü Jiäozhäng
Zhinü Wei
m&m
Star Atlas
Annotations
1) Here are the five stars from the constellation "mdzo" only spotted in Dongbaism materials, but not in Dabaism.
2) "Zhlnu Du" is the stomach of the "mdzo", " Xing ZhT Yao" is the waist of the "mdzo", "Zhlnu Yin" is the vagina of the "mdzo", "Zhlnu Jiaozhang" is the foot of the "mdzo", "Zhlnu Wei" is the tail of the "mdzo".
3) There is not the lunar mansion named as the waist of the "mdzo" in Zhu Baotian (1985) and [11].
4) In [8, p. 8] the star "Zhlnu Wei" is documented. It has similar pronunciation as the 24th star in [11]. However, Li Guowen interprets it as "Rui You Xing ^MM" (the fat of the "mdzo") [11].
Daba 24 25 26 27
Scripts /(T V &
IPA la^hvJkhwAJ giJdziJdv^ gwœ^qhwA^ mœJqhwA^
Chinese Hü Zuï Xing Róu Shí Xing Tóu Xing Wei Xing
fcrnm ^M MM
Dongba 11-b 12-b
Scripts a o & f
IPA guaJk'uaJ hyJk'ua^
Chinese Jí Xîng^M
Star Atlas o°o°o
Annotations 1) The 24th and 25th stars in Dabaism have not been spotted in Dongbaism materials of
the twenty-eight lunar mansions. "Hu Zui Xing" literally means "the mouth of the
'tiger'". "Rou Shi" is called "Shezidu" in local language. According to my knowledge
of the language, the first syllable could mean "meat" and the second syllable could be
"to eat".
2) The stars numbered as "11 -b" and "12-b" are listed among the twenty-eight lunar
mansions in [8, p. 8], but not in [9, p. 314-315, p. 319-320], or [11]. They are the 11th
and 12th stars in [8, p. 8] that are similar to the 26* and 27* stars in Daba's calendars
according to the shapes of the characters and the names of the stars, while the 22nd star
in [8, p. 9] could be the counterpart of the 15 th star in Daba's calendar. As noted by the
annotations of the entries, the locations of these two stars, "11 -b" and "12-b", had not
been confirmed in the sky. According to the meaning of the syllables, the two stars'
names mean "the higher star" and "the lower star".
The Correspondence of the 28 Lunar Mansions between Dabaism and Dongbaism
Starting from the detailed comparison among the stars in last section, we can realize that the twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dabaism are quite unified, shared, and widespread, since they are almost the same in five versions of the calendar from four villages. Conversely, the four versions of Dongba's twenty-eight lunar mansions show various differences, from the stars' names to the order of the stars. Some of the variations could be errors generated when the knowledge about astrology was passed down from masters to disciplines.
In this section I present the simplified table about the correspondences of the twenty-eight lunar mansions between Dabaism and Dongbaism. Data in Table 3 are the conclusion of the analysis done in last section, from multi-perspectives including pronunciation of the star's name, the meaning of the star's name, the stars' atlas, and the order of the stars. As mentioned before, I consider the constellation "human" as the starting point, following the interpretation habit of Daba priests spotted in my fieldwork. The number in the brackets is the number of stars/asterisms chosen from that constellation in order to mark the days.
Table 3. The Correspondence of the 28 Lunar Mansions between Dabaism and Dongbaism
Dabaism Ren Xing (2) Ma Xing Wa Xing (4) --- "Kezha" Jiao "Kezha" Shen
Dongbaism NiulangXing (1-2) Ma Xing Wa Xing (3-4) Shiwei Xing "Liu Xing" (1-2)
Constellation "human" "horse" "frog" "six stars"
Dabaism Hongyan Xing San Xing (3) San Xing (No.4) Yeji Xing Ying Xing
Dongbaism Hongyan Xing San Xing (2) Shuitou Xing Shuiwei Xing Yeji Xing Ying Xing
Constellation "red eye" "three stars" "pheasant" "eagle"
Dabaism Zhu Xing (3-4) Pianniu Xing (4-5) Huzui Xing Roushi Xing Tou Xing Wei Xing
Dongbaism Zhu Xing (3) Pianniu Xing (9-11) --- --- "the high star" "the low star"
Constellation "pig" "mdzo" unknown unknown unknown unknown
Table 3 shows the similarities of the twenty-eight lunar mansions between Dabaism and Dongbaism. The twenty-eight mansions can be divided into several star groups, which could be called Daba/Dongba constellations. The ten constellations in both Dabaism and Dongbaism include: the constellation "human", the "horse", the "frog", the "six stars", the "red eye", the "three stars", the "pheasant", the "eagle", the "pig", the "mdzo". The star of "head" and the star of "tail" in Dabaism are named as "the higher star" and "the lower star" in Dongbaism. "Shiwei Xing" (the tail of "time") in Dongbaism has not a counterpart in Dabaism, while "Huzui Xing" and "Roushi Xing" in Dabaism have not counterparts in Dongbaism.
The fixed order of these star groups provides an important clue in order to figure out the locations of some stars that have been noted in researches as questions. For example, "Tou Xing" and "Wei Xing" are two stars spotted in all the eight versions of Dabaism calendars, but not included in most of the Dongbaism twenty-eight lunar mansions with the exception in [8, p. 8]. In that dictionary two stars with similar names and written in similar ideograms have been recorded.
However, the locations of them in the sky have remained unknown. In this case, the relatively unified Dabaism calendars could be a reference for discovering the identities of these two stars.
Table 3 also summarizes the nuances between Daba priests and Dongba priests in selecting stars in order to mark the days. For example, 1) two lunar mansions from the constellation "human" are chosen in Dabaism, while one or two stars are chosen in Dongbaism; 2) the constellation "frog" is used to mark four days in Dabaism, while four to five days in Dongbaism; 3) two stars are from the constellation "six stars" in Daba's lunar mansions, while one or two come from this constellation in Dongbaism; 4) in Dabaism three stars are from the constellation "three stars", while in Dongbaism the number is two; 5) there are two stars, "Shuïtôu Xîng" and "Shuïwëi Xîng", from Dongbaism, corresponding to the fourth star from the constellation "three stars" in Dabaism; 6) the stars from the constellation "mdzo" in Dabaism are four to five, while in Dongbaism, nine to eleven stars from this constellation are among the 28-lunar mansion systems.
Here I discuss now about the first star in these twenty-eight lunar mansions in Dabaism and Dongbaism. In most versions of Dongba's materials the twenty-eight lunar mansions begin with the constellation "six stars". One exception discovered so far is the Divination Figure interpreted in [11]. The stars from this Divination Figure have been deciphered with the contribution from
Dongba Hé Kâixiàng fll^ff- from Ludiàn Xiâng iVmJ ^. They start with [py33bu21kv33], the star from the constellation "human". Dongba classics with the records of the stars "on duty" on the first day each month have also been presented in [11]. According to these records, the star "on duty" on the first day of the first month is éÊ-^- [py33bu21mse33], which also belongs to the constellation "human". Zhou Yin has collected the records about the star "on duty" on the first day of each month among the one-hundred volumes of Nàxi Dongba Gûji Yizhù
[An Annotated Collection of Naxi Dongba Manuscripts] [6, p. 4754]. These records show that the star [py33bu21kv33] (the body of the "human") is "on duty" of the first month and the star [tghua5 5 tshar2!gv33] (a star from the "six stars") is "on duty" of the fourth month. Since the twenty-eight lunar mansions follow a certain order in order to mark the days, the starting point does not add much change to the interpretation of them. However, the records about the star "on duty" on the first day of each month in Dongba classics could be a proof of the tradition that the constellation "human" is the starting point of the 28-lunar mansion system. The 'exceptional' case in Dongbaism stars, actually, coincides with the situation in Dabaism stars, as the Dabaism calendars I have seen during fieldwork all start with the star from the constellation "human". Nevertheless, I suggest the star called [py33b^!kv33] "Bïbùgûtb^f^T from the constellation "human", being the first star of the twenty-eight lunar mansions, should be more consistent to the tradition of Dongba culture.
The Correspondence of the 28 Lunar Mansions among Dabaism, Dongbaism, and Mainstream Cultures in Neighborhood and Their International Designations
As mentioned above, the constellations have their own names in Dongbaism and Dabaism. The different designations from Chinese or European constellations reflect different perspectives and imaginations about the stars. The designations of the stars in Dabaism and Dongbaism show their own cultural characteristics, which are also shared among the ethnic groups in South-West China: the notions of animals are widely used in order to give the stars their names (stars' naming process). For example, the constellation covering the same area as "mdzo" is called "bharal" in Pumi's lunar
mansions [25, p. 81], while the corresponding region in Yi People's lunar mansions is occupied mainly by the constellation "rhinoceros" [26, p. 106].
However, the 28-lunar mansions system is shared among India, Babylon, Arabia, and China. A (especially Tibetological and Indological) comparison could provide more perspectives in order to identify the position of Dabaism/Dongbaism as a local religion in the whole cultural background. Table 4 shows my work for this comparative attempt. The reference to the International star names could be found in the last two columns as well.
Table 4. 28 Lunar Mansions in Dabaism and Dongbaism Compared to those in Tibetan, Chinese,
and Sanskrit Cultures / Traditions
Dabaism Dongbais Constell Chinese Tibet Sanskrit English European
m ation in Dabais m and Dongba ism an Name of the Star/Ast erism Constella tion
28 phœ-mi- py-boJ / "human Hégù-2 (gro (visnu) Altair Aquila
1 py-byJkY - & py-byJm œ- 8 ha—*gaj kuX—*ka? bzhin )
2 ^wœ-km- ^ua-mo-t selkmJ / ^ua-dze- "horse" HüguäfM 9 bœw—*bru kwœ—*kwra (byi bzhin ) (abhijit) Hugua Delphinu s
3 pA-khWA- pa-k'o- —frog" Shi^ syit<—*s-tit khru ms stod pûrva- prosthap adas (pûrva- bhadrapa das) Markab and Scheat (a Peg and p Peg) Pegasus
4 pA-dzm- pa-by- BiM khru uttara- Algenib Pegasus
pjiek—*pjek ms smad prosthap adas (uttara- bhadrapa das) and Sirrah (Y Peg and a And) 10 and Androme da
5 dzm-km- (pa-mœ-) (Kui M kwej—*kkhwe ) (nam gru) (revati) (Legs) Androme da and Pisces
6 pA-kmJphmJ naJqgv- Lou^ luw—*C-ro tha skar asvayuja u Bond (Asteris m) 11 Aries
t'alkmJ Wèi ! bra bharani Stomac Aries
8 "Hégûèr" belongs to the Chinese constellation "Niü 4' (ngjuw—*qwi).
9 "Hugua" belongs to the Chinese constellation "Nu£" (nrjoX—*nra?).
10 The combination of "Shi" and "Bi" in Chinese constellations is the "Great Square of Pegasus" in European constellations.
11 The Chinese constellation "Lou" refers to the asterism "Bond", which includes Hamal (a Ari), ß Ari and y Ari.
hjwijH^*Gwit s nye h (Chines e Constell ation) 12
7 q^ltgœlq1^ tg'walts' aJ / tg'ualts' "six stars" Mâo fp mœwX^*mm ru? smin drug krttikas Pleiades Taurus
8 q^ltgslgy-lmi- AJk'al & tg'ualts' AJgo-mo - unknown 13
9 qjœJhv- miAJhyJ "red eye" Bi ^ Pjit* *pit snar ma robini (brahml) Aldebar an
10 soJthaJKo^ sra-t'oJ "three stars" Shen # srim^*s-r-lim lag ardra (bahü) Orion's Belt Orion
11 soJt^Jlo/l sra-t'oJla J Fâ — (Punishmet) bjot^*bjat Orion's Broads word
12 soJthaJtghwA-mil unknown — — unknow n
13 soJthaJkra-phra J kraJp'urJ dzAJky- Tianlang Xing^ms then^*hlin lang^*C-rang (nabs so) (punarva sü [yamaka u]) Sirius Canis Major
kraJp'urJ dzAJmœ- Nânhé XingSMS 14 nom^*nim ha^*gaj Procyon Canis Minor
14 ho-kra- tg'vJk'o- "pheasa nt" Guï % kjwijX^*kwij ? rgyal brhas-pati Beehive Cluster Cancer
15 kAJkra- fV-le-kAl kraJ "eagle" Wudizuô- nguX^*nga? tejH^*teks Denebol a Ursa Major
16 boJkhwA- boJk'o- "pig" Xuanyuân shisM+ra xjon^*xjan hjwon^*wjan (mch u) (maghas) Regulus Leonis
17 boJdzra- boJt'ol Xuanyuân Shi'èr 15 Algieba
12 The asterism "Wèi" includes 35 Ari, 39 Ari, and 41 Ari.
13 According to Zhu Bâotiân (1985), [tg'ualts'AJgolmo-l] is split from the Chinese constellation "Bi^', even if the pronunciation of the stars suggests these two stars belong to the same constellation in Dabaism/Dongbaism constellations.
14 "Tianlâng Xing" and "Nânhé Xing" are two stars belonging to the Chinese constellation "Jïng#' (tsjengX-^*s-keng?).
15 Lï Lincàn (1972) describes "Xuanyuân Shi'èr" and "Tàiwëiyôuyuân" as the head and leg parts of the constellation "Leonis". They have been specified as the Chinese stars corresponding to [boJt'ol] and [boJmaJ] in Zhu Bâotiân (1985).
18 boJma- boJmaJ Tàiweyàuyuan xm^M thajH ^*hlats Mjij^*mjij hjuwX/H^*w ji?(s) hjwon^*wjan Two among z Leo, i Leo, 0 Leo, and 5 Leo
19 ziJ^yH zyJnvl "mdzo" The area (nag (svâti - The Mainly
20 ziJq^ 16 between "Jiâo pa - purvasad area located in
21 ziJlil zyJhe- M chu has) between the area
22 ziJ^jA- zyJmiAJ kœwk^*krok stod) the covered
zyJte'iJ " and "Jï % Horn by
23 ziJgv' zyJ^'ral ki^*ki", i.e.: mansion Scorpius.
zyJdvJ "Azure (Spica)
zyJbaJ Dragon", one to
ZyJbA- of the four Winno
zyJmœ- Symbols in Chinese constellations, located in the east part of the sky wing Basket
24 la-lhvJkhwAJ unkown unkown
25 giJdziJdvl unkown unkown
26 gwœ-qhwA- guaJk'ua unkown (Jï % (chu (purvâsâ Winno Sagittariu
J ki^*ki") stod) dhas) wing Basket (Y Sgr, 5 Sgr, e Sgr, and n Sgr). s
27 mœJqhwA- hyJk'ua- (Dôu 4 tuwX^*to?) (chu smad) (visve-devâs) Dipper
From Table 4 we can see that besides the local cultural elements in naming the stars, the etymological traces indicate plausible deep correspondences among some of the lunar mansions in different cultures. For example, the name for Pleiades in Tibetan means "six girls". It is analogous to the Indian idea according to which the six stars of this constellation are six nannies of the god Skanda even if the Sanskrit name for it means "something sharp for cutting" [21, p. 6-7]. In a similar way, the Pleiades in Dongbaism have an informal name meaning "six brothers" that defines the constellation. It is said that there were sixty stars in the asterism. They would have been eaten by 'Big Dipper' and only six would have been retained, which are now called "six brothers" [8, p. 7]. Taking "Aldebaran" as another example, the Tibetan name derives from the adjective "red" and
"Xuânyuan Shi'èr" (y- Leo) belongs to the Chinese constellation "XïngM' (seng-^*seq). "Tàiweiyàuyuan" belongs to — Tàiwëiyuan" (the Supreme Palace Enclosure), one of the three enclosures in traditional Chinese astronomy.
16 This asterism has been located in the region between "Jiâo M kœwk^*krok" and "Jï % ki^*ki" and mainly coincides with the constellation "Scorpius" (Li Lincàn 1972: 8; Zhu Bâotian 1985: 323). The star in Dongbaism called [zyJdvJ] is interpreted as "Dàhuô Xïng ^^S" in Chinese, corresponding to "Antares" (a Sco) in English. It belongs to the C hinese constellation "Xïn'ù" (sim-^*sim).
means "red girl", while the Daba/Dongba name for it means "red eye". Moreover, "The Orion's Belt" and "the Orion's Broadsword" are one constellation in Tibetan (lag) and Sanskrit (bahu) that means "the two hands". Further on, the two lunar mansions named as "chu stod" and "chu smad" in Tibetan (literally meaning "upper water" and "lower water" [21, p. 7-8]) are also a pair with similar meanings in Dabaism and Dongbaism. The main syllables of the lunar mansions' names , [qhwA^] in Na and [k'uaJ] in Naxi, could be "footprint" in the vocabulary. This interpretation could also correspond to the illustration of "Ji" and "Dou" as "footprint of ox" and "footprint of elephant" in Mddengjia Jing [A Classic of Buddhism Entitled Matangi] [27]. The two
modifiers in the lunar mansions' names mean "upper" ([gw^] in Na and [guaJ] in Naxi) and "lower" ([m^J] in Na and [hyJ] in Naxi), respectively.
There are also traces of the original naming process of the 28 lunar mansions in Dabaism/Dongbaism, Tibetan, Indian, and Chinese. Some stars in Dabaism and Dongbaism are the same with the ones in other main cultures. As it is shown in Table 4, the stars from the constellation "frog" coincide with four stars in the commonly shared 28 lunar mansions; the "Beehive Cluster" is also chosen in all the five 28 lunar mansions listed above. However, some are chosen from the same constellations, even if not being the determinant stars used to name the constellations in other 28-lunar mansion systems. For example, "Hegu-2" (Altair) and "Hugua" (Hugua) in Dabaism and Dongbaism belong to the constellations called "Niu^ (ngjuw^*gwi)" and "Nu^ (nrjoX^*nra?)" in Chinese, respectively. Moreover, besides some non-identified stars, Wudizuo-1 ("Denebola") and Taiweiyouyuan ("Right Wall", two among o Leo, i Leo, 0 Leo, and 5 Leo) are two stars/asterisms from the Sanyuan ("Three Enclosures") system located in the central area of the sky surrounded by the 28 lunar mansions. The use of stars in the middle area of the sky could be a relic of ancient astrological systems recorded in Chinese literature, where the sky is divided into five regions: east, south, west, north, and middle [20, p. 290].
I have also discovered an interesting 'error' in transmission of astronomical knowledge. In the fifth row, the star [pa^m^] in Dongbaism is spotted only in the materials of [9, p. 315]. The star's name means "the tail of the 'frog'". According to [25, p. 81], it is the Naxi translation from Yi People's star called [nog tsu], which is a localized name for Tibetan "nam gru" by Yi People. As a 'shift' of stars, the star located as "Lou^" (Bond) in Dongbaism refers to "Kui in Tibetan system, while "Wei Pf" (Stomach) is indeed the Tibetan designation for "Lou^".
Conclusion
In this paper I have summarized the interpretation of the eight Daba calendars (the only ancient [proto-]literature of this local religion available so far) analyzed during my fieldwork and the available materials of Dongba twenty-eight lunar mansions, explaining the differences among various versions.
The high uniformity among Dabaism calendars could suggest that they were records of a commonly used calendar in that region at a certain period in history and could provide data in order to explore the Dongba's twenty-eight lunar mansions.
I have also tried to clarify the issue concerning the choice of the first mansion in the twenty-eight lunar mansions. Since the classics and knowledge of Dabaism and Dongbaism have been mainly transmitted orally, variations have been generated among different family / clan factions. The Daba calendars contain relatively concise information compared to Dongba classics, as they are written with isolated symbols for the stars. However, they coincide with the records in Dongba
classics about the stars "on duty" on the first day of each month, which show to be different from most of the materials of Dongba's twenty-eight lunar mansions. In this case, the starting star recorded in Daba's calendars could be an additional written evidence of the first star throughout the tradition.
The comparative study conducted among Dabaism/Dongbaism, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese has provided a comprehensive perspective aimed at considering the relationships of Dabaism/Dongbaism with the main stream neighboring cultures. Moreover, it has been helpful in finding out possible answers to unclear stars noted in previous research.
Acknowledgments
This paper collects and presents part of the results of a Project I am conducting in the Research Program Saving, Documentation, and Research on Endangered Scripts in South-West China (10&ZD123), developed by Tsinghua University (THU, Beijing) and supported by the Major Program of the National Social Science Foundation of China. For the long-lasting encouragement and support, I express my sincere gratitude to Associate Professor Crossland-Guo Shuyun (NTU, Singapore), to Assistant Professor Lim Ni Eng (NTU, Singapore), and to Associate Professor Yang Jiehong (CASS, China). Last but not least, dear thanks to my family, my other half, Francesco, who is also my tree and dinosaur.
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