“Strike with the magic dagger!” A Naxi phur ba manuscript and the Dunhuang connection

Abstract

This article presents preliminary readings from an unusual Naxi manuscript in the Leiden University Libraries Naxi Dongba manuscripts collection, OR. 26.042. This manuscript is indecipherable (likely recording a Tibetan dharani), except for three sections at the beginning, middle, and end, translations of which are presented here. I propose that is the only extant Naxi manuscript to record a full phur ba (magic dagger) rite, and as such is of specific Naxiological interest. Connections can be drawn between this manuscript and Tibetan texts from Dunhuang, and thus it may represent the continuation of many centuries of written heritage in the Himalayan region.