DONGBA SCRIPT
|
DONGBA SCRIPT |
|
|
The pictographic script of the Naxi is over a thousand years old and consists of around 1400 individual pictographs. The script is reminiscent of the hieroglyphic scripts of earlier cultures and is perhaps the only pictographic script left in the world which survives true to its original form and which can still be written and read. However, the pictographs are not related directly to the spoken language of the Naxi. Instead the script is used to recount the myths and legends, religious beliefs and history of the Naxi, and acts as a guide for the rituals
|
|
|
Long,
long ago the host family made a sacrifice to the Gods,
to the War God Iouma, to the Nature God Shu, to the Dongba God and to the
Lerjiu God. The white bat called out from the God's mountain: "Ancestor God Dongba Shilo, please conduct the sacrificial ceremony!" O Gods, descend on the Black Dragon and the White Tiger, we beseech you, come and fight the Demons. Xiuqu, Bird God, please come! The God Laulasha, the God of the Bai People and the Nature God Shu, come hither! As the eagle catches the bird and the cheetah the dog, so the Gods will destroy the Demons. |
|
|
|
| For
Dongba script in picture and sound (at present only in German), please click on the Dongbas below
|
||
 |
 |
 |
