Himalayan Manuscripts from Helambu, Nepal

The main sources for the history of the Hyolmo people living in the lower Himalayas, northeast of Kathmandu, are the biographies written by Tibetan lamas who have visited and sometimes settled in the area since the 16th century. Since the local inhabitants have not developed their own writing, very little is known about their local history and the influence of Buddhism on this rather isolated Himalayan community.

            A few years ago, during an extended field trip to Helambu, I happened to come across a locally written Tibetan manuscript on a village festival, a dkar chag, or 'inventory', which served as an embellishment to a collection of Buddhist sutras. This manuscript is unique not only because one of its chapters recorded the donor's clan history, but also because it provides an overview of the body of knowledge passed on to lay practitioners in the Himalayas who embraced Buddhism. It tells stories from the Buddha's previous lives, traces the spread of Buddhism in Tibet, and describes not only the sacred sites of Helambu, but also ways to protect the environment and to perform regular religious service.

            Since that first encounter, I have found another inventory belonging to another village in the same area, attached to a manuscript donated to the British Library by Brian H. Hodgson, and a similar manuscript photographed by the Nepal-Germany Manuscript Preservation Project. The analysis of these three manuscripts will reveal the worldview of a small Himalayan ethnic group and reflects the process of acculturation and cultural transfer.