|
History of the Six Ancestors in Yi Script
Qing
dynasty (1644�1911), Jiaqing period (1796�1820), dated 1814
Manuscript
copied by Shu Gejiao, ink on paper; 7 columns per page, read from right to
left, with varying numbers of characters per column; some pages of text missing
or partially missing; 12 illustrations appended at end of text
Wuding,
Yunnan Province
Overall
dimensions of volume: 26.7 x 18.8 cm; stitchbound on right edge
Inventory number: 452
The
Yi people, also known as the Lolo, are one of the largest national minority
groups in China.� Primarily farmers,
they now number around 6.5 million and live mostly in the southwestern
provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou as well as in Guangxi.� Yi is a Tibeto-Burman language with an
indigenous logographic script, in which every letter represents a syllable that
is also a morpheme.� Traditional Yi
script is now obsolescent, having been replaced by a fairly recently invented
mode of writing.
The
History
of the Six Ancestors is an invaluable genealogical work that
contains both matrilineal and patrilineal records.� This manuscript copy was made in 1814 and is written in vertical
columns from right to left.�
Five-character verses are predominant, with a number of long and short
phrases interspersed throughout.� The text
tells the story of the founding Yi ancestor, Dumu, who went to Mount Luoni seeking
refuge from a flood and ended up marrying the daughters of three important
clans.� Six sons�Mu'aqie, Mu'aku,
Mu'are, Mu'awo, Mu'ake, and Mu'aqi�issued from these unions; they went on to
establish the six principal lineages of the Yi people, the Wu, Zha, Ni, Heng,
Bu, and Mo, respectively.� Although the
text is historical, it is written with great literary flourish and is executed
in a fine calligraphic style.
| |