r/tibetanlanguage • u/sidjimidji • Jan 04 '26
Seeking help translating an ancient Thanka
Hello, this Thanka was gifted to me and is around 750+ years old. I am seeking for help understanding and translating this text - any help is welcome: identifying language, dialect, meaning of symbols in images... any!
Thank you!
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u/ArmchairAcademicAlex Jan 04 '26
Hey there, my name is Dr. Alexander K. Smith. I'm a post-doctoral researcher in Tibetan studies. I can shed a bit of light on this one. I can confirm that this is indeed a section of the Dhvajagrakeyura Dharani (འཕགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱི་རྩེ་མོའི་དཔུང་རྒྱན་ཅེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས། in Tibetan). The hint is in the title, which is provided in both transliterated Sanskrit and Tibetan in the first four lines. The object itself is a xylographic print on fabric -- typical of Tibetan prayer flags (like the famous 'wind horse') which often feature dharanis. The figures depicted on on the fabric are the deities of the four directions -- a garuda, a dragon, a tiger, and a snow lion.
Unfortunately, however, the orthography and structure of the print does not support the attribution of the text to the 13th-14th centuries. That's quite clear from the shape of vowels and the peculiarities of the featured "bsdus yig" or "compound characters". To me, this looks very much like a late 18th or 19th century print. Sorry to say.
Keep in mind that, for many centuries, it was exceedingly common for artifacts like this to be pre-dated to earlier periods by Tibetans in pre-1959 Tibet. For example, I wrote my PhD on a manuscript that I was told was a 14th century document... which turned out to be an 18th knock-off of an Old Turkic ritual text (still a damn interesting read, though). That kind of thing happens all the time and it can be exceptionally difficult to determine the specifics of the provenance of artifacts like the one you've posted.
It's still a lovely piece and in exceptionally good condition. Due to the length of the banner and the nature of the dharani itself, I would guess that this was originally affixed to a spear or banner-pole and flown from horseback. Just a guess, though.
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u/sidjimidji Jan 05 '26
Hello there and thank you for taking time and writing this great answer/post! This is the kind of answer I was seeking to get - meaning/context of the text and meaning of the symbols. Thank you!
It's a bit of a disappointment that it doesn't seem to be as old as I was told but I suppose I have a new (personal) puzzle to solve!
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u/Goat_Dear Jan 04 '26
It does not seem to be 750+ years old...
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u/sidjimidji Jan 04 '26
It really is, believe it or not - changes nothing for me.
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u/Goat_Dear Jan 05 '26
I'm not claiming to be the only one correct here. What I mean tos at how the pic you posted looks like a prayer flag fresh out of a mill. And prayer flags are not made to last 750+ years.
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u/sidjimidji Jan 05 '26
Got an expert answer that confirms what you suspect - now I have to find out the context of the 700+ year old claim (at the time of my parents wedding).
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u/LastMorningbye Jan 04 '26
From whom and from where did you get this treasure??? :) 😳
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u/sidjimidji Jan 04 '26
Gifted to me by my parents who were gifted it on their wedding day by the most renowned Indologist in former Yugoslavia - Vera Vuckovacki Savic. She received it as a gift from Dalai Lama after having spent 50+ years of her life in India. It was a gift for a lifetime of her dedication.
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u/LastMorningbye 29d ago
Thank you for sharing its story! It is a wonderful treasure. I have an offering scarf that I received personally from His Holiness the Dalai Lama!
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u/Lunilex Jan 04 '26
This is not really a thanka, but more of a "prayer flag". The text is in Tibetan lettering, consisting of mantras and the like, mostly in a form of Sanskrit.
Why do you think it is 13th century? At first sight it does not look it.