Secular Life Writing in Early Modern Tibet. A Study of Kalon Tenzin Paljor's Autobiography "Music of Candid Speech"

• Applicant: Dr. Franz Xaver Erhard
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2016 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 318427164

The research investigates the emergence and development of Tibetan secular life writing in the 18th century. While Tibetan biographies and autobiographies were a predominantly religious genre largely following Indian models, the secularization of the genre in the 18th century coincides with fundamental social and political changes in Tibetan society and culture and the dawning of modernity in Tibet. In particular, the comprehensive philological study will analyse the autobiography "Dga' bzhi ba'i mi rabs kyi byung ba brjod pa zol med gtam gyi rol mo [The History of the Gabzhi Family: A Music of Candid Speech]" composed by cabinet minister and intellectual Tenzin Paljor (1760-ca.1808). The autobiographical text will be compared with eminent earlier and contemporary examples of Tibetan life writing to demonstrate how social and literary conventions shaped the biographical genre. Moreover, the political and social developments in the 18th century that stimulated the shift from a solely religious genre dominated by hagiographies to secular life narratives. The proposed research will thus significantly contribute to our understanding of 18th century Tibetan society as well as to the history of Tibetan life writing.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants