A Tibetan text (pecha) on handmade paper. Handwritten in "headless" Tibetan dbu med (Ume) script, No title but identified as Tha lo khar wa ( Tib. གྲ་ལོ་མཁར་བ Wylie. gra lo mkhar ba) These are competition songs, sung between two groups of nyahon ( the nang nyawa, "inside" team of singers, respresenting the bride and the chi nyawa, the outside team of singers representing the groom).
Extent: One book consisting of four folios, folded and stitched with thread.
Size and dimensions of original material: Each folio is 23 cm x 16 cm, folding to 23 cm x 8 cm.
Condition of original material: Heavy staining to the brown cloth cover but the text is perfectly legible throughout,.Custodial history: All the material was passed to the current owner by his father Labu Chherring, who inherited the bulk of the material from his father, Tsering Tashi Labu's grandfather. All three men trained to become amchi, doctors in the Tibetan tradition. Father and grandfather were, in addition, singers (nyahon) and speechmakers (molawa).
Arrangement: All the material was kept in the prayer room of Tsering Tashi Labu's house (unseen). The precise country of origin is unknown. However it is almost certain that the original text was created in Tibet, though the specific material in question may have been copied locally in Spiti (India) at a later date.
