The texts (pecha) cloth scroll painting (thangkas) and other performance-related objects belonging to Meme Tsering Tobgye

The "archive" belonging to an active Buchen household/lineage in the Pin Valley of Himachal Pradesh, headed by Sonam Palden. All the materials in the archive are kept within the prayer room of a modern house and include traditional unbound and hand written Tibetan texts on paper (pecha); modern western-style bound books (teb); religious scroll paintings (thangka) often illustrating a particular story (namthar thangka); the elaborate costume of a head Buchen; musical instruments; statues; and other religious, ritual and performance-related items. Buchen are actors, storytellers, exorcists and occasional healers. They are lay religious practitioners whose role is to spread the Dharma (teachings of the Buddha) often through entertainment. The written texts are primarily edifying biographies (namthar) of Buddhist saints or tales of Delok, those who have entered the netherworld between life and death, witnessed the realms of hell and come back to report. Not all the material seen for the survey was available to document, it had been borrowed by other Buchen. 3 Series : Texts, Thangkas and Other Objects.

The material is owned by Meme Sonam Palden and has been handed down from father to son through several generations of head Buchen. All the materials in the archive are kept within the prayer room of a modern house.