The Conch Shells In Tibetan Folklore Culture

Conch shells, a type of sea shells, is widely found in Tibetan folklores where it surfaces as an object in marriage customs, funeral customs, festival customs, singing and dancing customs etc. The importance of this object can therefore be recognized as it is found in the major significant events in the life of a Tibetan. However, the study of conch shells in Tibetan folklores has shown that most of the researches are conducted mostly in the peripheral nationality related to Tibetan. Since the 80s, studies within other minorities who are closely related to the Tibetan national origin, religious beliefs (mainly the Pumi, White and Naxi) had already found evidences of the use of conch shells in folklores. These evidences showed that conch shells were used as a sacred object with significant importance to the worship of nature or as a holy object responsible for the fertility in women.In general, the evidence of conch shells in the majority of the Tibetan folklore remains a rarity and mostly concentrated on the aspect of folk religion. For instance, it is used in the making of religious artifacts and musical instruments. To rely on the study of conch shells from evidences, found from the religious aspect would be insufficient, as there is a lack of researches and materials found. There is also a lack of effort to categorize and classify the data found from various researches in existence. This naturally resulted in the lack of the deeper underlying meaning of conch shells in Tibetan folklores.It is only through the employment of large-scale field work and material researches to investigate, discuss and interpret the significance of conch shells, that the greater truth of such an important object can be derived. Only then can the true value of conch shells be uncovered.The thesis is composed of five main parts. The preface mainly introduces current research of the conch shells in Tibetan folklore culture and textual research method.Part 2 discusses about the distribution of the Tibetan communities, the category of the conch shells in Tibetan folklore culture, introduces the historical origin and transport trade route of the conch which spread from India to the Tibetan area, overview the conditions of the conch in Indian folklore culture as a research reference of Tibetan folk culture.Part 3, with the use of folklore function theory, the part combines the field work and textual information, collects a series of the same or similar topics of folklore to investigate the functions of the conch shells in Tibetan folklore. Part 4 discusses and interprets the significance of conch shells, derives the greater truth of such an important object.Part 5, through the employment of field work in Tingri County, Shigatse Tibet Autonomous Region, the part studies the development status and trend that the conch of the Tibetan folklore culture in today's life.