Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sources

The Ancient Na-khi Kingdom of Southwest China

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The Ancient Na khi Kingdom of Southwest China, Joseph F. Rock's 1947 two volume ethnographic and historical study from Harvard University Press, Harvard Yenching Institute Monograph Series volumes 8 and 9, confirmed against multiple independent bibliographic listings agreeing on publisher, series and year, remains the base of subsequent Naxi studies by the botanist explorer who conducted the underlying fieldwork. Its strength is that it is still considered foundational to the field. Its limit is that this record's citation of the work for the mountain warrior god Sanduo's epithet as creator of the universe rests on a peer reviewed secondary source quoting Rock by page, since the lending restricted digital copy was not read directly; that same secondary source reports Sanduo's status as ambiguous even in modern scholarship, so treat this as attesting the epithet rather than settling a mortal origin narrative until the primary text itself can be read directly.

Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier
1
Reliability tier 1: a two volume ethnographic and historical monograph from Harvard University Press, Harvard Yenching Institute Monograph Series, written by the field's founding scholar and confirmed against multiple independent bibliographic listings, still considered the base of subsequent studies in the field.
Notes
The botanist-explorer Joseph Rock's foundational two-volume ethnographic and historical study of the Naxi (Nakhi), still considered the base of subsequent Naxi studies. The Internet Archive copy is lending-restricted and was not read directly; its coverage of Sanduo, the mountain warrior god, calling him "the creator of the universe", is verified here via a peer-reviewed secondary citation (Praet, "Naxi Cosmology of Mt Yulong Sacred Sites", Ethnoecologie) that quotes Rock 1947-8 by page-cited epigraph and gives the full bibliographic match. That same secondary source reports Sanduo's status as ambiguous even in modern scholarship, some readings historical (a deified defender of the Naxi), some purely divine, without resolving which; treat this book as attesting the creator epithet, not as settling a mortal-origin narrative, until the primary text itself can be read directly.
Citation
Author
Joseph F. Rock
Publisher
Harvard University Press (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, vols. 8 and 9)
Publication Year
1947
URL
https://archive.org/details/ancientnakhiosso0001unse
Source Type
Ethnography
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

China, Countries

This source names China directly: "The Ancient Na khi Kingdom of Southwest China, Joseph F."

Claims Backed By This Source (11 claims)

This source backs 11 claims across the atlas. As facts: 8 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 holds. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

  • Sources, 9 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds.
  • Pantheons, 1 claims: 1 general references.
  • Religions, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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