Light of Kailash Lecture 22 |Styles of Spiritual Song (mgur) in 17-18th Century Dolpa, Nepal: The Song Collection of Tadru Orgyan Tenzin (1657–1737)

With Michael D. Smith, MA MPH MSW  – March 11th, 2025 12:45 PM UK time

Online via Zoom

This talk describes a set of Tibetan language spiritual songs (Tib. mgur, pronounced “gur”) from late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth century Dolpa, Nepal. Though significant research has contributed to our understanding of Tibetan language song genres, specific presentations of gur from the Nepal Himalayas and research into Dolpo literature are limited. Melodies from Mountain Retreat (Melodies), an autobiographical collection of songs written by Tadru Orgyan Tenzin (O rgyan bstan ’dzin, 1657-1737), serves as a case study to observe the genre of collected songs (mgur ’bum) historically composed in the northwest Nepal Himalayas, which persists as oral and textual traditions. Melodies consists of 201 mgur of various lengths separated by contextual prose, expressing Orgyan Tenzin’s poignant and profound musings on episodes from his life as a yogi, pilgrim and religious teacher. This talk introduces, describes and presents a translation of eight distinct yet closely related styles or types of mgur found in Melodies thus providing insights into his literary creativity and a broader understanding of the variety and complexity of spiritual songs. This talk also offers thoughts on the compositional relationships between Melodies and Orgyan Tenzin’s spiritual biography, The Condensed Life of the Old Beggar Orgyan Tenzin,  shedding light on the richness of these genres of Himalayan literature. 

About the Speaker

Michael D. Smith, MA MPH MSW has studied, traveled and worked in education in Nepal and north India since 2003. He is the interim Academic Director for the School for International Training (SIT)’s Tibetan and Himalayan studies program, and was formerly a researcher, translator and instructor for the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute. His interest lies in the ways in which stories and songs, both oral and textual, inform the expression of Buddhist practice, as well as in questions of genre, intertextuality and historical transmissions of Tibetan literature in the Himalayas. His research focuses on sixteenth and seventeenth century life stories (rnam thar) and spiritual songs (mgur) from northwest Nepal. Michael lives with his wife and their two boys in Kathmandu.