Pearls of the Tibet Series: The Crown of a Noble Woman
The pearl crown, dating to the late 18th century, is preserved in the Tibet Museum. Typically it is worn alongside the female headdress "bazhu" (སྤ་ཕྲུག). This crown is known by the title "Tibetan Women's Headdress: Exquisite Pearl Crown" (translation: The Collection of the Tibet Museum), and it symbolizes a woman's noble bloodline and distinguished lineage.
During the first half of the 20th century, the Zang Kang Tibetan Medicine Bureau in Lhasa held five of the six precious medicines, which included Pearl Red pearl – white pearl (resembling a living pearl), dark blue pearl – dark green pearl (both leaf pearls), and snake red pearl, obtained from a snake's brain. As the Tibetan passage states, a Bodhisattva in a past life took the form of a fish, and red pearls materialized within the fish's belly, known as rakta mutig. The seven varieties — wa lu mutig, ga ja mutig, si ka mutig, ram pa mutig, sar mutig (lower pearls), and ma lu mutig — are said to arise from elephants' brains or from the leaves of trees in southern India upon which divine rain falls, or from what fish drink from falling rain. Multicolored pearls are regarded as the finest.
According to tradition, the seven types of pearls are Rugged Blood Pearls, Snake Pearls, Elephant Pearls, Fish Pearls, Grass Pearls, True Pearls, and Lower Pearls. These gems are thought to arise from different sources: the brains of elephants and snakes, the leaves of Indian trees upon which divine rain falls, and the consumption of rainwater by fish. Pearls of various colors are deemed the finest.
Born into a wealthy merchant family, the South Asian scholar Buddhoguptanath (बुद्धगुप्तनाथ；1514–1610) spent several months in Tibet and imparted teachings to the Sakya scholar Tārānātha (ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ；1575–1634). Meanwhile, according to Longdopa Zhelertak Modorbu Shalu (ཀློང་རྡོལ་བླ་མ；1719–1794) in his "The Essential Collection of Precious Discernment Methods" (རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བརྟག་ཐབས་མདོར་བསྡུས་གསལ་བ), the detail of "Chenrezig's Pure Land"—namely, the white pearl necklace held by the bodhisattva's right hand—dates to the mid-19th century and belongs to the Rubens Museum collection.
Although pearls hold a special sacred significance in Tibetan culture, by Buddhoguptanath’s era they were already common among the Tibetan people. Evidence from both surface and underground sources also demonstrates that pearls have a long and rich history in Tibet. Consequently, when his wealthy mentor gave him two large white pearls during that period, believing them to be rare and precious treasures there, Buddhoguptanath’s statement is often viewed as showing his misunderstanding of the reality in Tibet.
Archaeological discoveries at sites such as Kurjong in Ali, dating from 2,700 to 2,000 years ago, have unearthed ornamental objects crafted from shells—significant in Tibetan religious traditions—and from pearls, which include mother-of-pearl. These findings connect to the process by which mollusks shield themselves from invasive organisms: they coat invaders with a calcium carbonate substance that eventually hardens into pearls, gems treasured by both European and Asian nobility.
Ancient textual records indicate that the burial chamber of Songtsen Gampo held a great many pearls, with assorted pearl types offered as grave goods. The principal offerings deposited in the royal treasury included large pearls (མུ་ཏིག་ཆེན་པོ་) and eye pearls (མིག་ཡོད་མ་).
The collection "Portraits of Emperors and Empresses throughout History" includes the "Half-length Portrait of Empress Xu, Second Empress of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty," which is presently kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Additionally, there is a "Blue Lapis Lazuli Tibetan Medicine Thangka" depicting the properties and functions of medicines, produced at the Lhasa Menzikang Tibetan Medicine Institute during the first half of the 20th century. Its contents comprise remaining genuine pearls and three miscellaneous pearls, with the former obtained from clam shells, referred to as mouse head pearls in Tibetan.
The pearl assortment includes Duoka pearls, also referred to as Anduo pearls. A second and third grouping comprises Han region pearls alongside small pearls, with both sets illustrated around the clam pearls. Dating to the 19th century, "Eighty-four Great Achievements in a Series of Images: Samudra/ས་མུ་དྲ་" comes from the Rubin Museum. Its subject, the Achiever Samudra, worked as a pearl diver in his earlier life. The Tibetan word for pearl, Mutig (མུ་ཏིག or མུ་སྟི་ཀ), is thought to derive from the Sanskrit Muktā (मुक्ता), according to linguists such as Mr.
In ancient times, the northern regions of South Asia were a major center for pearl trading and the exchange of tribute. According to Laufey and Matsosov (1937-), the term is connected not only to Sanskrit but also specifically to the mixed vernacular languages spoken in that area. Pearl diving was a highly hazardous occupation in antiquity, and it was merchants and pilgrims who carried pearls—already drilled and strung—into the Eurasian heartland. To make these vividly colored gems more appealing, countless origin myths were invented for them.
Once Mongol nobles started to be drawn to the "magic of pearls" and pearl jewelry, the spread of "pearl narratives" in Tibet began to take on diverse forms. Meanwhile, most tales of pearls found in Tibet trace back to South Asia, and the oral stories of pearl divers near the sea were granted a sacred aura by various religions.
Two principal themes appear in common Tibetan "pearl narratives." One consists of myths presenting pearls as Buddhist treasures, with pearls counted among the Five Treasures and Seven Treasures. The other is made up of medical narratives aligned with pharmacological and biological classification systems. These two narrative types about pearls overlap to a certain extent, a point worth emphasizing. Within the mythological stories, pearls from mollusks are regarded as inferior, whereas high-grade five-color pearls are said to have special origins.
According to certain texts, the five-colored pearls are associated with the Five Dhyani Buddhas, and their Pure Lands feature floors adorned with pearls, called the Pearl Ground (མུ་ཏིག་ས). As for origins and effects: white pearls come from elephants and, when smelled, drive those elephants mad. Red pearls are produced by red fish and embody the compassionate crystallization of Buddhist bodhisattvas. Green and blue pearls originate from precious trees and count as unique treasures of paradise. Dark pearls—also referred to as black red pearls—are derived from snakes and hold detoxifying properties.
Pay attention to the pearl ornaments adorning the main Buddha and Bodhisattva in the 14th-century "Five Buddhas in the Southern Direction: Amitabha Buddha," from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In "The Lord Vishnu" (mid-5th century, National Museum in New Delhi), note the pearl necklace encircling the deity's neck, as well as the water creature on the crown that spits out pearls.
In classical times, medical practitioners divided pearls into six refined and four mixed types (with some texts listing three mixed types). All six refined types (མུ་ཏིག་རིན་ཆེན་དྲུག) are used to treat concussions and detoxify. Meanwhile, medical narratives preserve certain mythological accounts but underscore their religious character, explicitly tracing the origin of pearls to shell seeds (ཉ་ཕྱིས་ས་བོན).
Among mixed pearls are "Dokar" pearls (འདོལ་ཁ་མུ་ཏིག; soft pearls), Chinese pearls, and small pearls (louse-shaped). These pearls are effective in treating cataracts as well as mental illnesses.
In South Asian and Himalayan art, the 'pearl chain' (མུ་ཏིག་ཕྲེང་བ) appears as a recurring motif that has been continuously transmitted. Within medical narratives, pearls exhibiting both male and female characteristics can denote diseases associated with either gender, and the way they are described as aiding reproduction is comparable to similar accounts in Northern Asia. Additionally, in the realm of Buddhist construction, such dual-gendered pearls, in the manner of relics, can symbolize wisdom and expedient means, functioning as visual emblems of enlightenment.
Between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD, ornamental forms featuring the "pearl chain" appear frequently across crowns, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, belts, and armbands in both sculpture and architectural decoration. Within these works of craft, the "pearl chain" serves as a stand-in for the lotus root stem, conveying the poetic notion that "gods and Buddhas wear constellations." This same motif was also deployed widely by artists in the early post-Hongyi period, as seen in Tibetan monasteries and in Newar-style painting traditions.
In later generations, "pearl chain" came to signify supreme aesthetics and crystallized wisdom, and was adopted as a book title. Within the first half of the 20th century, at the Menzikang Tibetan Medical Institute in Lhasa, references include "Blue Lapis Tibetan Medicine Tangka: Properties and Functions of Medicinal Materials," along with the section "Partial: male and female pearls and shells." Male and female pearls refer to pearls with and without eyes—the so-called eyes denoting the presence or absence of a central hole. Additionally, there are the five jewels in the five pure lands.