"My Beautiful Face, the Enemy of Dharma Practice": Variations in the Textual History of Nangsa Ohbum.

This article explores the bibliographic history of Nangsa Ohbum (snang sa 'od 'bum), a Tibetan woman born in the eleventh century, whose hagiography has been translated into many languages and continues to be performed as a Tibetan opera (a lce lha mo) for ever-changing audiences. This article traces textual changes in her story over time and highlights the ways in which ideologically laden translations have affected the story's reception and interpretation. Utilizing English and Chinese language translations in comparison with Tibetan texts, this article calls attention to the importance of examining original source material when performing comparative or analytical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]