The 5th Dalai Lama's poem of praise (mchod-brjod) for the menu (sder-yig) of the Potala's provision store

[From the 1st volume of 5DL's Tham-phud collection]

A sder-yig lists the serving dishes that were served at festivities of Tibetan dignitaries or for the ceremonial entertainment of government officials. There were a certain number of serving dishes, with the simplest dish consisting of only one dish. The more elaborate dishes consisted of several serving dishes, up to 13 pieces or even more.

Examples of the dishes on the various serving plates at the feasting of officials (drung-'khor) can be found in the rtsa-tshig collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. tibet. 24 [edited in ZAS 46 (2017), pp. 277-484], ff. 8a7 - 8b7, pp. 309-311.

The assumption is obvious that the Potala storehouse caretakers were responsible for arranging the catering at the celebrations. Sde-srid Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho orders the following in his Guidelines for Government Officials: [[11.4]] "The required catering (sder-'dren) of foreign guests, starting with the patrons from the north (e.g. the Mongolians) shall be carried out by the storehouse administrators according to the instructions given beforehand about the respective privileges [of the guests] and the lists of [the number and contents of] the serving dishes."

[Byang pa yon bdag gis dbus phyi mgron sder 'dren dgos pa rnams so so'i go babs thog mar bslab ston sder yig dang bstun ...]

Here is the list of 13 plates and their contents taken from the Cod. tibet. 24, ff. 8a7 - 8b1:

[8a7] Zdrung 'khor lto sder 'dren byas rigs la / bcu gsum sder zer ba la bar zhib lcags khag / za sha btsos pa nyi shu dras gcig / skam smug gang bde'i lug sha bcu gzug gcig dang tshag sha

[8a8] de dod gcig / rtsis gzhi lo gsar ltar gyi mar btsos 'bu dkar drug sgrom gyi sder gcig dang / smug thung dang skya thung gsum sgrom gyi sder re / thud gsum sgroms kyi sder gcig / snum btsos

[8b1] lag dogs dkar po rigs gnyis dang / sul ma khra rtse bcas pa gsum re'i sder re / 'dzugs chung bzhi gling gcig /

And here is the 5th Dalai Lama's poem found in his Tham-phud [TP] collection:

Pho brang chen po po ta la'i gnyer tshang sder yig gi deb kyi [TP1_181r3] mchod brjod phun tshogs ro brgya'i dpal 'dzin //

rjes chags spyan zur lhung dang lhan cig par //

utpal rgyud las 'phos pa'i me tog mdas //

srid zhi'i dpal 'byor rang gir dbang byed pa //

bcom ldan rig byed lha mos dge legs stsol //

nyi ma'i [TP1_181r4] dngos brgya'i lus 'dzin ngal bsos pos //

ne'u le'i mgrin pa btsir las 'dod yon gter //

mi 'dzad skyug pa'i phung po dbyig 'dzin ltor //

lci ba'i khur ldan shis pas 'di na skyong //

'phags bod rgya bal hor sog mtha' bzhi yi //[TP1_181r5]

bgrang yas mchog dman skye rgu'i dga' ston du //

rmugs 'dzin ro bda' bza' bca'i g.yang chags pa'i //

dran tho'i deb gter gangga'i chu rgyun spel //