Written
Monuments
of the Orient

1(7), 2018

Issued twice a year

The entire issue as a *.PDF file

Melanie Malzahn. A Contrastive Survey of Genres of Sanskrit and Tocharian Buddhist Texts — 3
Most Buddhist documents discovered from the 1st millennium Silk Road cultures are random manuscript fragments from what must once have been huge monastic libraries and archives. This is especially true for the Sanskrit and Tocharian texts in this corpus. The methodological advances in digital humanities now make it possible to investigate the whole available data (that is even very small pieces) by quantitative analysis. The present paper examines the literary genres of Sanskrit and Tocharian fragments found side by side in the remains of Buddhist sites. While the distribution of genres is astonishingly even in most cases, there is a predominance of canonical literature in Sanskrit on the once hand and a predominance of narrative literature in Tocharian on the other. The latter fact supports the assumption that the Tocharian culture freely adopted the Buddho-Indian model beyond mere translation work and established a distinctive narrative/dramatic genre that incorporates pre- Buddhist elements.
Key words: Tocharian, Sanskrit Buddhist texts, Buddhist genres

Alexander Zorin. A Dunhuang Tibetan Manuscript of “Ārya-samādhyagrottama” Kept at the IOM, RAS — 25
This paper introduces a small Tibetan book from Dunhuang kept at the IOM, RAS. It is a copy of ’Phags pa ting nge ’dzin mchog dam pa, one of the Buddhist sūtras that emphasize the importance of the practice of samādhi. Some paleographical features of the manuscript as well as its contents are characterized. The manuscript presents a version of ’Phags pa ting nge ’dzin mchog dam pa that is different from those of later editions of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Its comparison with fragments of two other Dunhuang copies of the same text found in Paris supports my assumption that an old version of the sūtra did exist.
Key words: Tibetan manuscripts, Dunhuang, Buddhist sūtras, Ārya-samādhyagrottama, paleography, textology

Ogihara Hirotoshi. A Newly Identified Kuchean Fragment of the Hariścandrāvadāna Housed in the Russian Collection — 35
This paper introduces one Kuchean (i.e. Tocharian B) fragment housed in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences. The fragment has been identified as part of the Hariścandrāvadāna. This narrative is in the sixth chapter of the Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā in Old Uyghur. The colophon of this compilation in Old Uyghur states that it was translated from the Tocharian A translation, which itself had been translated from the Tocharian B original. The comparison between this newly identified Kuchean fragment of the Hariścandrāvadāna and the Old Uyghur version reveals that in both, discrepancies and parallel parts are observable. Thus, whether this Kuchean fragment belongs to the Kuchean version of the Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā or is part of the compilation of Buddhist legends in Kuchean remains uncertain.
Key words: Tocharian, Old Uyghur, Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā, Hariścandrāvadāna, Kuchean Buddhism, Avadāna

Sergey Burmistrov. The Concept of Dravya in Yogācāra and Vaiśeṣika: a Comparative Philosophical Analysis — 55
The concept of dravya is used both in Buddhism and Brāhmaṇical systems of philosophy, but its meanings there are quite different. According to Vaiśeṣika as one of the Brāhmaṇical systems dravya is a real substance independent of any knowing subject and reality is constituted by relations between substances. In Yogācāra Buddhism, on the opposite, substances are regarded as mere designations existing only in dependence of a knowing subject. Any entity may be treated as a substance or a mere conceptualization depending on a concrete situation with the perspective of nirvāṇa.
Key words: the concept of substance, Abhidharma, Asaṅga, Praśastapāda

Anastasia Stepanova. Who Conquered Spain? The Role of the Berbers in the Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula — 78
Categories such as “the Berbers” and “the Arabs” are historical. Their production, maintenance, and reproduction occur under particular circumstances. As circumstances change, so do these categories. The role of Arabs in the Medieval History of Maghreb is usually exaggerated. A number of Berber powerful dynasties emerged during Middle Ages in Maghreb and al-Andalus. This report is motivated by the desire to trace the process of the conquest of al-Andalus at the beginning of the 8th c. As we speak about al-Andalus it worth noting that the Muslims who entered Iberia in 711 were mainly Berbers, and were led again by a Berber, Tariq ibn Ziyad. May we claim that Berbers formed approximately 65–70% or at least the major part of the Islamic population in Iberia that time? That was the question that had pushed me to the research. I argue that it’s true, considering the analysis of the military structure of Arab-Berber army, the comparison that would be made on basis of the sources related to the topic, from the point of view of Berbers position in the power hierarchy in Iberia, and through the description of the cultural and historical background. This study provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of the role of the Berbers in the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, who may be were the ones who tipped the scales in the favor of Arabs’ tribes.
Key words: North Africa, Maghreb, Berbers, al-Andalus, Arabs, Medieval history

Tatiana A. Pang. The Imperial Patent of the Kangxi Period in the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences — 88
The article presents publication of the earliest imperial patent kept in the Manchu collection of the IOM, RAS. The patent is dated by the 55th year of Kangxi (1716) and was conferred to the member of the imperial family. That fact explains unusual decoration of the scroll — a hand painted frame with dargons. The patent was given to Urcen, a son of the Manchu dignitary Sunu, devoted associate of the emperor Kangxi. Sunu was known as one of the highest Manchu officials who adopted Christianity, and his sons were also baptized. The patent conferred Urcen a title “general of the third grade, who protects the state” and the text was written in Manchu and Chinese.
Key words: Manchu patent, Kangxi period, Sunu, Urcen, Manchu Christians

Anna Turanskaya, Natalia Yakhontova, Dmitry Nosov. Collection of Manuscripts and Xylographs in the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan — 96
The article presents a brief review of a relatively small collection of manuscripts and xylographs in the Tibetan, Mongolian and Oirat languages from the Kazan Theological Academy fund, the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan. Although the collection is quite moderate it includes really interesting materials and has not attracted the attention of researchers. Its brief catalogue was made by the authors.
Key words: manuscripts, xylographs, catalogue, Kazan Theological Academy, State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan

Reviews

Indische Handschriften. Teil 19. Die Śāradā-Handschriften der Sammlung Janert der Staatsbibliothek — Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Beschrieben von Gеrhard Ehlers. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2016, 145 p., by Safarali H. Shomakhmadov — 124