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MS. Hodgson 8 (R)

MSS. Hodgson

NOTE: This record has yet to be fully checked.

Pañcarakṣā, 12th cent.?

Contents

Language(s): Sanskrit.

Physical Description

Form: pothī
Support: Palm-leaves, with one hole on the left of the centre of the leaf, held together by two boards. Five figures of Buddhas are painted on the inside of the first board, and five figurea of Śaktis on the inside of the second. Both the Buddhas and the Śaktis are in five different colours.
Extent: + +
Dimensions (binding): × cm.

Condition

part of the last line of f. 1 is lost. Sometimes the writing is so obliterated as to be almost illegible, e. g. ff. 14v, 15, 49v, 50, 70v, 71, 109v, 110, 133, and 134. In ff. 30–33 the text has been slightly damaged by insects. F. 63 is broken, but nothing is lost.

Hand(s)

Nepalese.

History

Origin: 12th cent.?

Date and Character: the three parts belong to different centuries. Only at the end of 2 a date is found, viz.: ǁ śubha ǁ saṃvata 765 bhādapadamāsaśuklapakṣa | &c. Samvat 765 of the Newārī era is a. d. 1645. The character of these two and a half leaves is the modern Newārī.

The bulk of the MS. (1) is undated. There may have been a date on f. 132bv, but, if so, it has been effaced and something else has been written over it. From palaeographical evidence there is little doubt that the MS. belongs to the twelfth century. On comparing the facsimiles of Cambridge MSS. given by Bendall, l. c., we find that plate II, 3 (dated a. d. 1167) and plate III, 1 (dated a. d. 1191) come nearest in style and character to this MS. The first facsimile in the Catalogue of the Hodgson MSS. in the J.R.A.S., VIII, of MS. 21 (dated a. d. 1166) is also very similar to this MS. A comparison of the table of letters given by Bendall, again, shows that the hooked characters of the twelfth century MSS. (especially those of the Cambridge MSS. dated a. d. 1165 and 1179) agree best with those of this MS. The most characteristic letters are l, kh, th, dh.

Provenance and Acquisition

Presented to the Bodleian Library by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1837.

MS. Hodgson 8 (R)(1) [fols 1-132v]

Contents

The Pañcarakṣā, the five collections of charms for warding off evils of all kinds,

Language(s): Sanskrit

1. [fols 1-36v]

The Mahāpratisarā

Incipit: o namaḥ sarvavuddhavodhisatvebhyaḥ | namo vuddhāya | namo dharmāya | namaḥ saṅghāya ǁ evam mayā śrutam ekasmin samaye bhagavān mahāvajraśikharakūṭāgāra viharati sma ǁ mahāvajrasamādhibhūmipratiṣṭhāne mahākalpavṛkṣasamalaṃkṛte mahāvajrapuṣkiriṇīratnapad-maprabhodbhāsitamahāvajravālikāsaṃskṛtabhūmibhāga-mahāvajramaṇḍalamāte Śakrasya devānām indrasya bhavane mahāvajrasiṃhāsanakoṭīniyutaśatasahasravirājite | &c.
Explicit: Mahāpratisarāyā mahāvidyā rājñi rakṣāvidhānakalpā vidyādharasyāya samāptaṃ ǁ
2. [fols 36v-75]

The Mahāsāhasrapramardanī

Incipit: ǁ namo bhagavate vīta ǁ ǁ rāgāya ǁ evam mayā śrutam ekasmi samaye bhagavān Rājagṛha viharati sma ǁ Gṛdhra ǁ ǁ kūṭe parvvate dakṣiṇe pārśve vuddhagocare vṛkṣe prabhāse vanaṣaṇḍe | &c.
Explicit: ǁ idam avocad bhagavān ārta (?) manās te ca bhikṣavo bhagavato bhāṣitam abhyanandann iti ǁ ǁ Mahāsāhasrapramardanī nāma ǁ ǁ mahāyānasūtraṃ samāptaṃ ǁ
3. [fols 75-123v]

The Mahāmāyūrī

Incipit: namo vuddhā | namo dharmāya namaḥ saṃghāya ǁ namaḥ ǁ ǁ saptānāṃ samyaksaṃvuddhānāṃ saśrāvakasaṃghānān namo ’rhatāṃ namaḥ pra ǁ ǁ tyekavuddhānāṃ namo Maitreyapramukhānāṃ sarvvavodhisatvānāṃ mahāsatvānān namo ’nāgāminān namaḥ sakṛdāgāminān namaḥ śrotāpannānān namaḥ samyakpratipannānān teṣān namas kṛtvā imām Mahāmāyūrīṃ vidyārajñīṃ prayājayāmi ǁ &c.
Explicit: ǁ Mahāmāyūrī vidyārājm k samāptāḥ ǁ
4. [fols 123v-126v]

The Mahāśītavatī

Incipit: ǁ o namaḥ sarvavuddhavodhisatvebhyaḥ ǁ evam mayā śrutam ekasmin samaye bhagavān Rājagṛhe viharati sma | śītavane mahāśma ǁ ǁ śāne ijjhi (?) kāyatane pratyudde (?) śe tattrāyuṣmān Rāhulo ’tīva vihethate | &c.
Explicit: idam avocad bhagavān āyuṣmān Rāhulo bhagavato bhāṣitam abhyanandann iti ǁ o ǁ āryamahāṣītavatī mahādaṇḍadhāraṇī vidyārājnī samāptāḥ ǁ
5. [fols 126v-132v]

The Mahāmantrānusāriṇī

Incipit: o namo bhagavatyai āryamahāmantrānusāriṇyai ǁ evam mayā śrutam ekasmin samaye bhagavān Vaiśālyāṃ viharati markkaṭahradatīre kū ǁ ǁ ṭāgāraśālāyāṃ tatra bhagavān āyuṣmanta Ānandam āmantrayate sma | &c.
Explicit: iti vuddhānāṃ vuddhānubhāvena devabhāvānāṃ ca devānubhāvena mahatī iti vyupaśrāmyanteti ǁ o ǁ idam avocad bhagavān ārtta (?) manās te ca bhikṣavas te ca vodhisatvā… bhagavato bhāṣitam abhyanandann iti ǁ o ǁ āryamahāmaṃtrānusāriṇī mahāvidyārājñī samāptati ǁ o ǁ

MS. Hodgson 8 (R)(2) [fols 132bv-134v]

Contents

A fragment of which little can be made out, most of it being obliterated.

Language(s): Sanskrit

MS. Hodgson 8 (R)(3) [fols 135-137]

Contents

Summary of Contents: a fragment of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī. The three leaves are numbered as 2, 3, and 4 both by letter-numerals and figures.

Language(s): Sanskrit

Incipit: āgatoṣṇīṣavijayā nāma dhāraṇī dhāraya ǁ &c.
Explicit: sarvvatathāgatahṛdayādhiṣṭhānādhiṣṭhito | sarvvatathāgatāś ca māṃ samāśvāsayantu ǁ oṃ vudhya 2 śidhya 2 vodhaya 2 vivodhaya 2 mocaya 2 vimocaya 2 sodhaya 2 visodhaya 2 samantā na mocaya 2 samantar asmi parisuddho | sarvvatathāgatahṛdayādhiṣṭhānādhiṣṭhito ǁ om o 2 m ahām om ahāṃ o mantraya o svāhā ǁ ǁ āryoṣṇīṣavijayā nāma dhāraṇī parisamāptā ǁ

Additional Information

Record Sources

Summary description abbreviated from the following sources:
Winternitz and Keith, Catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts, no. 1447 (1–8), pp. 257-258

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures contact Bodleian Admissions). Contact specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript.

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    Moriz Winternitz and Arthur Berriedale Keith, Catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1905), no. 1447 (1–8), pp. 257-258

Funding of Cataloguing

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