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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

App. K]   TIBETAN INSCRIPTIONS OF BUDDHIST PAINTINGS   1473

Paper painting, Ch. 00377

(See above, pp. 993 sq., and Thousand .Buddhas, Plate xxxII)

The space below the figure of the deity is divided into three fields by two perpendicular lines, each of which contains writing in tolerably good dbu-can Tibetan. The words in the space on the left side begin with the ligature st, which has been struck out by a perpendicular line drawn through it, and then proceeds : Bla ma p`yogs kyi mgon po skit. This means literally : ' the Lord of the upper region (is) on top', and apparently refers to the well-known Indian division of space into ten regions. The ' top ' in the cosmic system is the zenith, in Sanskrit termed brâhmi dik, and ' the Lord of the upper region ' is its tutelary deity, who is usually identified with the lower Brahma.{ Accordingly it would seem that the two medallions in the picture were intended to bear the symbols of the sun and the moon, which in Indian astronomy are imagined to be always revolving in the upper region, their setting and rising being only apparent. The figure in the right-hand medallion shows the same type as usually appears as the attribute of the sun ; that in the left medallion, if it was ever drawn, has been obliterated, but we may conjecture that it was meant to be the symbol of the moon.

Immediately below these words are the syllables gi grain (sags tams clad (sic). This is obscure ; possibly gi hamn has some connexion with the fabulous gi-wair (sec Jäschke and Sarat Chandra Das, s. v.), which is also called gi-Iran.

In the central space are the syllables k`a so brgyad. It would be most natural to translate this as ' thirty-eight k'a', taking so brgyad together as' thirty-eight' and leaving Per uncertain, as it may have several meanings besides its primary one of mouth'. But it is also possible to join Per so, with the meaning of mouth and teeth' (sec Jäschke, p. 36), so that it may be translated eight mouths of teeth'. In either case the reference, like that of the preceding sentence, is to some obscure and unimportant detail in the attributes of the deity.

In the right-hand space is written, in somewhat larger characters, the subscription of the artist :-

Te god za leg 5 mos bris.

' Te-god-za the good man (siidhu) made the drawing.'

Drawing on silk, Ch. xxii. 0015
(See above, p. 1023)

The Tibetan inscription runs round the central panel, not in concentric circles, but in a spiral, which begins in the inside and ends at the outer edge. The characters are fairly well shaped dbu-can, and on the whole resemble those of the MS. of the S'alistamba-si-ttra found in the First Expedition (see Ancient Khotan, vol. i. p. J48 ff., vol. ii. plate CYVII). The archaic drag or final d does not occur ; but the letter R is regularly written with a small ear on the right side, and myi is used instead of the modern mi. The vowel i is written in three ways, viz. the ordinary modern manner, a variety of this with a double curve, and a form like the ordinary modern vowel but turned in the reverse direction (see Ancient Khotan, vol. i. p. 549) ; this last form is certainly used by preference in certain connexions, e.g. in Sanskrit words such as amrita (for amrta), bimale, hilokini, though even here the use is not uniform, and I have denoted it by a double dot over the letter.6

The text is as follows :-

0m 7 li bcom ldan °das ma °p`ags pa spyan ras gzigs dbati la p`yag °t'sal lo bcom ldan °das ma °p`ags pa so sor °bran ba c'en mo la p'yag °t`sal lo °p`ags pai tugs rjei byt[n] gyi rlabs kyis u an Iha skyes la bsrut byin gyis brlab [t]u gsol i bcom ldan °das nia glati po c'ei8 lha sta*s 9 kyis gzigs ma tams cad du kun nas

• Cf. Sarat Chandra Das, Tib. English Dictionary, s. v. tsaiss pa, p. ro21.

• Correct to legs.

• The utter inconsistency with which the two signs for the vowel i, the rightward and the leftward curves, are used is well shown in the MS. Ch. 00183, now Brit. Mus. Or. 82x2 (77), which contains a Tibetan version of the Prajina-paramnla-hrdaya written by a worthy who gives his name as Ling-hi Lha-°dus, and spells the syllable Ling with the rightward curve and hi with the leftward, which would be in

1374

direct opposition to the rules of Chinese phonetics if he meant to denote by the former a long vowel. The first five lines of his text contain gyi twice with rightward curve, twice with leftward; gyis once with rightward curve; >iid thrice with rightward, once with leftward curve ; myi once with rightward, thrice with leftward curve. Evidently here the two forms were used indifferently.

Denoted by the u,ual symbol.

8 Written divisim in two syllables, with a dot between them.

9 Possibly stains.

9B