Abstract
Old Khotanese poetry makes use of three metres, conventionally referred to as A, B and C. The metre of the longest surviving Old Khotanese poem, the Book of Zambasta (Z) was analysed in detail in Sims-Williams 2022, which was followed by a series of articles studying the use of metre C in other texts and fragments, in order to determine to what extent their treatment of this metre conforms to the practice of Z. The present article applies the same approach to passages in metre B, identifying some which probably belong to lost parts of the Book of Zambasta and others which certainly do not. The relevant passages are presented with a detailed metrical analysis as well as an English translation and brief commentary.
1 Introduction
In my book on Old Khotanese metre (Sims-Williams 2022) I analysed all three metres, A, B and C, in the principal manuscript of the Book of Zambasta (Z). While that book was deliberately restricted to a single text, the same three metres are attested in many other texts and fragments. One is therefore bound to ask whether all poets used these metres in exactly the same way and whether metrical evidence can help to identify some such fragments as missing parts of Z.
My book was followed by an article on the metrical parts of the Khotanese Saṃghāṭa-sūtra (Sgh), which includes passages in all three metres (Sims-Williams 2023), and by two articles concerned specifically with texts in metre C, the rarest of the three. The first of these articles (Sims-Williams 2023a) contains an edition and metrical analysis of two fragmentary folios which I identified as belonging to Z7–8. The second (Sims-Williams 2024), which was intended to provide a metrical analysis of all other identifiable passages in metre C,1 deals with four short texts. The first two, which certainly belong to Z, contained no surprises from the metrical point of view. In Text 3, which has also been tentatively attributed to Z, an unusually large proportion of hemistichs (35 %, as opposed to 15.5 % in Z) begin with a 9-mora rather than a 7-mora cadence, but the sample is not large enough to prove that this text cannot belong to Z. In the case of Text 4, however, which forms part of the Sgh, the high proportion of 7-mora cadences ending with ˈLLL rather than ˈHL—19 to 26 %, depending on the interpretation of a few ambiguous cadences, as opposed to ca. 1.5 % in all the metre C 7-mora cadences of Z—is clearly statistically significant, indicating that this text is the work of a different poet who handled the metre in a slightly different way.2 My study of the passages of the Sgh in the other two metres confirmed that:
While the definition of metres A and B based on Z does not require any significant modification in order to accommodate data from the Sgh, it seems that, as in the case of metre C, the two poets display slightly different preferences in their use of the metres.3
In particular, the following features are noticeably more common in Sgh than in Z: (i) the 7-mora cadence LLLLˈHL in pādas b/d of metres A and B; (ii) the 9- and 10-mora cadences (especially those with an ictus on the 5th mora) in pādas a/c of metre A; (iii) the 1 sg. m. tr. perfect in ‑ĕ mä LL (as opposed to that in ‑aimä HL).4
2 Verses in Metre B
In the present article, following on from those mentioned above, I aim to give a metrical analysis of all identifiable texts and fragments in metre B, the second most common metre, other than those which are known to belong to the Book of Zambasta5 or the Saṃghāṭa-sūtra,6 of which I have already given a metrical analysis elsewhere. In the case of smaller fragments, it is often impossible to identify the metre, so this collection certainly cannot be regarded as complete. Since my chief aim is to ascertain whether the metre of the texts edited here differs from that of Z, the notes to the texts below will concentrate on metrical issues.
I begin with three folios which are clearly written in columns (Texts 1–3). Since this layout does not seem to be used for any other text, one may assume that they belong to the Book of Zambasta. So far as the metre is concerned, they contain nothing which contradicts or adds to the analysis in Sims-Williams 2022. This also applies to Text 4, a fragment which has also been suspected, rightly or wrongly, of belonging to Z. Texts 5 and 6 come from a manuscript of the Anantamukhanirhāra-dhāraṇī. Although Text 6 shows no particular metrical oddities, two of the five surviving hemistichs of Text 5 appear to lack the usual mid-hemistich caesura. Unless the text is corrupt, this is a very substantial departure from the usage of Z, where such an irregularity is only found once in a total of ca. 970 metre B hemistichs. Finally, Text 7 appears to attest a few metrical features which are unknown in Z. If Leumann is right to assume that ranānu in 26d stands for ranāṃ or ranā LH, a distinctively LKh. form of the OKh. gen. pl. form ratanānu ‘jewels’, this text probably dates from a later period than the Book of Zambasta.7
2.1 Text 1
IOL Khot 28/11–13,8 ed. Bailey, KT5: 154 (#289); Skjærvø 2002: 232. The three fragments can be joined, as shown in Skjærvø’s diagram, to form part of the left-hand end of a folio with a circle surrounding the string-hole in the space between the first two columns (see fig. 1–2). The order of recto and verso is unknown. Parts of five lines survive on each side, but the position of the circle suggests that there were originally 6 lines per page.
[Line 1 missing? Line 2 only a few akṣaras]
1.3ab dāt[īṃ]ju hastam[ŏ] daju ttārŏ [....]
HHL HLL ‖ LL HL
μ ˈμμμ ‖1.4ab mai ṣi’ käḍätānä pätēmīyä [....]
HLLL HL ‖ LH HL
μ ˈμμμ ‖1.5ab cvī ttä käḍätānĕ ci sa puttra[....]
HLLL HL ‖ LL! HL
μ ˈμμμ ‖1.6ab × därsä hva’ṃndä cĕ śuvŏʾ buḍaru [....]
HHL HL ‖ LLL LLL
μ ˈμμμ ‖1.7ab × ttu ju yĕ hva’ṃdiyĕ samu da ×[.....]
HLLL HLL ‖ LL
μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖1.8ab dṛṅguṇṇ[a] ttāräna ṣṣavamārä[ṇa ...]
HHL HLL ‖ LL HLLˈ
μμμ ‖1.9ab biśśu ttu × ru brⁱyakä hamatä ā ×[.....]
LLLLL LLL ‖ LLL H
μμ ˈμμμ ‖1.10ab pāra[.]ai nä mañätĕ kĕḍä dīśä[tĕ ...]
HLH LLLL ‖ LL HLLˈ
μμμ ‖[Line 11 only a few akṣaras. Line 12 missing?]
3 The best flame of the Law, that …4 Let not this sin darken it …5 As for these sins of him who, having(?) sons(?) …6 … thirty men who at noon more …7 … one only … of a man …8 … dark, pitch-black darkness …9 All this … the beloved himself …10 He does not consider …, [he] greatly confesses …
Figures 1–2
Text 1 (IOL Khot 28/11–13)
1.3. The final vowel of hastam[o] is now lost. It is given as visible by Bailey and Skjærvø, but this may be a restoration rather than a reading. The line is cited in DKS 126a, s.v. ttāra‑, and 150b, s.v. dajä.9 Bailey translates ttārŏ as ‘dark’, but it can equally well be the acc. sg. f. demonstrative ttārŏ ‘that’.
1.5b. The last surviving word may represent Skt. saputra‑ (or saputraka‑), as Bailey seems to imply. Alternatively, since the segment after the caesura seems to be one mora short, one might consider emending sa to saṃ (= samu ‘only, just’).
1.8a. The first word (Bailey jya gguṇṇ‑, Skjærvø dṛṅguṇṇ‑) seems to be otherwise unknown. Mauro Maggi kindly suggests that dṛṅguṇa‑ may be a variant of LKh. drvanaka-gūna‑, which Bailey, DKS 171a, interprets as ‘dark-coloured’. Thus dṛṅguṇṇa HHL would be a LKh. spelling for the metrically equivalent OKh. *drunagūnna LLHL, instr.-abl. sg. m. of a hypothetical *druna-gūna‑.
1.9. briyaka‑ may be a personal name, as Skjærvø seems to assume, or it may be a diminutive of bria‑ ‘dear, beloved’ (elsewhere brīka‑, bīka‑). Bailey, DKS 314a, translates bryakä hamatä as ‘becomes dear’, implying an emendation to *hämätä, but this is hardly necessary.
2.2 Text 2
IOL Khot 156/7, ed. Bailey, KT5: 31–32 (#85); Skjærvø 2002: 351. The right-hand part of a folio from a 6-lined manuscript. The recto contains verses numbered 23–28, while the verso contains verses numbered 29–32 followed by two blank lines, showing this to be the end of a chapter. As noted by Manu Leumann (1967: 373), this can hardly fit anywhere in Z1–24, so it probably belongs to an earlier part of the poem.10
2.23cd [... a]rahandä päta’ñi dasau nĕ ˈīndi · 23
μμμ LL HL ‖ LLL LHLˈHL ‖2.24cd [.....] mästa cu arahandi nĕ ˈīndi · 24
μμμμμ HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖2.25cd [.....] dyāmata bvāmata khŏ rrŏ ˈbalysi · 25
μμμμμ HLL ‖ H LLLLˈHL ‖2.26cd [........] × balysi vīrŏ [pa]ˈtārja · 26
μμμμμ μμμ ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖[Verses 27–30, only verse-numbers and traces]
2.31cd11 [.....] × [.]t[.]yä u karmyau jsa p[i]ṣˈkalstä : 31
μμμμμ μμ L ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖2.32cd [...] cärau byū’tä nĕ ttäna härna haˈmaṃgga : 32 ‖
μμμ LH HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
23 … an arhat does not have the ten powers. 2324 … great … which the arhat does not have. 2425 … appearance (and) knowledge (is) like the Buddha’s. 2526 … they should be a special characteristic of the Buddha. 26…31 … and distinguished from karmas. 3132 … kindles the lamp, (is/are) not equal because of this. 32
2.26d. Cf. balysāna patārgya Z15.129b.
2.32c. I read cärau ‘lamp’ for Skjærvø’s kärau (k marked as doubtful), Bailey’s ‑ä rrau (rr marked as doubtful). Skjærvø translates the following byū’tä as ‘owl’, but the context suggests rather a connection with *byūṣ‑ ‘to catch fire’ < *wi-auš‑, so far attested only by 3 pl. pres. indic. mid. byūvā’re in Z4.59d (metrically byŭvā’rĕ LHL, Sims-Williams 2022: 42). It seems simplest to take byū’tä as *wi-aušayati, 3 sg. pres. indic. of a type A act. verb *byūṣ‑ ‘to kindle’, the transitive counterpart of *byūṣ‑ ‘to catch fire’. For the lack of the expected palatalization of the stem vowel ‑ū‑ one may compare the infinitives pyūṣṭe and byūtti (Hitch 1990: 192), to cite only the most similar cases. Alternatively, one might consider the possibility that both byū’tä (for *byū’te < *wi-aušayatai) and byūvā’re belong to an intransitive verb of type A mid. (a type not otherwise attested from a verb in -Vṣ‑, see Maggi 2019). Unfortunately cärau does not help to decide between a transitive or intransitive interpretation, as it can be either nom. or acc. sg.
2.3 Text 3
IOL Khot 174/1, ed. Skjærvø 2002: 387. A few words were cited by Bailey, KT5: 106 (#207). A fragment from a 5-lined manuscript. The order of recto and verso is unknown. A few words and syllables are preserved from either side of the space between columns. These apparently belong to pādas cd (less likely ab, as there is no string-hole) of a passage in metre B, the metre being clearest in verse 5.
|
3.1cd |
]ś[ś]ä |
uysā[n- |
… self … |
|
|
LH [ |
||
|
3.2cd |
]× |
asädu [ |
… evil … |
|
|
LLL [ |
||
|
3.3cd |
]× |
nĕ hā tsuñ[ |
… must not go away … |
|
|
LH L[ |
||
|
3.4cd |
]× |
buttĕ cĕ [.]ī[ |
… knows who … |
|
|
HL LH[ |
||
|
3.5cd |
[balysūśtu ha]stamu |
buva nī[ |
… you know best [bodhi] … |
|
HHL HLL ‖ |
LL H[ |
||
|
3.6cd |
]ṣṭātä |
mūla dē[va- |
… roots, god … |
|
HL ‖ |
HL H[ |
||
|
3.7cd |
]× |
yaulĕ ī[riyĕ |
… falsehoods, w[iles] … |
|
|
HL HLL[ |
||
|
3.8cd |
]e |
śśaṭhṭhĕ īriyĕ [ |
… deceptions, wiles … |
|
|
HL HLL[ |
||
|
3.9cd |
]śtä |
cu karä ×[ |
… which … [not] at all … |
|
HL ‖ |
LLL [ |
||
|
3.10cd |
]ra |
ka pharu y[ |
… if many … |
|
|
LLL [ |
3.6d. The Indian word deva‑ ‘god’ and personal names containing this element are the only words beginning with de‑ in Z.
3.7–8. Falsehoods, wiles and deceptions are frequently mentioned in Z as characteristic of women.
2.4 Text 4
IOL Khot 155/5, ed. Bailey, KT5: 30 (#81); Skjærvø 2002: 348; Del Tomba 2024: 156–158 (verses 81–85, pādas cd only, with scansion). The right-hand part of a five-lined folio, containing verses numbered 76–85. The text is set out in verse-lines but not in columns, which makes it somewhat doubtful whether the text belongs to the Book of Zambasta as suggested by Skjærvø. However, the metre does not differ in any discernible way from that of Z.
4.76ab [.........] [...... ya]ˈnīyä ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμ LˈHL ‖4.76cd pravajjĕ biyaṃnu cerī baśdātä ˈgarkha 76
HHL LLL ‖ LH HH|ˈHL ‖
4.77ab [.........] [......]ä phaˈrāka ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμ LLˈHL ‖4.77cd ttiyĕ hämätĕ aysmiya aysu nāsĕ praˈvajjŏ | |
LLLLL HLL ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
4.78ab [.........] [.....]āñä ˈhva’ṃndä ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ LHLˈHL ‖4.78cd avāyī tsūmatä pharu vara dukha ˈbīḍä | |
LHH HLL ‖ LL LLLLˈHL ‖
4.79ab [.........] [........]ä ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈμμ L ‖4.79cd ō pūrä pīrä ṣĕ hā jsātĕ aˈvāyä | | 9 | |
HHL HL ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖
4.80ab [.........] [.........] ·
[
4.80cd cai biyaṃnu yīndä ṣä kiḍä hämä[tĕ] duˈkhauttä 80
HLLL HL ‖ LLL LLLLˈHL ‖
4.81ab [.........] [.......]t[. ·]
[
4.81cd amatauya kaśtĕ hvaittä nu[ṣṭhu]ru ˈstauru 81
LLHL HL ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
4.82ab [.........] [........]ṣṭu ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈHL ‖4.82cd śuvĕ hämätĕ vātcŏ ṣĕ naṣphūstai ˈōṣku · 82
LLLLL HL ‖ LH HH|ˈHL ‖
4.83ab [.........] [...] ṣṣāmañä ˈyīndä ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ HLLˈHL ‖4.83cd kvī pulśtä handarä samu ṣārä nu ˈnaśtä 3
HHL HLL ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
4.84ab [.........] [........]ndä ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈHL ‖4.84cd au yä armānäna ṣṣei biyatänu yaˈnīyä 84
HLH HLL ‖ H LLLLˈHL ‖
4.85ab [.........] [.......]o ˈysaiyĕ ·
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈHL ‖4.85cd ṣä rrŏ hämätĕ kāṇä atä kūysä biˈhīyä | |
LLLLL HL! ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
76 … [if] he should cause …, a hindrance to the ascetic life, how much (is) his heavy sin? 7677 … many …, it occurred to him in (his) mind: I shall take up the ascetic life.78 … the man must …, his transmigration (will be) to an evil existence, he will bear many torments there.79 … or the son to (his) father, he will go to an evil existence. [7]980 … he who causes a hindrance to him will become very miserable. 8081 … [him who] falls into distress he beats harshly, severely. 8182 … he becomes a dog, then he (is) always thrown out. 8283 … he practises the religious life. When another asks him, only that one of them is deficient. [8]384 … or he would even cause a hindrance through his appearance. 8485 … he is born … he also becomes one-eyed (and) extremely hunchbacked.
4.85c. Del Tomba corrects the metre by emending kāṇä HL to kāṇai HH, the form of this word (Skt. kāṇa-/kāṇaka‑ ‘one-eyed’) found in Z14.65c.
2.5 Text 5
IOL Khot 151/3 + 4, ed. Leumann 1920: 151; Bailey, KT5: 102 (#201); Skjærvø 2002: 338–339. The text was identified by Leumann as part of the Anantamukhanirhāra-dhāraṇī (cf. also Text 6 below). The folio bears the number 16 and some verses are numbered, although the text is not set out as verse. After these verses in metre B, the continuation is in prose and then in metre A.
A notable feature of this short passage is that both 29cd and 31ab appear to lack a caesura, a feature attested only once in the whole of Z (see Sims-Williams 2022: 62 on Z12.63cd). See discussion below.
5.29cd [........ u biśśū]niya ratanai ˈhälysda
μμμμμ LLHLL! LLH|ˈHL ‖5.30ab hvī’ya gyastūñai suha vārŏ nĕ ˈīndä
HLH HH ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
5.30cd nĕ a[nuvaśtātī] balysūstī ˈnaysdä 30
LLLH HH ‖ H HH|ˈHL ‖
5.31ab ttiyĕ käḍäna cĕ balysūstä thatau kṣaˈmīyä
LLLLL LHHL! LHLˈHL ‖
5.31cd ttiyĕ sūträ vīrī [..... ˈtcē]rä 1
LLHL HH ‖
μμ μμμμ ˈHL ‖
29 … jewels of [all] kinds (are) present for him.30 Human (and) divine pleasures are not lacking for him, nor (is there) [hardship for him]; enlightenment (is) near for him. 3031 Therefore, he for whom enlightenment (obtained) quickly would be pleasing—(it is) [necessary] for him [to make …] towards this sūtra. [3]1
5.29cd. If this is a hemistich in metre B, it is irregular in lacking the usual caesura. In theory [biśśū]niya ratanai ˈhälysda LHLL LLH|ˈHL 5 + 7 could be the regular final pāda of a verse in metre A (or of course a passage of prose), but it is not obvious why there should be a change of metre at this point.
5.30. This verse is translated by Skjærvø, SVK3: 137, who also cites the Tibetan and Chinese versions. On the basis of the Chinese, Skjærvø restores pāda c as ne a[nvaśtātä] ‘nor [(is there) hardship’, which is too short by one mora. Leumann and Bailey’s reading ne su[ seems at least equally possible but does not suggest a plausible restoration.
5.31ab. As is stands, this is clearly a metre B hemistich without caesura. It could be regularized by inverting the order of the words balysūstä thatau:
*ttiyĕ käḍäna cĕ thatau balysūstä kṣaˈmīyä*LLLLL LLH ‖ H HLLˈHL ‖
2.6 Text 6
IOL Khot 151/2, ed. Leumann 1920: 153; Bailey, KT5: 103 (#202); Skjærvø 2002: 338. Identified by Leumann as part of the same manuscript and text (Anantamukhanirhāra-dhāraṇī) as Text 5 above. The folio bears the number 19 and two of the verses are numbered. After these verses in metre B, which seem perfectly regular by the standards of Z, the text continues in prose.
6.8cd [.........] [.......] ˈtcēra 8
μμμμμ μμμ μμμ μμμμ ˈHL ‖6.9ab nai byāvagarja kyĕ kūśānai ˈhāvi
HHL HL ‖ LH HH|ˈHL ‖
6.9cd nai hajuvattātä u nai aysmiya ˈṣṣadda | |
HLLL HL ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖
6.10ab nai hämätĕ dātiya tsūmata nĕ paˈrāhä
HLLL HLL ‖ H LLLLˈHL ‖
6.10cd hāysa balysyau jsa samu khŏ śaṃdā ˈōrnä | |
HLH HL ‖ LLL HH|ˈHL ‖
6.11ab ttiyĕ käḍäna hāvä pajsamä buljsiyĕ ˈkṣīna ·
LLLLL HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
6.11cd balysūñavūysei härṣṭāyä paˈśśāña | |
HHL HH ‖ H HLLˈHL ‖
6.12ab parāhī vasuvĕ parēhāñä aˈggaṃjsu ·
LHH LLL ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖
6.12cd rraṣṭa käḍĕ jsīna mulysdä aysmiya ˈōṣku 2 | |
HLLL HL ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
8 … [homage to the Three Jewels] (is) to be performed. 89 (There is) no anusmṛti for him who (is) a seeker of benefit, no wisdom, and no faith in (his) mind.10 For him there is no conduct according to the Law, no moral restraint; (he is) far from the Buddhas, just as earth (and) sky (are far apart).11 Therefore profit, reverence, praise (are) really to be abandoned by him who seeks enlightenment.12 Pure restraint (is) to be performed by him, faultlessly, (and) a very right (way of) life, (with) compassion always in (his) mind. [1]2
6.9a. byāvarjā‑ is a late form for byātagargyā‑ (so spelt in Z24.192c) ‘remembrance, anusmṛti’. The spelling byātarjā‑ is common in Z, but there, as here, it is generally necessary to restore the older form with an extra syllable: see Z11.20d, 11.42a, 15.88b, 15.103a. Exceptionally, Z20.25d is probably to be read u byātarja śśära LH HL|LL rather than u byātagarja śśära LH LHLLL with a rare variant of the 6-mora cadence (for which see Sims-Williams 2022: 46).
6.10d. The word for ‘sky’ is mostly attested in the loc. sg. form orña. As the present form shows, the stem is orna‑ (with Leumann 1933–1936: 406b; Skjærvø 2004: II, 252a), not ora‑ (with Bailey, DKS 47a; Emmerick, SGS 264).
6.11–12. In 12ab parāhī … parēhāñä, lit. ‘restraint (is) to be restrained by him’, exemplifies the passivization of a ‘cognate accusative’ construction, cf. Emmerick 1965: 25. Similarly, in v. 11, kṣīna … paśśāña, lit. ‘the abandonment of profit, reverence, praise (is) to be abandoned’, though here the noun and verb are not etymologically cognate.
2.7 Text 7
SI P 4, folio 9 verso. Edited and translated by Leumann 1920: 174–179; Emmerick and Vorob’ëva-Desjatovskaja, SDTV3: 26–27. A hymn to Viśvakarman, inserted secondarily on a page of a copy of the Adhyardhaśatikā which had apparently been left blank by mistake. The poem is not set out as verse, but most of the verse-numbers are preserved. The text as presented in the manuscript displays many Late (or at least ‘Middle’) Khotanese traits.
Certain phrases echo expressions found in the Book of Zambasta; in particular, as Leumann noted, the whole hemistich 8cd is attested in OKh. spelling in Z24.262cd: nĕ ju yĕ hvatu tīndä—ttu häru harbäśśä hōna. M. Leumann (in Leumann 1933–1936: xvi) even suggests that this text may belong to Z, but there seems no real basis for such a supposition. It is true that in many cases one could attribute the late forms and spellings to the copyist rather than the original composer of the text. For example: 1c pīsañā HLH ~ OKh. pīsānu HHL; 2b biśūṃ LH ~ OKh. biśśu mä or biśśu nä LLL; 10a ahivāysyai LLHH ~ OKh. ahivāysätai LLHLH, in metre perhaps ahivāysätai LLHH;12 10c paräpāchūṃ LLHH ~ OKh. *paräpāchämä LLHLL; 14b vē H ~ OKh. vätĕ LL. In these cases one could replace the form in the text with an earlier equivalent without disrupting the metre. In one case, an older form might even improve the metre (see below on pīsañyau jsa in 11a.) On the other hand, it is difficult to see any alternative to Leumann’s assumption that the gen. pl. ranānu ‘jewels’ in 26d must be read as ranāṃ or ranā, a distinctively LKh. form. The text also attests a couple of metrical features which are unknown in Z (see below on haṃdāḍa in 10d, puña HL in 26b). It therefore seems likely that this hymn is the work of a later poet, but one who was familiar with the Book of Zambasta.
siddham
7.1ab namasūṃmä ṣa[ddĕ] jsa käḍä śärna aysˈmūna
LLHL HLL ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
7.1cd pīsañā hvāṣṭä viśpaśarmä baˈlōdä
HLH HL ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
7.2ab cu ṣi viśpaśarmä gyastä biśūṃ tta ˈsaittä
LLHL HL ‖ HL LHLˈHL ‖
7.2cd śākyamunä [...] [...] m[is]ta v[i]mˈūha
HLLL
μμμ ‖μμμ HLLˈHL ‖7.3ab [t]ta [
[
7.3cd [.........] [...] sōṃdä yaˈnīndä 3
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ HLLˈHL ‖7.4ab cī ṣi’ vara tvānai prabhāvi ni ˈāya
HLLL HH ‖ L! HLLˈHL ‖
7.4cd ni juvĕ yuḍa yīndä mista tcarṣuva ˈkīrĕ 4
LLLLL HL ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
7.5ab nijsuṣṭai pīsañu śärä satvahiˈtāyä
LHH HLL ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
7.5cd biśiyĕ ysamaśa[ṃ]d[ai] ṣā gyastuvŏ ˈbrōrcu 5
LLLLL HH ‖ H HLLˈHL ‖
7.6ab daśta saña bvā[mata] [..........]
HLLL HLL ‖
μμ μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.6cd [.........] [......] yaˈnīndä 6
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμ LˈHL ‖7.7ab cu tvī saña mästa ttavaścaraṇa paˈrāhi
LHLL HL ‖ LH LLLLˈHL ‖
7.7cd cuvĕ karīttātä rrāśä hauva u ˈmu’śdä 7
LLLH HL ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
7.8ab śärä jñāṃnä tvānai pratäbānä u ˈttīśä
LLHL HH ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
7.8cd ni juvĕ hvatä yīdä ttu hirä harbäśä ˈhauna 8
LLLLL HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
7.9ab biśä aurrta kīrĕ mä[sta .......]
LLHL HL ‖ HL
μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.9cd [..........] [... mis]ta viˈmūha 9
μμμμμ μμμ ‖μμμ HLLˈHL ‖7.10ab tta tta thu ahivāysyai aysu pīsina ˈvaṃña
LLLLL HH ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
7.10cd satva paräpāchūṃ khu haṃdāḍa hiˈmārĕ 10
HLLL HH ‖ LL! HLLˈHL ‖
7.11ab cu burä pīsañyau jsa satva kīrä yaˈnīdä
LLLH LHL! ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
7.11cd cu vā ttyō kīryau haṃdāḍa uysˈnōra 11
LHH HH ‖ H HLLˈHL ‖
7.12ab biśu tti vainē[yā] [........]
LLLH HH ‖
μμ μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.12cd [.........] [bal]ysūśtu buˈvārĕ 12
μμμμμ μμμμ ‖ H HLLˈHL ‖7.13ab ttidirä utsāhä mistä cu tvī miˈḍānĕ
LLLH HL ‖ HL LHLˈHL ‖
7.13cd cu ṣi satvadhāttä biśĕ *haṃdāra ˈmu’śdä 13
LLHL HL ‖ HL LHLˈHL ‖
7.14ab pharu padiya biṣṭi cu tvī karu vē ˈā’rĕ
LLLLL HL ‖ LH LLH|ˈHL ‖
7.14cd sājīndä pīsañä śärĕ hvatä hvatä ˈvāmi 14
HHL HLL ‖ LL LLLLˈHL ‖
7.15ab [........] [........]
[
7.15cd [.....]ra satva biśūṃniya suha ˈdaindä 15
μμμμ L HL ‖ LH LLLLˈHL ‖7.16ab ci kē’ [sā]jīndä ggaraṇiśāstra ci ˈvātcu
LHH HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
7.16cd śākhĕ sājīndä tcamna satva saˈhōtta 16
HLH HL ‖ HL HLLˈHL ‖
7.17ab cu śära śära vāsta padīmārĕ praˈhōṇĕ
LLLLL HL ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖
7.17cd bisĕ āysirū[ṇĕ] [.........]
LLHL HL ‖
μμμ μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.18ab [...]upakāri kama jsa hvaṃḍä juˈvīndä
μμμ LL HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖7.18cd khāysä āstaṃna pattarra baṣṭarrä ˈbyūṃnä 18
HLH HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
7.19ab biśä satvadhāttä anau pīsu nä ˈjvīndä
LLHL HL ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖
7.19cd ṣā tvī hōva uhu jsa satva saˈhōtta 19
-HH HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
7.20ab balysa bū[...] [.........]
HLH
μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.20cd [
μμμ saṃkhā]rama pratäbiṃbā ˈbalysi 20
μμμ H HLL ‖ LL HH|ˈHL ‖7.21ab ttyānu āstaṃna cu buru śära śära ˈthāṃna
HLH HL ‖ LLL LLLLˈHL ‖
7.21cd pīsinau himiya ṣi tvī misti praˈbhāvi 21
HLH LLL ‖ LH HLLˈHL ‖
7.22ab ni juve yuḍä yīdä kīrĕ mara ×ta-ˈkṣīra
LLLLL HL ‖ HL LLLLˈHL ‖
7.22cd śära mista [...] [.........]
LLHL
μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.23ab [trisahasrya lōvi mahā]saharsrya ˈvīra
LLHL HL ‖ LH LHLˈHL ‖
7.23cd hamiyĕ kṣaṇu dāśśä paniyĕ pīsai ˈvīra 23
LLLLL HL ‖ LLL HH|ˈHL ‖
7.24ab vira bīka pīsā śära mulysjaṣṣĕ ˈrraṣṭa
LLHL HH ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
7.24cd ttā muhu jsa ttaṃdä pajsamu pārśu paˈjāysä 24
HLLL HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
7.25ab āstaṃna bōdhi—[carya ......]
HHL HL ‖ HL
μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.25cd [...] pārāmuvŏ kṣuvŏ tvī vara ˈbhāgä 25
μμμ H HLL ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖7.26ab *puṇyasaṃbhārä jñānasaṃbhārna ˈpuña
HLH HL ‖ HL LHLˈHL ‖
7.26cd cu rä himātĕ draiṇu ranānu vīra ttṛˈkālä 26
LLLHL! HL ‖ LHL! HLLˈHL ‖
7.27ab ṣē’ muhu jsa maṃgalä tvī tvāniyĕ ˈparṣĕ
HLLL HLL ‖ H HLLˈHL ‖
7.27cd ttū [......] [.........]
H
μμμ μμμ ‖μμμ μμμμ ˈμμμ ‖7.28ab kh[u tv]ī ttiru hōva rrāśä’ biśu vĕtĕ ˈmuśdä
LHLL HL ‖ HL LLLLˈHL ‖
7.28cd ttarē vēnēyai aysu trāya ma ˈbāḍu 28
LHH HH ‖ LL HLLˈHL ‖
7.29ab biśä thu yañä kīrĕ u biśä satva haˈdāra
LLLLL HL ‖ LLL HLLˈHL ‖
I refrain from giving a new translation, since that of Emmerick and Vorob’ëva-Desjatovskaja requires hardly any changes.
7.4b. One mora lacking. This could be corrected by adding an additional negative ni before prabhāvi.
7.9a. Bailey, DKS 47b, translates aurrta as ‘admired’, but his etymology is impossible. Mauro Maggi kindly informs me that Emmerick’s unpublished glossary to the St Petersburg texts indicates that the translation ‘*approved’ in SDTV3 is based on the idea that this is a LKh. spelling of oräta‑ (listed in SGS 11 as pp. of āvun‑ ‘to approve’, but see Sims-Williams and Sims-Williams 2023: 352).
7.10d. A metrical lightening of the pre-tonic syllable of haṃdāḍa seems to be required. No such lightening is attested in a 2-mora segment in Z (see Sims-Williams 2022: 63).
7.11a. pīsañyau jsa HLHL, metrically better OKh. pīsyau jsa HHL. Alternatively, Leumann corrected the metre by deleting jsa.
7.13a. utsāhä HHL. While the digraph ts generally counts as a single consonant [ʦh], in Indian words it can stand for [ts] as here (see Sims-Williams 2022: 27).
7.13d. *haṃdāra LHL, an instance of what I have named the ‘ttarandara-effect’ (Sims-Williams 2022: 52–53), is Leumann’s emendation for haṃdara. Cf. haˈdāra 29b.
7.19b. After nä there is a faint character which is read as vā in SDTV3. Perhaps it was deliberately effaced? At any rate it is metrically superfluous.
7.19c. As it stands, ṣā tvī appears to be a 4-mora segment replacing the standard 5-mora segment. While this is not an uncommon irregularity (Sims-Williams 2022: 66–67), it is possible that Leumann is right to emend ṣā to *ṣāṣa.
7.22b. Leumann reads the last word as hvata-kṣīra, but according to SDTV3 the first akṣara looks more like cū. If, as Leumann implies, the word is equivalent to hvatäna-kṣīra ‘the land of Khotan’ in Z5.114, the metre requires the emendation *hvana-kṣīra LLHL. The loss of the unstressed syllable tä or ta would be parallel to that attested by ranānu in 26d. According to Bailey and Emmerick, the LKh. form hvana‑ is already attested by hvanau ‘in the Khotanese language’ in Z1.189a, but this was correctly interpreted by Leumann as the acc. sg. of hvanaa‑ ‘speech, teaching’; see Maggi 2009: 156–157.
7.25ab. The caesura is represented by a compound- rather than a word-boundary, a usage which is rare but not unknown in Z (see Sims-Williams 2022: 17 n. 6).
7.25cd. The metre requires that the two loc. pl. forms pārāmuvŏ kṣuvŏ ‘the six pārāmitās’ HHLL ‖ LL are read thus, contracted from the underlying *pārāmätuvŏ’ kṣätuvŏ’. A somewhat similar case in Z is loc. pl. pätŏ’ LL ‘feet’ < *pätuvŏ’ LLL (Sims-Williams 2022: 31 with n. 46). Even closer, in terms of spelling, is ttuṣätŏ’/ttuṣuvŏ’ ‘among the Tuṣita gods’, but in Z these spellings always seem to stand for *ttuṣätuvŏ’ LLLL (see further ibid., 41 n. 82).
7.26a. The manuscript appears to have puṇyasaṃbhāraṃ. As Mauro Maggi kindly points out, Leumann’s reading (or emendation) puṇyasaṃbhārä makes sense if it is understood as an example of group inflection with the following instr.-abl. sg. jñānasaṃbhārna, a typical LKh. construction.
7.26b. saṃbhārna LHL is another instance of the ‘ttarandara-effect’. The reading of the following word as puña HL, which is required by the metre, departs from the usage of Z, where puña is always LL (Sims-Williams 2022: 87).
7.26c. The first segment is one mora too long. Leumann deletes rä ‘also’.
7.26d. In Z the gen. pl. of ratana‑ ‘jewel’ is always written ratanānu, but in Z12.24b the metre indicates that this must be read ratanānu LHL.13 Such a form could of course be written phonetically as ranānu. Here however, even ranānu is one mora too long. Leumann therefore assumes that it stands for ranāṃ or ranā LH. This would be a distinctively LKh. form, never found in Z, though there is a partial parallel in hämā, Z11.1, if this represents a shortening of 1 sg. subj. mid. hämānĕ as suggested by Emmerick, SGS 203.
7.28c. Both editions take tta re as two words. Leumann ingeniously suggests that re stands for *rrai < rrē + ‑ī ‘you are the king’. To me it seems more likely that ttarē stands for *ttarrai ‘thirsty’, thus: ‘I (am) a convert thirsty (for knowledge)’.
7.28d. The last two words (read by Leumann) are no longer legible according to SDTV3. Traces remain of several further hemistichs.
I see now that I overlooked at least one such text, the fragment Or. 12637/41, a Skt.-Khot. bilingual from the Guṇāparyantastotra of Triratnadāsa, parts of which are identified in Hartmann–Chen 2017 as being in metre C.
Sims-Williams 2024: 558; 2023: 99–100.
Sims-Williams 2023: 102.
Sims-Williams 2023: 102–103.
See Sims-Williams 2022. A few additional metre B passages from Z are analysed in Sims-Williams 2024a (IOL Khot 21/4, r1–4, possibly the end of Z21a), forthcoming a (IOL Khot 161/1, a ‘list of sūtras’, presumably from a chapter preceding Z1; cf. also IOL Khot 25/9, which clearly belongs to the same chapter but is too small for a metrical analysis to be useful) and forthcoming b (IOL Khot 161/5, now identified as part of Z19).
Sims-Williams 2023 includes the following passages in metre B from the Saṃghāṭa-sūtra: § 5.41–44 (Sgh 99), § 7 (Sgh 213), § 8 (Sgh 214), § 9 (Sgh 243), § 10 (Sgh 244)(?), § 12 (unlocated).
Note the following conventions: H = heavy syllable, L = light syllable, L = heavy syllable with metrical lightening,
Thus Skjærvø 2002, but the online photos are numbered IOL Khot 28/12–14.
The noun daji‑ f. ‘flame’ is attested several times in Z. The entry ‘daja‑ m.’ in Emmerick 2024: 147 seems to be a slip (for which I, as one of the editors, must share the responsibility).
On the likelihood that other chapters preceded what we know as ‘Chapter 1’ see Sims-Williams forthcoming a.
Bailey reads the first three akṣaras as ‑ū -t- -ä, Skjærvø as śś- st- yä.
Cf. Sims-Williams 2022: 68–69 with n. 137.
Cf. also nom.-acc. pl. ratana LL, Z22.203b.
References
Bailey, Harold Walter. 1963. Indo-Scythian Studies, being Khotanese Texts, Volume V. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (= KT5).
Bailey, Harold Walter. 1979. Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (= DKS).
Del Tomba, Alessandro. 2024. ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Khotanese ysare “old age”, śve “dog” and the development of *-u̯āh.’ Die Sprache 56: 149–162.
DKS = Bailey 1979.
Emmerick, Ronald E. 1965. ‘Syntax of the cases in Khotanese.’ BSOAS 28/1: 24–33.
Emmerick, Ronald E. 1968. Saka grammatical studies. London: Oxford University Press (= SGS).
Emmerick, Ronald E. 2024. A Handbook of Khotanese (Beiträge zur Iranistik 51, ed. Mauro Maggi, John S. Sheldon & Nicholas Sims-Williams). Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Emmerick, Ronald E., & Prods Oktor Skjærvø. 1997. Studies in the vocabulary of Khotanese III. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (= SVK3).
Emmerick, Ronald E., & Margarita I. Vorob’ëva-Desjatovskaja. 1995. Saka Documents Text Volume III: The St. Petersburg collections. London: School of Oriental and African Studies (= SDTV3).
Hartmann, Jens-Uwe, & Ruixuan Chen. 2017. ‘Eine khotanische Bilingue aus Triratnadāsas Guṇāparyantastotra.’ In Zur lichten Heimat. Studien zu Manichäismus, Iranistik und Zentralasienkunde im Gedenken an Werner Sundermann (Iranica 25), 211–220. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Hitch, Doug. 1990. ‘Old Khotanese synchronic umlaut.’ Indo-Iranian Journal 33: 177–198.
KT5 = Bailey 1963.
Leumann, Ernst. 1920. Buddhistische Literatur, Nordarisch und Deutsch. 1. Teil: Nebenstücke. Leipzig: Brockhaus.
Leumann, Ernst. 1933–1936. Das nordarische (sakische) Lehrgedicht des Buddhismus (ed. M. Leumann). Leipzig: Brockhaus.
Leumann, Manu. 1967. ‘Neue Fragmente des altkhotanischen “Lehrgedichts”.’ ZDMG 117: 366–375.
Maggi, Mauro. 2009. ‘Annotations on the Book of Zambasta, I.’ In Literarische Stoffe und ihre Gestaltung in mitteliranischer Zeit. Kolloquium anlässlich des 70. Geburtstags von Prof. Dr. W. Sundermann (Beiträge zur Iranistik 31, ed. D. Durkin-Meisterernst et al.), 153–171. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Maggi, Mauro. 2019. ‘Morphology of the Khotanese verbs in ‑Vṣ‑.’ Linguistica e Filologia 39: 43–62.
SDTV3 = Emmerick–Vorob’ëva-Desjatovskaja 1995.
SGS = Emmerick 1968.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2022. The Book of Zambasta: Metre and stress in Old Khotanese (Beiträge zur Iranistik 49). Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2023. ‘Metrical passages in the Khotanese Saṃghāṭa-sūtra.’ IIJ 66/2: 97–126.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2023a. ‘Two more fragmentary folios from the Book of Zambasta?’ Journal of the Dunhuang and Turfan Studies (Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu) 22: 1–13.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2024. ‘Further texts in the Old Khotanese “metre C”.’ Studia Indica 1: 547–565.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2024a. ‘A missing chapter of the Book of Zambasta.’ In Siddham. Studies in Iranian philology in honour of Mauro Maggi (Beiträge zur Iranistik 52, ed. Gerardo Barbera et al.), 409–416. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas, forthcoming a. ‘Reconstructing the Book of Zambasta: the Role of “Missing Evidence”.’
Sims-Williams, Nicholas, forthcoming b. ‘Straiya-parivāra, the “section on women”: Chapter 19 of the Book of Zambasta.’
Sims-Williams, Nicholas, & Ursula Sims-Williams. 2023. ‘Two new folios of the Book of Zambasta.’ In Śāntamatiḥ. Manuscripts for Life—Essays in Memory of Seishi Karashima (ed. Noriyuki Kudo), 347–363. Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University.
Skjærvø, Prods Oktor. 2002. Khotanese manuscripts from Chinese Turkestan in the British Library. A complete catalogue with texts and translations. London: British Library.
Skjærvø, Prods Oktor. 2004. This most excellent shine of gold, king of kings of sutras: The Khotanese Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra, 2 vols. Cambridge MA: Harvard University.
SVK3 = Emmerick–Skjærvø 1997.
