A Brief Introduction to Two Manuscripts of Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā Found in Tibet

Abstract

There are two Sanskrit manuscripts of Kṣemendra’s Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā preserved at Drepung Monastery in Tibet. The earlier one (according to the colophon) contains all the 108 avadānas comprising the whole text, while the later one only includes the last 61 avadānas. In this paper, we compare and analyse two paratextual elements of the extant versions, namely, pallava-endings and prologue, in order to know how frequently the translator Shong ton Rdo rje rgyal mtshan and the redactor Zha lu lotsāva Chos skyong bzang po used these two manuscripts.