Three Fragments of an Oirat <i>Sungdui</i> Manuscript in the Collection of the IOM, RAS

Abstract

The paper introduces three fragments of an Oirat manuscript of the Sungdui, or Collected Dharani, preserved at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts. The fragments became part of the collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the 18th c., but had not been described until 2022. The manuscript is of special value, as only three other specimens of the Sungdui in Clear Script have been accounted for (these three manuscripts are preserved in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia). The St. Petersburg fragments come from a manuscript that was created between 1748 and 1795, presumably, in the Kalmyk Khanate. The dates were established based on the watermark found on the paper of one of the folios, and an inscription that was left on the same folio by Johannes Jhrig, the first scholar to catalogue the Mongolian and Tibetan collection of the Academy. In this paper, the text of the folios is published along with a commentary on the content and possible origin of the manuscript.