Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 6. (Budapest, 1963)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Kovács, György: Pancamahäraksäsüträni „The Sütra-s of the Five Great Protectors". A Description of the Manuscript

another five the five Raksä-s

5 in such a manner that the Jina-s occupy always the verso, the Raksä-s the recto (of the following page), thus pages 2/6, 37/6, 75/6, 131/6 and 153/6. There is also a miniature on page láO/a (Fig. 11), doubtlessly depicting the persons who ordered the manuscript as pious donors:

6 two men on the right and the left of a stüpa. In 1924 the manuscript, a gift of Imre Schwaiger, was brought from London to Budapest by Zoltán Felvinczi Takáts, then Director of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, along with other gift objects. We possess no information as to the circumstances under which it came abroad from Nepal. From the fact that at several places of the colophon (lines 3,4, 5 of page 141/a, 1 and 5 of page 142/6) entire words were made illegible through a regular deletion, we can conclude that the manuscript was sold or perhaps donated abroad. Unfortunately these deletions, which show traces of a later endeavour to polish them, make the investigation of its origin more difficult, although to a certain degree the colophons of the manuscripts may aid in determining the economic and social conditions of medieval Nepal.

7 According to the number of the Raksä-s the manuscript is divided into five parts and a colophon as follows: 1. The sütra of Mahäpratisarä : pp. I ja

— 36/6 2. The sütra of Mahäsähasrapramardani : pp. 36/«— 75/6 3. The sütra of Mahämäyüri : pp. 75/a

—130/6 4. The sütra of Mahäsitavati : pp. 130/a—

134/6 5. The sütra of Mahämantränusärini : pp. 134/a

—141/6 Colophon: pp. 141/6—143/a The final sentences of the individual sütra-s are not quite identical. Here we cannot deal with them or with the detailed division of the text. The sentence ending all the five sütra-s begins with the first line of page 141/6 and reads as follows : } ;

Äryamahäpratisarä Äryamahäsähasrapramarddani Ärj^amahämäyüri Aryamahâsïtavatî Äryamahämantränusärani etäni pancamahäraksäsüträni samäptäh." (,,The sütra-s of the Noble Great Pratisarä, the Noble Great Sähasrapramarddani, the Noble Great Mäyüri, the Noble Great áitavati, the Noble Great Mantränusärim, of these Five Great Protectors, are ended.") Data regarding the donors, monastery etc. follow from the third line of the same page, then the details of the time when the manuscript was painted, containing the following description of the year: „Subha samvat 795 . . ." i. e., 1675 A. D. The name of the actual ruling Nepalese King: „árí-sri Jayanripendra Maua x x . . ." occurs too; the span of his reign is known by some references to the date. The mentioned part of the colophon of our manuscript seems to complete the chronology of Jayanripendra Malla, King of Kathmandu, hy an additional date.

8 Finally the place where the manuscript was written is given in the following part of the colophon: „Likhitayam Sayavanagare Sayavatorake Sayavavihäre ..." (

fj Written in the city ofSayava . . .").

9 Unfortunately the material available in the libraries did not enable us to identify the city and the monastery named in the colophon. GYÖRGY KOVÁCS