Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.

[Petr Mares]

> Perhaps the word is "yathA labdhaM". It can be the comment by a scribe
> saying that he has copied whatever has come to his hands. This may imply
> that that the scribe does not believe either what ha has got is the full
> text or what he has got is the correct text. This just a guess I am making
> for whatever it is worth.

That is what I meant. All the other MahAyAna scriptures I have
seen have somewhat uniform endings. These two are basically not
ending (Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa and La.NkAvatAra). The word "yathA
labdhaM" fits for them (as you suggest) but it is strange that the
scribe did not add the standard ending as most scribes probably
will ( I have not seen yathA labdhaM in any other MahAyAna
sUtra).  It is another case with GaNdavyUha which is ending in
ussual way and is also complete and systematic as whole.
La.NkAvatAra is basically compilation of fragments. Can someone
give some comments or referece on Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa - its
structure, content and textual history?
>
> >From the later half of the 5th century to the first half of the sixth
> century there were Pallava coquests of earstwhile Buddhist regions of
> Andhra and they vandalised Buddhist sites like nAgArjunakoMDa. Perhaps
> they destroyed Buddhist literature also. In such a case such a comment by
> the scribe will be meaningful.

Are there any other mahAyAna manuscripts in south indian scripts?
Is La.NkAvatAra mentioned in any old Tamil literature? From the
non-buddhist Sanskrit literature I only have seen quotes from
La.NkAvatAra in sarvadar/SanasaNgraha of mAdhavAcArya written
in fourteen cent. (in the chapter on Bauddhadar/Sana). Does
anybody know any other ancient non-Buddhist literature that
quotes Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa or La.NkAvatAra?

Sincerely

Petr Mares


Petr Mares
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