Korean dhaaraNii text

[Dan Lusthaus]

It looks like Siddham script, still used in Japan for mantras and dharanis.

See http://www.omniglot.com/writing/siddham.htm and
http://visiblemantra.org/alphabet.html

Prof. Kim can either try to decipher the text using the sites above (the
hard way), or find a specialist in Shingon Buddhism who might recognize the
dharanis (the easy way).

Dan Lusthaus

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Asko Parpola" <asko.parpola at HELSINKI.FI>
To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 3:07 AM
Subject: Korean dhaaraNii text


> Professor Kim Juwon from the Seoul National University has sent me a
> sample of a dhaaraNii text printed in Korea in the 18th century,
> asking for help in identifying the script and transcribing parts of
> the text. This is not my field of expertise, and I cannot easily do
> what he asks, but I trust there are members of the Indology list who
> can fairly easily read this siddham script and identify the text -- 
> may I ask for your help? Thanks to Dominik Wujastyk and Richard
> Mahoney for mounting the sample on the indology.info server:
>
>   http://indology.info/temp/Parpola_Korean_Dharani_1.jpg
>
> With best regards,
>
> Asko Parpola, University of Helsinki
>