QUERY> Identifying Pandita Manaviharala (Kragh)

[Christian K. Wedemeyer]

Hej, Ulrich! Går det godt med dej?

This is unscientific--and perhaps entirely anachronistic--but since  
you are urgently in need, I figured I'd give it a go:

The end of the name, I would suggest, is more than likely Bihāralāla.  
Nowadays, it would be pronounced Bihār Lāl.  "Lāl" is a pretty  
common name, to this day. (Consider the early 17th century Hindi poet  
Bihārī Lāl.)

The beginning is more difficult, perhaps. It could refer to a  
particular vihāra (bāhāḥ), but I don't know of one by that name.  
It is possible that it could be a vihāra founded by (a) Mānadeva,  
which was known as "Mānavihāra." But, my hunch is that it is in fact  
māna, but for another reason. Māna ("Mān" today) is also a commonly  
occurring name in that region (e.g the contemporary Nepali politician  
Gopal Man Shrestha [gopālamāna śreṣṭha]).

I'm not at all confident these names were current in the period you're  
talking about (I don't see anything like it in the few inscriptions I  
have to hand), but anyway, that's my hypothesis: Mānavihāralāla (or,  
in a contemporary idiom, Mān Bihār Lāl).

Sorry to say I have no idea who he was.

Med venlig hilsen,

Christian


On Aug 21, 2009, at 7:47 PM, H-Buddhism wrote:

> Subject: Identifying Pandita Manaviharala
> Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:15:45 +0200
> From: Ulrich T. Kragh <utkragh at hum.ku.dk>
>
> Dear List-members,
>
> I would like help with deciphering an Indian name and possibly  
> obtain any information on the person behind this name.
>
> I am currently studying the history of the Tibetan translation of  
> lakSmIMkarA's Sahajasiddhipaddhati (Derge 2261, Peking 3108; no  
> Sanskrit text extant). The Tibetan translator 'Bro LotsA ba Shes rab  
> Grags (11th century) made this translation in collaboration with an  
> Indian scholar (Tib. rgya gar gyi mkhan po), and it is this Indian  
> scholar that I am trying to identify.
>
> The first problem I have is to identify the proper form of the name  
> of the Indian/Nepalese scholar, who probably was a Buddhist monk.  
> The syntax of the sentence clearly only allows for this name to be  
> interpreted as a personal name. Here is the Tibetan colophon of the  
> text in which the name occurs:
>
> rgya gar gyi mkhan po chen po ma na bi ha ra la dang/ bod kyi  
> lotstsha ba dge slong pradzny'a k'irtis legs par mnyan nas bsgyur pa  
> lags so//
>
>  The name I wish to understand is the Tibetan word "ma na bi ha ra  
> la."
>

--
Christian K. Wedemeyer
Assistant Professor of the History of Religions
University of Chicago Divinity School
1025 E 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
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