Sanskrit Fragments of Mahāprajñāpāramitā (SI 2097, SI 3017, SI 3331/5) in the Serindia Collection (IOM RAS)

Abstract

The present paper deals with the previously unstudied Sanskrit manuscript fragments of Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra (“Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom in 25 000 lines”), kept in the St. Petersburg Serindia Collection (IOM RAS) under the call numbers within the “N.F. Petrovsky Subcollection” (SI 2097, SI 3017) and the “M.I. Lav­rov Subcollection” (SI 3331/5). Sharing a set of codicological and paleographic features the two new fragments SI 3017 and the fragment SI 2097 are attested to be the parts of a single pothi-type folio of paper containing the sutra’s Sanskrit text recorded in the so-called South Turkestan Brāhmī script. The paleography allows to trace the origin of the manuscript localizing it to Khotan and dating it to the 8th–9th cc. AD. The uniqueness of another Prajñāpāramitā fragment (SI 3331/5) lies in the fact that it belongs to the most ancient examples of Sanskrit manuscripts copied directly in Khotan, and, therefore, to the oldest Prajñāpāramitā texts written on Central Asian paper in the so-called Early Turkestan Brāhmī script variation used for recording Buddhist texts in the 5th–6th cc. AD in Serindia. This paper includes a description of the fragments, transliteration, correspondences with the critical edition, an English translation and a facsimile.