Appositions with multiple attributes of a deity are a common feature in the prayer liturgies of Indian traditions. Sanskrit liturgical literature often extols the merit of the deity concerned, and these compositions are referred to as Namamala and Nama Sangiti. The Namamala and Stotra literature evolved over time, taking various forms among Indians engaged in idol worship. Through this evolution, Namamala and Stotra literature became an established form of metrical composition.
The present work, Buddhanama-sahasra pancasata-tripancadasa which contains 5,453 names of Gautama the Buddha enumerates thousands of appositions that highlight the excellence of the Buddha Tathagata, though its original Sanskrit form is now lost. Appositions with multiple attributes of the Buddha as a deity were a common liturgical practice in Buddhist texts, aligning with the broader Indian tradition.
This text is found in the Sutra Varga of the Kanjur canonical collection of the Tibetan Tripitaka, and its authenticity as the Buddhavacana (the words of Gautama the Buddha) is affirmed by the Tibetan tradition. This work will be of significant interest to scholars and general readers, particularly those focused on Buddhist Studies.
Dr. Archana Ray completed her M.A. in Linguistics with a specialization in Tibeto Burman from the University of Calcutta. She holds a doctorate in Tibetan Manuscript Studies (Critical Appreciation) from Jadavpur University and has completed a one-year certificate course in Manuscriptology, along with a P.G. Diploma in Tibetan Language from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Dr. Ray began her career as a cataloguer of Tibetan manuscripts at the University of Calcutta. She currently works at the Asiatic Society, where she serves as a cataloguer. Her contributions include compiling a volume of the Descriptive Catalogue of Tibetan Indigenous Manuscripts, a classified catalogue of Siamese books, and a focus on Buddhist Studies. She also compiled Land of Snow Gang Gyul in Tibet, a bibliography of Buddhist studies published by the Asiatic Society, as well as A Heap of Oral Radiation (A critical edition with English translation of the manuscript Kha-tor-rin-chen-phun-po by Gyu-thog-yon-tan-mgon-po). Additionally, she has worked on a classified catalogue of the Vaisnava Manuscripts in Sanskrit and Bengali, which is yet to be published.
The Manuscript is an attempt to study Buddha-nama-Samgiti, preserved in Tibetan Tripitaka SDE-SNOD-GSUM¹, Kanjur (mdo-sde sutra) Buddhavacana Collection². The text reads in Sanskrit title Buddha-nama-sahasra-pancasata-catura-tripancadasa (5453), Tibetan title Sans-rgyas-kyi-mtshan-Ina-ston bzi-brgya lna-bcu-rtsa gsum-pa, i.e. five thousand four hundred fifty-three names of Buddha. The present study is primarily based on the Sde-ge edition of the Kanjur collected from the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies. In scrutiny, however, the title for enumerating (5453) does not tally with names found in the Tibetan Text. In that case, it is suggested to retitle it as Buddha-Nama-Samgiti like Manjusri-Nama-Samgiti. Manjusri-Nama-Samgiti³ is available in Sanskrit, and its bilingual edition has already been published. Its Tibetan version is also preserved in the Kanjur (rgyud Tantra) Buddhavacana collection. The bilingual edition has been published by Calcutta University and edited by Vidhusekhar Bhattacharya. Lokesh Chandra also edited the same with Tibetan and Mongolian versions. But the Sanskrit version of the Buddha-Nama-Samgiti is lost. Keeping in view the importance of Stotra and Namamala literature, the Tibetans preserved text named Buddha-Nama-Samgiti (BNS) having five thousand four hundred fifty-three appositions of Tathagata that shows the spread of the Stotra literature tradition inside India and abroad. The Tibetan text has been reconstructed by comparing the five editions, namely PKG (Peeking edition), S.D. (Sde-ge edition), S.N. (Snar-than edition), Bris-ma (Bris-ma edition) and Lh(Lhasa edition). Among the five editions used here, the xylograph of Sde-ge has been the mother's recension since the Sde-ge edition was accepted as more corrected versions than others. In the time context, the PKG edition xylograph appears to be older than the S.N. and the Sde-Ge edition However, the Tibetan manuscriptology Sde-Ge edition is accepted to be re-revised.
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