A Paleographical Study on a Palm-leaf Manuscript of Prajñākaramati's Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā (ZX0617-ZB20)

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

In recent years, a palm-leaf manuscript (ZX0617-ZB20) version of Prajñākaramati’s (c. 10–11th century) Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā (BCAP) preserved in the TAR became available to scholars worldwide. While it has since received considerable attention, this newly discovered palm-leaf manuscript remains something of a mystery. We have, for instance, considered issues such as manuscript’s unorthodox pagination, the seemingly arbitrary insertion within manuscript ZX0617-ZB20 of a leaf taken from the Saṃghāṭasūtra. We are also interested in the fact that the script seems to not have been written by one hand, but by various scribes. This paper concentrates on the latter issue, concentrating on the paleographic features of the manuscript to conduct an examination of the varied characteristics of the handwriting. Using these paleographic methods, this piece seeks to attribute these ascribed script variations to their respective sources so as to extrapolate some further conclusions on the processes involved in the manuscript’s transcription. (Source Accessed July 23, 2026)

Citation

Wang, Junqi. "A Paleographical Study on a Palm-leaf Manuscript of Prajñākaramati's Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā (ZX0617-ZB20)." Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku (Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū) 72, no. 3 (2024): 1070-1076.

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1 Scholarship on

Prajñākaramati (ཤེས་རབ་འབྱུང་གནས་བློ་གྲོས་). Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā [बोधिचर्यावतारपञ्जिका]. byang chub kyi spyod pa la 'jug pa'i dka' 'grel [བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ།]. [A Commentary on the Difficult Points of (Śāntideva’s) "Entering into the Deeds of a Bodhisattva" (84000)]. Translated by Gnyan lo tsA ba, Sumatikīrti, Mar pa do pa chos kyi dbang phyug. Tengyur, RKTST 3217 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3217&typ=2.

Classical WorksAbout this item

Written by Prajñākaramati (950–1030), the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā is considered to be the most important Indian commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāraby Śāntideva. This commentary explains the words in the verses (tshig 'grel), with additional commentaries on difficult points. Excluding The Dedication Chapter, it has only nine chapters.