A 47

Known as:	A 47; THT 680
Cite this page as:	Gerd Carling; Fanny Meunier; Michaël Peyrot. "A 47". In A Comprehensive Edition of Tocharian Manuscripts (CEToM). Created and maintained by Melanie Malzahn, Martin Braun, Hannes A. Fellner, and Bernhard Koller. https://cetom.univie.ac.at/?m-a47 (accessed 12 Jun. 2026).
Edition
Editor:	Gerd Carling; Fanny Meunier; Michaël Peyrot
Date of online publication:	2013-10-04
Provenience
Main find spot:	Shorchuk
Specific find spot:	Stadthöhle
Expedition code:	T III Š 95.03
Collection:	Berlin Turfan Collection
Language and Script
Language:	TA
Script:	classical
Text contents
Title of the work:	Unknown Avadāna
Passage:	Gaṇitasthāna
Text genre:	Literary
Text subgenre:	Jātaka/Avadāna
Verse/Prose:	prose; verse
Object
Manuscript:	A 1-54
Material:	ink on paper
Form:	Poṭhī
Number of lines:	6

Transliteration

///

a1	n1 n2 näṣ mā (śtwarā)k p_ukaṃ n· ///
a2	känt mahākalpa(ñ) /// (gaṇi)¬
a3	¬tasthānaṃ n3 klyaṃträ • we ///
a4	(tā)keñc päñcäṃ ga(ṇitasthānaṃ) ///
a5	– (ṣa)kkats klyaṃträ • lakṣ – ///
a6	– ·o (t)m(a)n-äkk ats klyaṃt(rä) ///
b1	– – – ptāñkät käṣṣiṃ o ///
b2	– – ntaṃ yāmluneyo s(k)a(mat) ///
b3	n4 (ci)ñcraṃ wramnaśśäl /// (śa)¬
b4	¬lpal puk tri āpāy(tw)aṃ ///
b5	l klopäṣ : tämyo /// (tanne)
b6	wkä(ny)o (ptā)ñkät käṣ(ṣ)i ///

a1	... from ... not 40 in all ...
a1+	... hundred Mahākalpas ...
a2+	... they stand in the ... gaṇitasthāna.
a3	Two ...
a3+	... if there are ..., (they stand in) the fifth Gaṇitasthāna ...
a4+	... certainly they stand (in) ... 100,000 ...
a5+	... stand exactly at that moment.
a6+	... the Buddha, the teacher ...
b1+	... by doing always ...
b2+	... together with lovely things ...
b3+	... to be redeemed ... in all three bad incarnations ...
b4+	... from sorrow.
b5	Therefore ...
b5+	... in (this) way the Buddha, the teacher ...

*	Transcription and references have been transferred from the "Text and Reference Database of the Tocharian A Language" (Gerd Carling Lund University) (funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and SCAS).
*	Transcription and translation are based on Carling et al. 2009.

*	General note: The key word in the technical passage on the recto is the term Gaṇitasthāna, which denotes different levels in high numbers; in Tocharian A, we find A 18 a3 kaśaṣi lame 'number place'. It is used to structure the large number of Mahākalpas that makes one Asaṃkhyeya "uncountable" period. The first Gaṇitasthāna contains 1 to 9 Mahākalpas, the second 10 to 99, the third 100 to 999, etc. There are in total sixty Gaṇitasthānas, which correspond to the list of powers of ten in Mvy. (Sakaki) 7988 - 8048. The division of an Asaṃkhyeya into Mahākalpas is discussed in Abhidh-k (de La Vallée Poussin 1923: vol. 2, p. 189-190 = ch.3, 93d), where sthāna instead of the more technical Gaṇitasthāna is used (the Chinese has chù 處). Compare also a similar passage in A 18 a1-b1.
n1	näṣ: probably an ablative, perhaps (gaṇitasthā)näṣ.
n2	(śtwarā)k: this tentative restoration, one of the very few that are palaeographically possible, would fit the second Gaṇitasthāna. The concept of 40 Mahākalpas is also found in A 289 a6.
n3	we: probably we wälts '2,000' (if in the fourth Gaṇitasthāna), less likely we tmāṃ '20,000' (if in the fifth Gaṇitasthāna).
n4	wramnaśśäl: a vowel ä has been erased above mna. After l_\ a piece of paper has been glued upon the fragment, apparently for repair.