Work in progress

PK NS 398

Known as:PK NS 398; Pelliot Koutchéen Nouvelle Série 395; DA 1
Cite this page as:Georges-Jean Pinault; Hannes A. Fellner (collaborator). "PK NS 398". 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-pkns398 (accessed 20 May 2025).

Edition

Editor:Georges-Jean Pinault; Hannes A. Fellner (collaborator)
Date of online publication:2014-08

Provenience

Main find spot:Duldur-akur
Specific find spot:DA, angle ouest de la grande cour
Expedition code:DA, Grd. cour, angle ouest 30,4; M 496,39
Collection:Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds Pelliot Koutchéen (Paris)

Language and Script

Language:TB
Linguistic stage:classical
Script:classical

Text contents

Title of the work:Mahāprabhāsa-Avadāna
Text genre:Literary
Text subgenre:Jātaka/Avadāna
Verse/Prose:prose; verse
Meter:4343 (4x)

Object

Manuscript:Mahāprabhāsa-Avadāna
Material: ink on paper
Form:Poṭhī
Size (h × w):7.8 × max. 21.5/min. 20.3 cm
Number of lines:4
Interline spacing:1.7 cm

Images

Images from gallica.bnf.fr by courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Pelliot koutchéen.

Transliteration

a1/// – yā mo rnta ñi tkā re ne spa lkā te ne ra mno a ra ñce rī meṃ la ntsi • wa rtto¯ ¯ś
a2/// • || tu meṃ ma hā pra bhā se wa lo ha stā ṅku śeṃ kā ka we ñā ne¯ ¯ś pkā la
a3/// [ma] kcau smāṃ tā ka¯ ¯t a nai śai ya yā tau ce¯ ¯u o ṅko lmai pkā la¯ ¯ñä ma
a4/// rtto ne wī na sa lna skau • || o mno ha stā ṅku śe ṣa le me n❠¯k a rkwi
b1/// te • we ñā ne¯ ¯ś ña kta se o ṅko lmo ya yā tau śpā lmeṃ o lya po tstse
b2/// (·)w(·) pre ke ai śtra • || tu meṃ ma hā pra bhā se wa lo o ṅko lmai sa lmau rī meṃ
b3/// ve śne || śtwa rā yä kne we rtsyai mpa la csu wa lo wa rtto ne : ṣa le me n❠¯k wa kī
b4/// mn[o] śle swa ñcaiṃ gra ha nma sa wa wā [r]pau : maṃ¯ ¯nt ta sā te cau pre ke a mā ci ṣṣai we

Transcription

a1n1 /// (krenta) yāmornta ñitkāre-ne spalkāte-ne ram no arañce rīmeṃ lantsiwarttoś
a2/// • ॥ tumeṃ mahāprabhāse walo hastāṅkuśeṃ kāka weñā-neś pkāla
a3/// mäkcau smāṃ tākat anaiśai yayātau ceu oṅkolmai pkāla-ñ mä¬
a4(kte) /// (wa)rttone wīnasa lnaskau • ॥ om no hastāṅkuśe ṣale menāk arkwi¬
b1(-yok) /// °teweñā-neś ñakta se oṅkolmo yayātau śpālmeṃ olyapotstse
b2/// (sas)w(e) preke aiśträ • ॥ tumeṃ mahāprabhāse walo oṅkolmaisa lmau rīmeṃ
b3n2 /// (vanapra)veśne
1aśtwarā-yäkne wertsyaimpa ; lac su walo warttone :
1bṣale menāk wakīb4(tse) ;
1c/// (meñe) (ra)m no śle swañcaiṃ ; grahanmasa wawārpau :
1dmaṃnt tasāte cau preke ; amāciṣṣai we (rtsyaimpa)

Translation

a1... the (good?) acts held him off, but his heart strove him to go out of the city as it were. To the forest ...
a2Thereupon the king Mahāprabhāsa summoned Hastāṅkuśa [and] said to him: Bring (the elephant)!
a3... whichever test, [if] you carefully tamed it, bring this elephant to me, in order to ...
a4... I am going out into the forest with pleasure. Here then Hastāṅkuśa (brought the elephant) with white colored [skin] like the mountain.
b1... he did ... [and] he said to him: O lord, this elephant is very excellently tamed ...
b2... the lord knows the time ... Thereupon the king Mahāprabhāsa having sat on the elephant (went) out of the city.
b3In the [tune] vanapraveśa: This king leaves for the forest with a fourfold company, being excellent like the mountain,
b4and like the moon together with its rays surrounded by the planets, thus he appeared together with the company of ministers.

Other

a1Die Taten hielten ihn fern, sein Herz [aber] bemühte sich gleichsam, aus der Stadt herauszugehen. (Schmidt 1974: 176)
a2Darauf rief König Mahāprabhāsa den Hastāṅkuśa [und] sprach zu ihm. (Schmidt 1974: 380)
a3Whatever repetition you may have done, if it is well tamed, bring me that elephant, ... (cf 178–186) (Peyrot 2013b: 708)
a3[Wenn] ... er sorgfältig gezähmt [ist], [so] bringe mir den Elefanten! (Schmidt 1974: 389)
b4W(ie der Mond) mit [seinen] Strahlen, von Planeten umgeben, so nahm er [scil. König Mahāprabhāsa] sich zu der Zeit (in bzw. mit) [seinem] Ministergef(olge) aus. (Schmidt 1974: 289)

Commentary

Remarks

*Fragments PK NS 34, PK NS 37 (including 38), m-pkns144 and PK NS 398 belong to the same manuscript. The fragment is the right part of a leaf including the right margin which is mostly preserved. The fragment is generally in good condition.

Philological commentary

n1The remnants of the ligature that precedes yāmornta are compatible with the restoration nta.
n2The complete name of the tune is Skt. vanapraveśa-; it is 4x14 syllables and the rhythm is 7/7.

References

Edition

Lévi 1925: 305-307; Pinault 1988a: 179-186

Translations

Peyrot 2013b: a3 (708); Schmidt 1974: a1 (176), a2 (380), a3 (389), b4 (289)

Bibliography

Lévi 1925

Lévi, Sylvain. 1925. “Le Sūtra du Sage et du Fou dans la littérature de l’Asie Centrale.” Journal Asiatique 207/2: 305–32.

Peyrot 2013b

Peyrot, Michaël. 2013b. The Tocharian subjunctive. A study in syntax and verbal stem formation. Vol. 8. Brill’s Studies in Indo-European Languages & Linguistics. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

Pinault 1988a

Pinault, Georges-Jean. 1988a. “Révision des fragments en tokharien B de la légende de Mahāprabhāsa.” In Studia Indogermanica et Slavica. Festgabe für Werner Thomas zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Peter Kosta, Gabriele Lerch, and Peter Olivier, 175–210. München: Sagner.

Schmidt 1974

Schmidt, Klaus T. 1974. “Die Gebrauchsweisen des Mediums im Tocharischen.” PhD, Universität Göttingen.