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 09 Dec. 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
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
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 ... |
| a2 | Thereupon 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. |
| b3 | In the [tune] vanapraveśa: This king leaves for the forest with a fourfold company, being excellent like the mountain, |
| b4 | and like the moon together with its rays surrounded by the planets, thus he appeared together with the company of ministers. |
Other
| a1 | Die Taten hielten ihn fern, sein Herz [aber] bemühte sich gleichsam, aus der Stadt herauszugehen. (Schmidt 1974: 176) |
| a2 | Darauf rief König Mahāprabhāsa den Hastāṅkuśa [und] sprach zu ihm. (Schmidt 1974: 380) |
| a3 | Whatever 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) |
| b4 | W(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), PK NS 144 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
| n1 | The remnants of the ligature that precedes yāmornta are compatible with the restoration nta. |
| n2 | The 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.