Abstract:
This is an analytical study of the Sanskrit manuscripts of the śatasahasrikā
Prajñpāramitā (SP) – the largest available Prajñpāramitā-sūtra – preserved in
university libraries in Japan. Of this huge work, only two parts have been
published so far, i.e. Prajñpāramitā (Pratāpacandra Ghosha, 1902) and a part of the
Dvitīya-khanda (Takayasu Kimura, 2009 – 2014). The remaining larger part is still
available in MSS form. Even the published portions are not critical editions.
Hence, this study focuses on examining the nature of available material for the
restoration of SP in its original form. A very rare leaf MS of the Dvitīya-khanda of
SP is preserved in the library of the Faculty of Letters of the Kyushu University in
Western Japan. This MS (Q) is considered to be the oldest available source of all
MSS of SP. One paper MS (K) is preserved in the Kyoto University library while
two more paper MSS (T1 and T2) are preserved in the Tokyo University library.
When these four MSS are compared with the Chinese and Tibetan versions, the
text of Q is proved to be more accurate. K, T1 and T2 contain the entire text of SP,
yet need to be edited in the light of older texts of Q and Lhasa MS (L) (available at
Beijing University). In the restoration of SP that represent a significant phase of
the development of Buddhist Thought and expansion of Buddhist literature in
Sanskrit (prior to translation into Chinese and Tibetan), we need to establish the
historicity of the available material on philological basis. The results of an initial
investigation are presented here for careful perusal and constructive comments.
