Life and works of Alexander Csoma de Körös : $b A biography compiled chiefly from hitherto unpublished dataDuka, Tivadar
History
Life and works of Alexander Csoma de Körös : $b A biography compiled chiefly from hitherto unpublished data
Duka, Tivadar
Kőrösi Csoma, Sándor, 1784-1842
The two scrolls procured at Rampúr, near Kotgarh, by Surgeon W. C.
Carte of the 69th Regiment N.I., were forwarded to the Asiatic Society
of Calcutta, where, at the request of the secretary, an explanation of
them was furnished by the librarian, Mr. Alexander Csoma, who stated
that they contained abstracts of some larger Tantrika or religious
works in Tibetan, interspersed with Mantras in Sanskrit.
The first scroll, eight feet and a half long, is covered with figures
to the extent of two feet. The rest of the paper bears printed text,
containing 244 lines in Tibetan, each line being three and a half
inches long. The figures are roughly traced, representing a victorious
king, a tortoise with nine spots on the belly, showing the lucky and
the unlucky periods, according as the moon is affected by the planets
in her path. Afterwards come the twelve animals representing the twelve
years of a cycle; then the zodiacal signs, the planets, sun and moon,
&c., then the representations of the four, eight, and ten corners of
the world. There is also seen the picture of a king with his minister,
a horse, an elephant, a soldier, an eye, &c., then the head of a bird,
and also certain Chinese symbolical figures, which appear to have been
used under the Han dynasty 200 years before Christ. The Tibetans still
use them extensively. After these symbolical representations follows
the text, containing abridgments of five different Tantrika works.
The first is the salutation to the “Circle of Time,” the Kalachakraya.
Then come the regents of the year, month, day, and hour, and those of
the planets and stars. The Nagas, imps, &c., are requested to be
favourable to the person who wears these symbols and to the mystical
prayers, that he may succeed in all his undertakings. All classes of
divinities are requested not to hinder him in any of his occupations,
but to give assistance that he may increase in prosperity.
The abstract of the second Tantrika work contains in Sanskrit short
addresses to Shakya, Vagishwari, Manipadme, and others.
The third contains a sloka and a half in Tibetan to Manju Sri, the god
of wisdom.
The fourth is called the venerable Sutra dispelling the darkness. The
salutation is addressed to the God of Wisdom, to the ten Buddhas in the
ten corners of the world. To each is addressed a short prayer thus: “If
I go towards that corner over which you preside, after having obtained
my aim, grant that I may quickly return.”
The fifth is styled the Sutra of eight lights. The salutation is
addressed to Buddha, to religion, and to the holy priests. There are
several prayers in Sanskrit, asking to avert any unlucky year, month,
day, and hour, and to counteract the influence of a malignant planet or
star. Other mantras are written down, having the object of preventing
any unlucky accident in the morning or in the afternoon, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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