The Transmission Of Sanskrit Manuscripts 93
(5) The next example is a work from Atiśa’s manuscript collection translated
after Dromtön’s passing: the Mahāsūtrasamuccaya (Derge Tōhoku no. 3961).
The translation has two colophons: those by the Indic scribe and the Tibetan
translator. The first colophon runs:
This is a religious gift [(Skt. Deyadharma) i.e., here, a Sanskrit manu-
script] of the excellent Mahāyānist, elder monk of the Śākya clan [and]
great scholar [Atiśa] Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna [(Tib. dpal mar me mdzad ye
shes)]. May whatever merit arises from this result in the multitude of all
beings—starting with my preceptor, teacher, father, and mother—
obtaining the fruit of supreme knowledge.27
This is the scribal colophon of the original Sanskrit manuscript. It uses standard
phrasing for an act of donation among Indian Buddhists,28 and we can recon-
struct the Sanskrit original on the basis of parallel examples: *deyadharmo
’yam pravaramahāyānayāyinaḥ śākyasthaviramahāpaṇḍitadīpaṃkaraśrījñā-
nasya. yad atra puṇyaṃ tad bhavatv ācāryopādhyāyamātāpitṛpūrvaṅgamaṃ
kṛtvā sakalasattvarāśer anuttarajñānaphalāvāptaye. This colophon specifies
the donation of the Sanskrit manuscript as having been made by Atiśa, in
whose possession it was.29
The colophon of the Sanskrit manuscript is followed by the Tibetan col-
ophon, which mentions the patron of the translation, Sharaba Yöntandrak
(Tib. Sha ra ba Yon tan grags, 1070–1141), along with the translators: Jayānanda
(late 11th–early 12th century), Patsab Nyimadrak (Tib. Pa tshab Nyi ma grags,
b. 1055), and Khu Dodeba (Tib. Khu mdo sde ’bar, late 11th to early 12th century).30
rigs dpe skrung khang, 1994), no. 8: rdo rje gdan nas spyan drangs pa’i brgyad stong pa
dang de’i ’grel pa.
27 Mahāsūtrasamuccaya, Derge Tōhoku no. 3961, 198a4–5: sbyin par bya ba’i chos ’di ni rab
mchog theg pa chen po’i rjes su ’brang ba shā kya’i gnas brtan mkhas ba chen po dpal mar
me mdzad ye shes kyi yin no / gang ’dir bsod nams su gyur pa de mkhan po dang slob dpon
dang pha dang ma sngon du ’gro bar byas te / sems can gyi tshogs mtha’ dag bla na med pa’i
ye shes kyi ’bras bu thob par bya ba’i ched du gyur cig //
28 See, for instance, Schopen, Gregory, “Mahāyāna in Indian Inscriptions,” Indo-Iranian
Journal 21 (1979): 1–19.
29 The colophon does not mention any author, but Chattopadhyaya, Atīśa and Tibet, 471
ascribes authorship to Atiśa.
30 Mahāsūtrasamuccaya, Derge Tōhoku no. 3961, 198a5–7: thub pa’i gsung rab rgya mtsho’i
bdud rtsi’i bcud / ltung dang nyon mongs nad gso’i sman chen ’di / lnga brgya’i dus na bstan
pa’i srog ’dzin pa / shā kya’i sras po yon tan grags pa yis / dpe med grong du sku ’khrungs
rtsod dus kyi / mkhas pa rgyal ba kun dga’ la gsol nas / ya rabs su spyod pa ma nyams dad