The Transmission Of Sanskrit Manuscripts 95
[.. .] the monk of the Śākya clan, Rinchendrub, completely translated it
on the fifteenth day of the first month of the plava year (1361), having
borrowed Atiśa’s manuscript from Retreng. The scribing of it was done by
a monk of the Śākya clan, Sönamdrub [(Tib. bSod nams grub)], a atten-
dant disciple [(Skt. antenivāsin)| of this great translator [.. .].33
(8) We can add the passage in Tāranātha’s autobiography that refers to
the Sanskrit manuscript of Ratnākaraśānti’s Hevajrapañjikā and that of the
Kṛṣṇayamāritantra seen by Tāranātha himself in Retreng in 1601 (see above).
Some folios bear the following note: bhaṅgalapaṇḍitabhikṣudīpaṃkaraśrījñān-
asya pustakaṃ.
(9) In his list of Sanskrit manuscripts once preserved at Pökhang (Tib. sPos
khang) monastery (prepared in the 1930s), Gendün chöpel mentions a manu-
script (56×5cm) of a work titled Great Sermon (Tib. Yongs kyi gtam), which has
a note at the bottom of one folio that runs: bhikṣudīpaṃkarasya pustakaṃ.34
The bhikṣudīpaṃkara may refer to Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. This Great
Sermon corresponds to a work titled Parikathā (57 fols., palm leaf ) found in
Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s list of Pökhang manuscripts.35 However, neither Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s
photograph of the manuscript preserved in Göttingen (labelled Xc14/42) nor
Tucci’s photograph preserved in Rome36 contains the folio with the note.
In sum, examples (1) to (3) indicate that Atiśa’s manuscript collection included
not only manuscripts brought from Vikramaśīla but also ones obtained in
Nepal or Central Tibet along the way. Examples (4), (5), (7) and (8) show
33 Tārāmūlakalpa, Derge Tōhoku no. 724, Tsha, 200a6–7: ’di ni jo bo chen po a ti sha’i phyag
dpe rwa sgreng nas dka’ thub chen pos gdan drangs nas / shākya’i dge slong rin chen grub
kyis ’phar ba’i lo cho ’phrul chen po rta’i zla ba’i tshes bcwa lnga la rdzogs par bsgyur ba’i yi
ge pa ni lo tstsha ba chen po ’di nyid kyi zhabs drung du nye bar gnas pa / shākya’i dge slong
bsod nams grub kyis bgyis so / paṇḍi ta la ma gtugs shing / dpe dbang ’grel pa ma rnyed pas
/ sgra don log par gyur srid na / mkhas pa rnams kyis bcos par gsol / (I am grateful to Dr.
Martin Delhey for this reference.)
34 dGe ’dun chos ’phel, gSer thang, 13: yongs kyi gtam mdzad byang med pa dpe ring lnga thig
ldebs nga drug longs pa ’di’i gsham du (emended from ga gsham du) bhikṣudīpaṃkarasya
pustakaṃ zhes jo bo’i phyag dpe yin zhes bris / See also Thupten, and Lopez, Grains of
Gold, 38.
35 Sāṅkṛtyāyana, Rāhula, “Search for Sanskrit Mss. in Tibet,” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa
Research Society 24.4 (1938): 160.
36 Sferra, Francesco, “Sanskrit Texts from Giuseppe Tucci’s Collection,” in Manuscripta
Buddhica, Vol. I: Sanskrit Texts from Giuseppe Tucci’s Collection, Part I, ed. Francesco Sferra
(Roma: IsIAO, 2008), 48; “Saddharmaparikathā” (IsIAO, MT 30–32).