240 wilkens
2.6.2 Epithets239
2.6.2.1 The Designation of Rulers as Bodhisattvas 240
It is well known that Mongol emperors are often presented in Mongol sources
as Cakravartins, universal rulers, or bodhisattvas.241 In Old Uyghur inscrip-
tional sources, Uyghur or Mongol rulers and even members of their families are
designated as bodhisattvas. We will see that some other epithets are attested in
manuscript sources as well:
‘the bodhisattva Nom Kulı’242
‘the bodhisattva prince Nomdaš’243
‘our charismatic ruler, the bodhisattva’244
A female member of the royal family is presented as a bodhisattva:
the bodhisattva Oŋ Tegin Bägi,245 (who was) delicate from her infancy246
The ruler may have other epithets which are typical for bodhisattvas or
Buddhas such as ‘merciful, compassionate’.247
In a colophon of the laywoman Šaraki to the Avalokiteśvarasūtra, a chap-
ter from the Lotussūtra which was transmitted as a separate text, we find the
239 On epithets of Mongol emperors in Uyghur Buddhist texts (mainly in block-prints) see
Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 74–80. He mentions epithets depicting the Mongol
emperor as a universal monarch or as ruling according to the dharma.
240 See already Klimkeit, “Stifter,” 290.
241 E.g., Elverskog, Jewel Translucent Sūtra, 130, 152, 173, 175.
242 Geng, “Zhong xiu wenshu si bei,” line 19: OU bodis(a)t(a)v nom kulı, inscription on
Mañjuśrī Hill.
243 (OU bodis(a)t(a)v nomḍaš taysı, inscription on Mañjuśrī Hill) Geng, “Zhong xiu wenshu si
bei”, line 24.
244 (OU bodis(a)t(a)v ıdok t(ä)ŋrikänimiz) (CI I, 22) Geng, Hamilton, “Stèle commémorative,” 18.
245 This is the daughter of the ruler named El Yıgmıš Bägi. The name is reconstructed
according to the Chinese part of the inscription (Geng, Hamilton, “Stèle commémorative,”
33–34). Differently in Balati, Liu, “Yiduhu gaochang wang,” 64 (line 75): känčindinbärü
oglagu bodis(a)tvi täg el yıgmıš bägini.
246 (OU känčindinbärü oglagu bodis(a)t(a)v oŋ tegin bägi, CI I, 24) Geng, Hamilton, “Stèle
commémorative,” 18.
247 (OU t(ä)ŋrikän) (OU y(a)rlıkančučı köŋüllüg, CI III, 3). Cf. Geng, Hamilton, “Stèle
commémorative,” 19; Balati, Liu, “Yiduhu gaochang wang,” 65 (line 105).