The ‘Vanaratna Codex’: A Rare Document of Buddhist Text Transmission (London, Royal Asiatic Society, Hodgson MS 35)

Abstract

The present article deals with a palm-leaf manuscript that contains multiple texts in Sanskrit language (and one text in Apabhraṃśa) and is written in Old Bengali script. It is an autograph of – or at least closely associated with – the Indian Buddhist Tantric master Vanaratna (1384–1468 CE). The manuscript contains not only texts copied from other manuscripts but also Vanaratna’s Sanskrit translations of seemingly orally transmitted texts in Tibetan language, which the Indian master must have received during one of his travels to Tibet. Because hardly any cases are known of translation of Tibetan texts into Sanskrit, the present manuscript is a document of unique historical value. The article gives an overview of the contents of the manuscript, tries to identify the Tibetan master of Vanaratna and provides an introductory discussion of the processes and purposes of adaptation at work here. The multiple-text manuscript dealt with in the present contribution is closely associated with Vanaratna (1384–1468 CE) and his activities. He was a scholar and Buddhist master who belonged to the esoteric-ritualistic, or Tantric, strand of this religion. Vanaratna hailed from the Chittagong district in Eastern India (presentday Bangladesh). After extensive journeys and sojourns in Sri Lanka and various parts of India, including parts of the old heartland of Buddhism in present-day Bihar, he settled down in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, where he spent roughly the last four decades of his life. Additionally, he undertook three travels to Tibet during this second half of his life. Vanaratna was not only a key figure in the last chapter of the history of Indian Buddhism, but also attracted followers and acquired great fame in both Nepal and Tibet. In Tibet, he was often designated as the ‘last pandit’ of Indian Buddhism. Relatively much information on his life, travels and activities can be gathered from various sources, among which three || 1 Pal 1989, 189; Parajuli 2014, 289 (with some further references).