THT 1590: Tocharian A Hariścandrāvadāna

Tocharian and Indo-European studies. 2017. Vol. 18. P. 83–93.

Itkin I., Wilkens J., Malyshev S.

Th
e Buddhist cycle of stories entitled Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā (‘Garland of legends pertaining to the ten courses of action’) is attested in several vernaculars of Central Asia. While the Old Uyghur translation made from Tocharian A is rather well preserved, from the versions in Tocharian A and B only fragments are extant. Additionally, there is only one single leaf in Sogdian known so far. In recent years considerable progress has been made concerning the identification of fragments in Tocharian B whereas the study of the version in Tocharian A could not come up with similar results. Fragments of the Hariścandrāvadāna in Tocharian B were published by Peyrot and Wilkens in 2014. A manuscript in Tocharian A consisting of six tiny fragments placed under the same frame (THT 1590.a–f) turned out to contain at least three pieces which belong to the Hariścandrāvadāna. With reference to the Old Uyghur parallel two fragments could be joined.

Keywords: translation, Tocharian A, uyghur