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Caitya Veneration – an Uigur Manuscript
with Portraits of Donors
Peter Zieme
(Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, Germany)
INTRODUCTION
Caitya is the name for holy places where the Buddha spent
some time, for this reason they are held in great veneration.1
As Dieter Maue and Klaus Röhrborn have already written a
survey on caitya veneration2, my aim here is limited to the pres-
entation of a new and very peculiar manuscript.
In the Uigur literature the term appears infrequently. here-
fore I would like to mention the so-called koš körši “metaphor”-
text related to the Xuanzang Biography: [ı]duk säkiz čaiti-lıg iz
orukug temäk sav kizläklig yörüg-lär ordusı m(a)hayan nomug
tegüči söz birlä koš körši tetir: “he saying about the traces of the
eight holy caityas is comparable and parallel to the word about
the Mahāyāna teaching, the palace of the secret meanings.”3
he Caityastotra is a small work which was included as the
last of several originally separate scriptures into the preface of
the late edition of Altun Yaruk sudur (skt. Suvarnaprabhāsottama-
sūtra).4 As the authors Maue and Röhrborn pointed out, the
original was written in verse, but the Uigur text shows no met-
rical structure. his conclusion is correct except for the last
quatrain which is written in strophic alliteration.5 Fragments
of a small block printed edition (4 lines per ‘page’) of this Cai-
tyastotra belong to the Turfan Collection of Berlin; one of
them was described by Simone-Christiane Raschmann in her
catalogue.6 his print shows that the text was probably also
transmitted as a separate work among the Uigurs.
he manuscript I present here difers considerably from the
one already mentioned; and I have not been able to identify
these leaves with any other work. Only two sheets of this man-
uscript are preserved. According to their mark “TV”7 both
fragments, namely U 3366 and U 3367, stem from the same
location in the Turfan oasis, they were brought back to Berlin
by the third expedition (“III”). hey bear in the margin the
leaf numbers 27 (U 3367) and 34 (U 3366). Very rare among
the Uigur manuscripts, the number of lines per sheet difers.
U 3367 has 8 lines on each side, while U 3366 has 7. he begin-
ning part of a caitya section is marked by red writing, and in
one case the word burhan “Buddha” is highlighted in the same
manner.
he margin not only contains the leaf numbers, but also the
title of the work in question: čaiti < skt. caitya. Judging from
the leaf numbers, the exposition on the second caitya starts on
sheet 27. his means that the foregoing portion of the manu-
script comprised an introduction of the work as well as the text
of the irst caitya. Since on sheet 34 the description of the
fourth caitya starts, it is possible that the space for describing
one caitya embraced approximately three leaves. Counting
backwards the text of the irst caitya began on sheet 24. his
could mean that 23 sheets were assigned to the introduction
of the caitya text, or that another text preceded it. As the leaf
numbers contain the title caitya, it seems to me more rational
to assume that the manuscript was not a composite one. If so,
the introduction must have been very long.
A further caitya text is called säkiz čaiti “Eight caityas”, but
only its irst leaf 8 with eight lines per ‘page’ is extant. he text
starts with three lines in red, the title, and continues in black
ink. As far as one can conclude from the fragmentary lines, the
beginning of the text contains a list of entities to be venerated.
herefore, it is not impossible that this remnant, too, is another
version, a manuscript of the same caitya text, but a deinite
solution cannot be ofered at the present stage.9
he fact that names of donors are attached can be compared
to other manuscripts, but what makes these leaves unique are
the depictions of them.
THE TEXT
In the following section I present the text of the fragments in
transliteration, transcription and translation.
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TRANSLITERATION

U 3367 (T III TV 68.506) recto verso cʾyty yyty ʾwtwz:

01 ʾykynty ʾržy lʾr ʾylyky ʾydwq̈ ʾʾdy
02 kwytrwlmys: ʾʾyʾq q̈ʾ tʾkymlyk
03 pwrqʾn pʾqšy: ʾʾnk mʾkʾt ʾyl tʾ
04 ʾwrpylβʾy swzʾq̈ tʾ: ṅʾyrʾṅcʾṅ ʾwykwz
05 q̈ydyq ynkʾ yʾq̈yn: ʾʾšβʾṅt ʾʾtlq
06 mqʾpwdy swykwt ʾʾltyṅ yṅtʾ βcrʾzʾṅ
07 ʾwyrkwn ʾwyzʾ ʾwlwrw yrlyq̈ʾp twnkwz yyl
08 ʾykynty ʾʾy sʾkyz yʾnky q̈ʾ βycʾy y ʾʾtlq
01 mwqwrt q̈ʾ tʾnk ʾʾtʾ ʾwytdʾ ʾwynk(dwn)10
02 yynkʾq̈ ywwzlwkyn: ʾwykrwnc mʾnky
03 kwnkwl lwk yn: ʾwyklʾṅw pylyṅw dyβʾpwty
04 ʾʾmʾr tykmʾ tnkry ʾwqly lyq šmnwq̈
05 ʾlty q̈yrq̈ kwlty šmnw lwq sww sy
06 cʾryky pyrlʾ: kylyšʾmʾr tykmʾ
07 ṅyzβʾny lyq šmnwq̈ twq̈wz twykwn ṅyzβʾ
08 -ṅy lyq ʾrw ly q̈wdwzy pyrlʾ: ʾwdʾ yykʾdw

U 3366 (T III TV 68.505) recto verso cʾyty twyrt q̈yrq̈:

01 twyrtwnc twyzkʾryncsyz ʾržy lʾr
02 ʾylyky: twykʾl pylkʾ pwrqʾn (pʾq̈šy)
03 βʾtsy ʾyl tʾ sʾnkkʾs pʾlyq̈ dʾ
04 pypylʾβʾkʾš yʾzy tʾ: ʾʾpʾṅtʾr r
05 ʾwylʾnklyk ywrwnk cyntʾn lyq tʾ:
06 ʾwdwmpʾr swykwt lwk ʾʾryq smʾkdʾ
07 sʾkyzync ʾʾy sʾkyz ynky q̈ʾ ʾwyst(wn)11
01 sʾtr[ ]strys tnkry yyr yntʾ twq
02 -mys ʾʾnʾsy mqʾmʾy q̈ʾtwn q̈ʾ:
03 ʾwtly sʾβync yʾṅtwrq̈w lwq̈: ʾwlwq
04 kwyclwk tnkry lʾr kʾ ʾpsʾry lʾr q̈ʾ
05 ʾwpʾkʾr ʾʾsyq twsw q̈ylq̈wlwq̈
06 pykcʾṅ lyq ʾyš yn ʾrtwrw yrlyq̈ʾp:
07 ʾʾltyn yʾlnkwq̈ yyrtyncw synkʾ

TRANSCRIPTION TRANSLATION

01 ikinti
äržilär eligi ıduk adı 02 kötrülmiš: ayagka tägimlig 03 burhan
bahšı:
aŋ magat eltä 04 urbilvay suzakta: nairančan ögüz 05 kıdıgıŋa
yakın: ašvant atl(ı)g 06 m(a)habodi sögüt altınınta v(a)črazan
07 örgün üzä oluru y(a)rlıkap
toŋuz yıl 08 ikinti ay säkiz yaŋıka vičay atl(ı)g 09 muhurtka
taŋ ata üddä
öŋdün 10 yıŋak yüüzlügin: ögrünč mäŋi 11 köŋüllügin: öglänü
bilinü
devaput(r)i12 12 amar tegmä t(ä)ŋri oglılıg š(ı)mnug 13 altı kırk
kolti š(ı)mnulug süüsi 14 čärigi birlä: kilešamar tegmä 15
nizvanilıg š(ı)mnug tokuz tügün nizva 16 -nilıg ärüli kuduzı
birlä: uta yegädü (...)
17 törtünč
tözgärinčsiz äržilär 18 eligi: tükäl bilgä burhan bahšı
19 vatsi eltä saŋkaš balıkda 20 pipilavakš yazıta: apantar 21
öläŋlig yürüŋ čıntanlıkta 22 udumbar sögütlüg arıg
s(ä)mäkdä
23 säkizinč ay säkiz y(a)ŋıka
üstün 24 satira[ya]striš t(ä)ŋri yerintä tug 25 -mıš anası
m(a)hamay hatunka: 26 utlı sävinč yanturguluk: ulug 27
küčlüg t(ä)ŋrilärkä apsarilarka 28 upakar asıg tusu kılguluk 29
bikčanlıg išin ärtürü y(a)rlıkap:
30 altın yal(a)ŋuk yertinčüsiŋä (…)
(01-16) Secondly. he Ṛṣi King, the Holy One, whose name is
elevated, the Buddhaguru who is worth of veneration, ven-
tured to sit on the vajrāsana throne in the realm of Aṅga-
Magadha, in the village Uruvilvā under the Mahābodhi tree
called Aśvattha13 near the bank of the river Nairañjanā, in the
year of Pig, second month, eighth (day), at the hour called
vicaya, at the time of dawn, facing to the East, thinking and
appreciating, defeating and overcoming Devaputramāra14 with
his Māra army of 36 koṭis and the passion Māra called kleśamāra
with the nine kleśa15 women [...]
(17-30) Fourthly. he unsurpassable Ṛṣi King, the com-
pletely wise Buddhaguru ventured to complete the bhak-
tacchinnaka act16 in the realm of Vatsa, in the city of Saṃkāśya,
in the plain of Pippalavṛkṣa, in the White sandal garden with
the Apantara (?) meadow, in the pure forest with Udumbara
trees, in the eighth month, on the eighth (day), in order to
show gratitude and appreciation to his Mother born above in
the Trāyastriṃśat-Heavens, the queen Mahāmāya, in order to
do upakāra beneit17 to the great and mighty gods and apsaras,
and beneath into the world of human beings [he descended.]

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NOTES
Before discussing some points in detail, I would like to stress
that most of the facts presented here can be found in other
sources, too, but nowhere in the same order. hus I suppose
that the Uigur writer or “composer” freely used Buddhist con-
cepts and put them together in the way we can here observe.
If this holds true, it is possible, but not more than possible, that
the Uigur writer composed an “original” work.
THE SECOND CAITYA
I begin with a quotation from Bareau’s book: “aucun texte,
canonique ou post-canonique, ne situe l‘Éveil ailleurs qu’à
Uruvilvā.” [each text, whether canonic or post-canonic, sets
the Awakenment to Uruvilvā.]18 hus the second caitya is in
full accord.
From the text we learn the following details about the sec-
ond place where Buddha received his Enlightenment:
1) in the realm of Aṅga-Magadha19
2) in the village Uruvilvā
3) under the Mahābodhi tree called Aśvattha
4) near the bank of the river Nairañjanā.
he time is given in great detail:
1) in the year of Pig20
2) the second month
3) eighth day
4) at the hour (= skt. muhūrta) called vicaya21
5) at dawn.22
he special item in connection with the Enlightenment is the
defeat of Māra. he text mentions the large Māra army of 36
koṭis, where the word koṭi may be seen as a term indicating a
very large number. A further detail is given on kleśamāra with
the nine (sic) passion women (tokuz tügün nizvanilıg ärüli
kuduzı birlä).23 In the Buddhacarita as well as in other texts
there are always three daughters mentioned: Tṛṣṇā, Rati, and
Arati.24 In the “Daughters” (Dhītaro) of the Saṃyutta-Nikāya,
as mentioned by H. Nakamura, “each of Māra’s three daughters
assumed the form irst of hundred girls, then a hundred young
women who had not yet given birth, then of a hundred women
who had given birth once, then of a hundred women who had
given birth twice, then of a hundred middle-aged women, then
of a hundred women of advanced age. Each time they
approached the Buddha, however, he ignored them.” 25 In the
Padhāna sutta Māra’s army appears manifold, in the text itself
eight groups are enumerated, but the DPPN says that they are
ten.26 But in no source, to my knowledge, nine women occur.
As it must go back to a Buddhist tradition, this detail needs
further research.
THE FOURTH CAITYA
Here our text poses some problems. It is diicult to understand
how the diferent places can be related one to the other. It may
be that the Uigur writer put diferent traditions side by side.
he locations as given in the text are as follows:
1) in the realm Vatsa27
2) in the city Sāṃkāśya28
3) in the plain of Pippalavṛkṣa29
4) in the White sandal garden with the Apantara (?)
meadow30
5) in the pure forest with Udumbara trees.
According to the table in Maue and Röhrborn31 the event of
the gods’ descent from heaven (devātāra, devatāvatirṇā) related
to Sāṃkāśya, belongs to the ith caitya. his fact can only
mean that the Uigur text refers to another tradition I cannot
trace back to other source materials.
he data of the time are:
1) in the eighth month
2) on the eighth (day).
Of peculiar interest is the following sentence which explains
the connection of the fourth caitya with Buddha’s visit of
Mahāmāya, his mother in the Trāyastriṃśat Heavens.32
Already in 1984, G. Kara mentioned that Sándor Csoma de
Kőrös, in a letter dated May 25, 1825, referred to a Tibetan
work translated from the “Yoogoor language.”33 Recently, Kōgi
Kudara edited a detailed study on this text. Here, I quote a
passage of his translation:
When 42 years had passed ater the accession of Emperor “Zhao
Wang” [4], Prince Siddhārtha, at the age of 19, renounced his home
and let the city; then he practiced painful acts in the snowy moun-
tains. hree years ater the accession of the 5th Emperor in the “Zhou
Wang” lineage, named “Mu Wang”, [5] i.e. in the “water – sheep” year,
Prince Siddhārtha, at the age of 30, gained enlightenment. hen 8 years
later, (the Buddha) who was inspired with compassion for his (late)
mother visited the realm of the 33 gods and preached to his mother;
he stayed in the realm of the gods [6] for the 3 months of the summer
(rain retreat).34
It is possible to trace some of the details mentioned in our text
above, as, for example, the visit of the mother, and we under-
stand that “in order to do upakāra beneit to the great and
mighty gods and Apsaras” means “preaching (the dharma)”35
“To complete the bhaktacchinnaka deed” is the “summer
retreat” during the rainy season which was obligatory for
monks.
THE DONORS
Both sheets contain the names of donors written in a cursive
type of Uigur script, but clear enough to be deciphered. Read-
ing the script in a vertical direction, which is the only possible
one enabling us to look at the portrait correctly, we ind on U
3366 in the let margin of the recto side (Fig. 1).
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pw kwyrk
pycʾcwq
kwyrky ʾwl
bo körk Bıčačuk körki ol
“his portrait is the portrait of Bıčačuk.36”

Fig. 1. Detail from the manuscript U 3366 (cf. Figs. 8-9).

he second inscription on the upper margin of the recto side

of U 3367 is as follows (Fig. 2):

pw kwyrk tʾq̈ʾy mʾnklyk qwncwy

ʾwrwnk ʾwl
bo körk Tagay Mäŋlig Kunčuy Ürüŋ ol
“his portrait is Tagay Mäŋlig Kunčuy Ürüŋ.”37

Fig. 2. Detail from the manuscript U 3367 (cf. Figs. 6-7).

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THE PORTRAITS
Although it is probable that both donors were depicted in por-
traits, only the picture of the second one, Bıčačuk, is preserved.
he relationship between the two persons, if any, is obscure.
Fig. 3. Donor from a wall painting in Bezeklik, Cave Temple 1. Ater A. von
Le Coq, Chotscho (Berlin: Reimer, 1913), pl. 38b.
Fig. 4. Detail from the manuscript U 3366.
Fig. 5. Detail of a painting showing a donor igure, National Museum, New
Delhi, Kao. 06-09. Ater E. Esin, “Resimli Bir Uygur Varakı,” in Reşid Rah-
meti Arat İçin (Ankara: Türk Kültürünü Araştırmaları Enstitüsü, 1966),
194.
his second igure is probably a depiction of a male person.
One may compare it to the standing igure of a donor in one
of Chotscho’s wall paintings (Fig. 3).38 he head’s cap of the
man in Chotscho 38b although much destroyed resembles to
our donor.39 he donor in Kao. 06-0940 is a kneeling person as
in our case, although he may have been a monk, not a layman
as is obvious here (Fig. 5).
he name of the non-depicted person suggests that the sec-
ond donor was most likely a woman. One may conclude, as is
widely accepted, that women played a great role in donorship,
possibly greater than men. he elements of the names can be
found in other Uigur names as well, but these two persons are
not recorded in any other sources.
THE FRAGMENTS HERE EDITED (FIGS. 6-9)
Fig. 6. U3367 recto, manuscript on paper (© Berlin-Brandenburgische Akad-
emie der Wissenschaten, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbe-
sitz)
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Fig. 7. U3367 verso. Fig. 8. U3366 recto, manuscript on paper (© Berlin-Brandenburgische Akad-
emie der Wissenschaten, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbe-
sitz).

Fig. 9. U3366 verso.

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Notes
1
Many works refer to them, for a general survey, cp. H. Kottkamp, Der
Stupa als Repräsentation des buddhistischen Heilsweges. Untersuchungen zur
Entstehung und Entwicklung architektonischer Symbolik (Wiesbaden: Har-
rassowitz, 1992); Tarthang Tulku, Holy Places of the Buddha. Crystal Mirror
Series Volume Nine (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1994); Lokesh Chandra,
Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography (New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1999-,
4, 1080-83.
2
D. Maue and K. Röhrborn, “Ein Caityastotra aus dem alttürkischen
Goldglanz-Sūtra,” Zeitschrit der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschat
129 (1979): 282-320.
3
Mainz 819, recto, ll. 2-5. A study of these texts is prepared by Ablet
Semet.
4
Preserved at the Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
Suv 30/10 – 32/, 12, cp. Maue and Röhrborn, “Caityastotra,” 287 - 320.
5
P. Zieme, Die Stabreimtexte der Uiguren von Turfan und Dunhuang.
Studien zur alttürkischen Dichtung (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó 1991), 46.
6
U 4251, described by S.-Chr. Raschmann, Berliner Fragmente des Gold-
glanz-Sūtras. Teil 1: Vorworte und erstes bis drittes Buch (Stuttgart: Steiner,
2000) 69-70: no. 018 = Suv 30/11 – 19. he other one is U 4176 (T II M
[879]) = Suv 32/18-23.
7
TV = Turfaner Vorberge.
8
U 2506 (T II [Xanthippe] 639).
9
U 2506 (recto) [01-03 in red] 01 namo but: [namo darm: namo saŋ:]
02 k(ä)ntün tuymıš tükäl [bil gä biliglig ...(?)] 03 burhan-ka yükünürm(ä)n
[...] 04 ayaguluk yal(a)ŋuz [...] 05 -lüg-kä yükünür-m(ä)n: [...] 06 -miš umug
ınag ärži [...] 07 anaz umugsuzlar-nıŋ [...] 08 -ka yükünürm(ä)n: [...] (verso)
säkiz čaiti bir: 01 [ä]ŋänyük ädgülüg t[...] 02 -ı-lıg miŋ y(a)ruk psakl[ıg ...]
03 tarkardačı: sansar-lıg [...] 04 t(ä)ŋri-kä yükünürm(ä)n [: ...] 05 akıgsız
arıg bil[...] 06 nirvan-ka yükünürm(ä)n [: ...] 07 -niŋ ärgülüg yınakın (or:
yıgkın) [...] 08 -lıg ärdini-lig [...] “Namo buddhāya, [namo dharmāya, namaḥ
saṃghāya!] I venerate Buddha, who by his own had insight, who [possesses]
the complete [sapience ...]. I venerate the [one, who] has [...], who is to
venerate, who is unique [...]. I venerate the [one, who is ...] hope and con-
idence, the ṛṣi, [... the redeemer] of the hopeless [...]. (verso) I venerate God
[, who ...] ... has special good [...], who has thousand bright garlands, who
destroys [...], [who frees ...] saṃsāra-[people]. I venerate the [...] anāsrava,
pure, wi[se ...] nirvāṇa. [I venerate ... the complexion of houses [...] having
jewels [...].
10
Added in small script.
11
Added in small script.
12
he letter -r- was simply omitted.
13
Cp. http://www.hm.tyg.jp/~acmuller/dicts/ddb/cache/b83e9-63d0-
6a39.html: “菩提樹 bodhidruma, bodhitaru, bodhi-vṛkṣa; the wisdom-tree,
i.e. that under which Śākyamuni attained his enlightenment, and became
Buddha. he Ficus religiosa is the pippala, or aśvattha, wrongly identiied by
Faxian as the palm-tree; it is described as an evergreen, to have been 400 feet
high, been cut down several times, but in the Tang dynasty still to be 40 or
50 feet high. A branch of it is said to have been sent by Aśoka to Ceylon,
from which sprang the celebrated Bo-tree still lourishing there.” Cp. also he
Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism (Tokyo: Soka Gakkai, 2002), 507.
14
Usually Māra is split into four Māras: kleśa-m., skandha-m., mṛtyu-m.,
and devaputra-m., and here only the irst and the last one are mentioned.
15
he Uigur term is tügün nizvani “knot (< sth. bound)” + “passion”, i.e.
“bindings (arising from passions) that attach one (to the saṃsāra)”. Cp. R.R.
Arat, Eski Türk Şiiri (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi 1965) 17/17;
110/264 etc.
16
Old Turkic bikčan < bhaktacchinnaka.
17
For upakar < skt. upakāra cp. Arat, Eski Türk Şiiri, 20/18.
18
A. Bareau, “Le Buddha et Uruvilvā,” in Indianisme et bouddhisme.
Mélanges oferts à Mgr Étienne Lamotte (Louvain-La-Neuve: Université
catholique de Louvain, Instittut orientaliste, 1980) 13.
19
Originally Aṅga was a separate state, but later united with Magadha,
cp. Tulku, Holy Places, 140: “Aṅga, once an independent kingdom, was
absorbed into Magadha by King Bimbisāra shortly before Buddha’s Enlight-
enment.”
20
“Year of Pig” according to the Twelve Animal Cycle as used in China
and large parts of Asia.
21
he same is said in Maitrisimit, plate 13 verso 24-26: ikinti ay säkiz
yaŋıka puš yultuzka vičay atl(ı)g muhurtka “second month, eighth (day),
under the star puṣya, at the hour called vicaya”. J. P. Laut, Der rühe türkische
Buddhismus und seine literarischen Denkmäler (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
1986), 125; F. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. Dictionary (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1953), 430b.
22
he term here is taŋ ata (< at-a), e.g. Kirg. taŋ ata “na rassvete” (“at
dawn”) (K.K. Judakhin, Kirgizsko-russkiy slovar’ (Moskva: Sovetskaya
Entsiklopediya, 1965), 702), further examples: taŋ atartakı yultuz (L. Yu.
Tugusheva, “A Fragment of a Drat of an Early Medieval Uighur Verse Text,”
in Turfan Revisited – he First Century of Research into the Arts and Cultures
of the Silk Road, eds. D. Durkin-Meisterernst, S.-Chr. Raschmann, J. Wilkens,
M. Yaldiz, and P. Zieme, (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 2004), 357 l. 29)
“star at the time of dawning”; Maitr XV, leaf 10 recto 10-12 yaz ugurda ikinti
ay sä[kiz] yaŋıka taŋ ata käli tört kırk kšan üdtä “In spring time, in the second
month, on the eighth day, when dawn comes, at the time of 34 kṣaṇas” (Geng
Shimin & H.-J. Klimkeit & J.P. Laut, “‘Das Erlangen der unvergleichlichen
Buddhawürde’. Das 15. Kapitel der Hami-Handschrit der Maitrisimit,” Alto-
rientalische Forschungen 20 (1993): 195, 209). he last example clearly shows
that taŋ ata has become a frozen compound already at an early stage.
23
While the word kuduz (or: koduz?) is known as a term for a “femme
sole” (G. Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-hirteenth-Century
Turkish (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 608a; W. Bang, “Turkologische
Briefe aus dem Berliner Ungarischen Institut. Zweiter Brief: Uzuntonluγ
– die Krone der Schöpfung,” Ungarische Jahrbücher V (1925): 242-4; S. Çaga-
tay, “Die Bezeichnungen der Frau im Türkischen,” in Ural-Altaische Jah-
rbücher 33 (1961): 19), ärül appears here for the irst time (it is not recorded
in any of the dictionaries), it corresponds to Mongolian eregül (pronounced:
erǖl) “health, healthy, sound, sober, ... virgin” (Lessing 321b). I am very grate-
ful for G. Kara’s clarifying statement: “eregül gajar ‘virgin soil,’ wo das Wort
‘virgin’ vom Englischen her erfordert ist. Ein mongolisch-chinesisches Wb.
gibt auch eregul agar ‘frische Lut.’ Übrigens bedeutet eregül nur ‘gesund,
Gesundheit; sauber; nicht zerstört (Boden).’ Mostaert, Dictionnaire ordos,
S. 248b, hat erǖl ‘qui est en bonne santé’; qui n’est pas ivre; qui n’a pas été
remue’ (sol).’ Im Schritmongolischen ist das Wort in zwei Formen belegt:
eregül, elegür. In Lubsangdanjins Altan tobči kommen beide vor: elegür bey-
e-yi ebdeküy-e berke bui j-e ‘Es ist schwierig einen gesunden Körper zu ruin-
ieren’, bey-e eregül busu bile bi ür-e ügei buyu ‘(Mein) Körper ist nicht gesund.
Ich habe keine Kinder/Nachkommen (wörtl. keine(n) Samen/Frucht)’. Viel-
leicht bedeutet die uigurische Zusammensetzung eine gesunde Frau.”
24
For Uigur forms cp. P. Zieme, Buddhistische Stabreimdichtungen der
Uiguren (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag 1985).
25
H. Nakamura, Gotama Buddha. A Biography Based on the Most Reliable
Texts (Tokyo: Kosei, 2000),164.
26
G.P. Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names 2 (London: Murray,
1937), 614.
27
Cp. Soka Gakkai Dictionary, 801-802: “Vatsa (Skt) [跋蹉] ( Japanese:
Bassa). One of the sixteen great states in ancient India. Vatsa was located
south of the Ganges River in what is today the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Its capital was Kaushambi. In Shakyamuni Buddha’s time, Udayana was king
of Vatsa and a follower of the Buddha. At that time, the three powerful
countries of the Ganges Valley Magadha, Kosala, and Vatsa were in conlict
with one another. Magadha was located to the east of Vatsa, and Kosala, to
the north of Vatsa across the Ganges River.”
28
Cf. Maue and Röhrborn, “Caityastotra,” 300-1.
171
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29
Soka Gakkai Dictionary, 507-8: “he pippala tree [畢鉢羅樹] (Skt;
Japanese hippara-ju): A bodhi tree. he pippala tree came to be called the
bodhi tree because it was under one such tree that Shakyamuni attained
enlightenment (bodhi in Sanskrit). It is said that pippala was originally the
name of the fruit of the ashvattha tree, but that it later came to refer to the
tree itself. In India, even before the rise of Buddhism, both the ashvattha tree
and its close relative, the banyan, had been considered sacred. Today the
bodhi tree is also known as the pipal tree or the peepul tree, names that derive
from pippala.” But here it is called a yazı, “open plain.”
30
apantar öläŋ, cp. apandar öläŋ Maue and Röhrborn, “Caityastotra,” 301.
Cp. also K. Röhrborn, Uigurisches Wörterbuch (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner
Verlag, 1977), 168a. Maue and Röhrborn assume correctly that the origin of
the irst word must be searched in Sanskrit without ofering a convincing
etymon. For öläŋ they give the meaning “pond” (Chin. 澤) [German: “Teich,
Binnengewässer”], but in general the Chinese word rather denotes “marsh,
swamp, long-lying damp”, which is very near to “meadow” (Clauson, Diction-
ary, 147a) the usual meaning of öläŋ. W. Couvreur, “Bemerkungen zu Pavel
Pouchas hesaurus linguae tocharicae dialecti A,” La Nouvelle Clio VII-VIII
(1955-1956), 72 has Toch. A apadāt < skt. avadāta “N[ame] eines Teiches”
[but I cannot ind a source for the meaning, if not MW 99b “cleansed, clean,
of white splendour”]. J.P. Laut, Der rühe türkische Buddhismus und seine
literarischen Denkmäler (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1986), 125, relates Toch.
apadāt to the mythical lake anavatapta, but the Uigur forms of this Sanskrit
word are always diferent from apantar. We have to look for a “meadow” in
Sanskrit sources, too.
31
Maue and Röhrborn, “Caityastotra,” 313.
32
Sometimes, Mahāmāyā is associated with Tuṣita, cp. Malalasekera, Dic-
tionary, p. 609. Buddha’s visit to his mother is a very famous topic, also in
art, cp. C.L. Fábri, “A Græco-Buddhist Sculpture representing the Buddha’s
Descent from the Heaven of the hirty-three Gods,” Acta Orientalia 8
(1930): 288-93.
33
G. Kara, “Sándor Csoma de Kőrös 1784-1842,” The New Hungarian
Quarterly XXV/94 (1984): 55-70.
172
34
K. Kudara, “Uigur and Tibetan Translations of he History of the
Buddha Statue of Sandalwood in China,” in Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst
et al ed. Turfan Revisited , 150.
35
Cp. H. Durt, “L’apparition du Buddha à sa mère après son nirvāṇa dans
le Sūtra de Mahāmāyā (T. 383) et dans le Sūtra de la Mère du Buddha (T.
2919),” in De Dunhuang au Japon. Etudes chinoises et bouddhiques ofertes à
Michel Soymié, ed. J.-P. Drège (Geneva: Droz, 1996) 1-24; H. Durt, “On the
Pregnancy of Māyā III: Late Episodes. A Few More Words on the Textual
Sources,” Kokusai Bukkyogaku Daigakuin Daigaku Kenkyu Kiyo (Journal
of the International College for Advanced Buddhist Studies) VII (2004): 216-
199.
36
he meaning is unclear, but if the reading is correct, the name consists
of two elements: bıča + čuk. Bang, “Zweiter Brief,” 246 has bičä “Frau,” cp.
also Y.-S. Li, Türk Dillerinde Akrabalık Adları (Istanbul: Simurg Yayıncılık,
1999) 239 (all data with front vowels). But, if a reading prc’cwq is not com-
pletely out of question, the name could be analyzed as b(a)rča+čuk “all” +
suix +čuk. A further possibilty is the interpretation as bıč + ačuk.
37
he name can be translated as “Lady White with a tagay (?) mole.” If the
word tagay can be read tankı, one may think of tan “body” (< New Persian
tan “id.”) + suix +kı, i.e. “bodily.. hus the name would mean: “Lady White
with a bodily mole”.
38
A. von Le Coq, Chotscho (Berlin: Reimer, 1913), pl. 38b.
39
I express my sincere thanks to Lilla Russell-Smith who kindly sent me
some notes conirming this comparison by pointing to A. v. Gabain’s “Tracht
IV.” Cp. A. v. Gabain, Das Leben im uigurischen Königreich von Qočo (850-
1250) (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1973), 123).
40
F. H. Andrews, Descriptive Catalogue of Antiquities Recovered by Sir
Aurel Stein (Delhi: Manager of Publications, 1935), 272: “Kao. 06-09. hree
fragments of painting; backed with crimson silk; subject: two kneeling
donors (?) before a red throne; other igures are also present; drawing, delicate
and good.” he picture was taken from E. Esin, “Resimli Bir Uygur Varakı,”
in Reşid Rahmeti Arat İçin (Ankara: Türk Kültürünü Araştırmaları Enstitüsü,
1966), 194 (unfortunately no better photograph was accessible to me).