The Sanskrit Udānavarga and the Tocharian B Udānastotra

A window on the relationship between religious and popular language on the northern Silk Road

Bibliographic Data

ID2801554
AuthorsMichaël Peyrot (0000-0002-5983-9690, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume79
Issue2
Pages305-327
Publication date2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0041977x16000057
OpenAlexW2315373242
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited10

The majority of the Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts from the northern part of the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang (China) were found in an area where the local languages Tocharian A and B were spoken. In this article, the interplay of Sanskrit, the religious language, and Tocharian, the popular language, is investigated based on the example of the relationship between the Sanskrit Udānavarga and the Tocharian B Udānastotra. To this end, a reconstruction of the text of the introduction to the Udānastotra is attempted, which forms the transition from the Udānavarga to the Udānastotra proper. It is argued that this Tocharian B text was found in otherwise Sanskrit manuscripts, which suggests that speakers of Tocharian preferred certain doctrinal texts in Sanskrit

Archaeology · Art · Biology · Buddhism · China · Linguistics · Literary language · Literature · Sanskrit · Tarim basin · Theology · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Mathematics · Paleontology · Philosophy

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