MAHAPRAJNAPARAMITA UPADESA

MS 2169
MS Short Title MAHAPRAJNAPARAMITA UPADESA
Text MAHAPRAJNAPARAMITA UPADESA; COMMENTARY ON THE GREATER PERFECTION OF WISDOM ATTRIBUTED TO NAGARJUNA. TRANSLATED BY KUMARAJIVA
Description MS in Chinese on blue coloured paper, China, 620-756, 1 f. from a scroll, 23x32 cm, 16 columns, (19x32 cm), of 15 characters per column in Chinese book script in gold, on paper died blue and ruled in silver.
Context Two other parts from the same scroll are in public institutions.
Provenance 1. Excavated in Xiaotun (ca. 1945); 2. Philosophical Research Society library, Los Angeles (-1995); 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary The text is attributed to the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by Kumarajiva, an Indian or Central Asian Buddhist missionary who settled in China in the 5th c. This is part of a luxury MS using gold ink on blue stained paper, also used in Europe from 4th c. to the Carolingian period, with gold script on purple or blue stained vellum, used for princely commissions.
Place of origin China
Dates 620-756