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Art. IX.—A Historical Basis for the Questions of King ‘Menander,’ from the Tibetan, etc.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
It may interest students of Buddhism to learn that the famous Questions of King ‘Milinda’ appear to be known to the Tibetans.
Last year (1895), when I was making inquiries on this subject from Lāmas at Darjiling, I found that most of the Lāmas knew of the existence in their literature of conversations purporting to have been held between Nāgasēna and a certain ancient king, who, however, was named ‘Ananta,’ and not ‘Menander’ or ‘Milinda.’ I failed to procure any Tibetan text or book bearing on this question, except the few references which will presently be cited. But from the character of the questions, as quoted from memory by the Lāmas, and the statement that this king Ananta was the greatest of Nāgasēna's converts, there could be little doubt that he is intended for the same person as the ‘Milinda’ (or Menander) of the Pāli text.
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References
page 227 note 1 J.R.A.S., Part I of 1896, p. 16Google Scholar. This Chinese version is found in the 111th tale of the Samyukta-ratna-piṭaka tutra, which was translated into Chinese in a.d. 472.
page 228 note 1 Davids', RhysQuestions of King Milinda, vol. xxxv of ‘Sacred Books of the East,’ p. xviiGoogle Scholar.
page 228 note 2 Idem. p. xvii.
page 228 note 3 See Wenzel, in Journal Pāli Text Society, 1886, p. 2Google Scholar; and my Buddhism of Tibet, pp. 10, 11, 15, etc.
page 228 note 4 Turnour's translation, p. 21.
page 229 note 1 Das Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hurthuk'tu: Königlichen Museum fur Völkerkunde, I, 2/3, p. 87.
page 229 note 2 Jaeschke's, Tibetan Dictionary, p. 128Google Scholar.
page 229 note 3 As ProfDavids, Rhys notes, Questions, etc., p. xxvGoogle Scholar.
page 229 note 4 J.R.A.S. 1896, p. 9Google Scholar.
page 229 note 5 Davids', RhysQuestions, p. 26Google Scholar.
page 229 note 6 Two of this name appear as Aṣoka missionaries, Davids', RhysBuddhism, p. 233Google Scholar.
page 230 note 1 In the appendix to Schiefner's German translation of Tāranātha's History of Buddhism in India, p. 298.
page 230 note 2 The Life of the Buddha, etc., p. 187. Here, translating from Bhavya's commentary in the 90th vol. of the Tan-gyur, the Sthavira'a name is given as ‘Nâga.’
page 230 note 3 Z'alu Lotaava's ‘Suῃ-'bum.’
page 230 note 4 The Tibetan translation is ‘kLu-hi-sde.’
page 230 note 5 The Tibetan word is ‘skya-wo-hi-pura,’ which my Tibeto-Sanskrit dictionary restores as above. The ‘skya’ may, however, be a contraction for ‘Skya-nar,’ which means the Pāṭali flower, and hence probably the city was Pāṭaliputra.
page 230 note 6 Skt. Pāpiya-bhadra, or Unruhen-bhadra.
page 230 note 7 Tibetan ‘kLu-hi-sde.’
page 230 note 8 Tibetan ‘Yid-'oῃ’ = ‘mind + become or suitable.’ Rockhill, , Life, etc., p. 187Google Scholar, gives ‘Sthiramati.’ Neither of these two names are found in the list of the sixteen great Sthaviras.
page 230 note 9 The word simply means ‘orders or classes.’ Schiefner translates it ‘Spaltung der Schulen,’ op. cit., p. 298. And Rockhill's text (op. cit., p. 187), which is less condensed, gives details of ‘a great schism.’
page 231 note 1 Csoma's, Tibetan Grammar, p. 192Google Scholar. Also my Buddhism of Tibet, p. 269, etc.
page 231 note 2 From Cuttack, in Orissa: see Csoma, , Tibetan Grammar, p. 192Google Scholar.
page 231 note 3 In the gZ'an-stoῃ-dbu-mahi-'grel-pa, translated by Danaṣṛi and Lotsava Rin-ch'en-bzaῃ-po. Also in the Ñe-wahi-mk'o-wahi Luῃ-spyod, in the gZ'an-stoῃ-dbu-mahi-rgyen. These books seem to be contained in the Tan-gyur.
page 231 note 4 Tibetan ‘dgah-byed’ or ‘pleasure + causing,’ which words my Tibeto-Sanekrit dictionary restores as above.
page 232 note 1 Tibetan ‘ ῃos-yaῃs,’ as before.
page 232 note 2 See previous note for Tibetan equivalent of this word.
page 232 note 3 A king of this name belonging to the Sena dynasty is mentioned by Tāranātha: Schiefner's translation, p. 256.
page 232 note 4 Tibetan ‘ ῃos-yaῃs.’
page 232 note 5 These are called ‘Avadanas,’ and are said to have been translated by the Tibetan interpreter Zla-wahi-'od-zer—who is possibly the same as Zla-bzaῃ the fabulous author of the Kālacakra.
page 233 note 1 The Tibetan is: Yi-ge ma z'es gz'on-nu-ma | daῃ-po t'a-mar ch'os-la dgah | klu-pos z'es-kyaῃ spyan draῃ-go | yi-ge ā miῃbdaqñid ch'e | ston-pahi-bston-pa gc'es- 'dsin- byed | blo-ldan yon-tan kun-gyis-bkun ||
page 233 note 2 Questions, p. 49.
page 233 note 3 Op. cit., p. xxiv.
page 233 note 4 Questions, p. 127.
page 234 note 1 MrTakakusu's, article, loc. cit., p. 8Google Scholar.
page 234 note 2 Id., p. 10. The italics are mine.
page 234 note 3 Question, p. 171.
page 235 note 1 Professor Pedler, F.R.S.
page 235 note 2 Questions, p. 276.
page 235 note 3 Id., pp. 131, 133.
page 235 note 4 Id., p. 259.
page 235 note 5 Id., p. 211.
page 235 note 6 Blanford's, Mammalia of India, p. 485et seq.Google Scholar
page 235 note 7 Questions, p. 211.
page 235 note 8 Blanford, , op. cit., p. 492Google Scholar.
page 235 note 9 Questions, p. 262.
page 235 note 10 Dr. George King, F.R.S., in a letter to me.