The (Re-)Appearance of the “Discourse on the Salt River” (Kṣāranadī-sūtra)
The (Re-)Appearance of the “Discourse on the Salt River” (Kṣāranadī-sūtra)

Author(s): Jens-Uwe Hartmann
Subject(s): Theology and Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Kṣāranadī-sūtra; Tridaṇḍamālā; Saṃyuktāgama; Sattvārādhanastava; proto-Kanjur; Gondhla; Tholing
Summary/Abstract: Although various sources have long indicated the existence of a canonical text with a probable Sanskrit title, Kṣāranadī-sūtra, “Discourse on the Salt River”, and even quoted from it, neither the title nor citations could be connected to any surviving text. Only the discovery of an unknown Tibetan translation, preserved in two of the so-called proto-Kanjurs, Gondhla and Tholing, brought to light a sūtra that contains one of the previously known quotations, and could thus be connected to the Sanskrit title. Shortly afterwards, the full Sanskrit text of the Kṣāranadī-sūtra was found in a so far unstudied text, the Tridaṇḍamālā ascribed to Aśvaghoṣa. The Sanskrit sūtra closely corresponds to the Tibetan translation. The body of evidence, including a related sūtra in the Chinese translation of the Saṃyuktāgama, shows that this version must belong to the (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādins.

• Details
• Contents