Verses by Buddhist authors and verses with allusions to Buddhist teachings
in two post-1200 AD anthologies of Sanskrit verses
Handout, Sept. 29, 2015
TGSW
Panel: Cross-cultural and Cross-religious Encounters in Historical Context
Harunaga Isaacson (Hamburg/Tsukuba)
. e material
Anthologies of Sanskrit muktakas (single-verse poems; also called subhāṣitas,
sūktis, saduktis) by various authors and on various themes: earliest extent one
the Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa, compiled by a Buddhist monk called Vidyākara, around
the end of the eleventh century (probably expanded in the early twelh century).
Two post-1200 AD anthologies compiled by Hindu (brahminical) authors/anthologists:
SūMuĀ Jalhaṇa’s Sūktimuktāvalī, compiled in 1258 AD at the court of the Yādava
king Kṛṣṇa in the Deccan.
SuĀ Subhāṣitāvalī compiled in Kashmir by Vallabhadeva (mid-fieenth cen-
tury? possibly expanded from an older anthology).
. Verses by Buddhist authors.¹
A: Authors known from sources apart from anthologies. Some examples (not a
complete list):
1. Candragomin:² SūMuĀ 116.1, 131.52 (= Śiṣyalekha 67); SuĀ 3384 (=
Śiṣyalekha 75), 3448 (= Śiṣyalekha 90), 3449.
2. ‘Nāgārjuna’: SuĀ 3391 (no aribution) = Bodhiciavivaraṇa 20.
¹Verses aributed in the anthologies to Dharmakīrti will not be treated here; for a thorough
study of such verses see Martin Straube: ‘Dharmakīrti als Dichter’, in: Martin Straube et al. (eds.):
Pāsādikadānaṁ: Festschri ür Bhikkhu Pāsādika, Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 2009, Indica
et Tibetica 52, pp. 471–511.
²e edition of the SuĀ consistently gives the author’s name in the form Candragopin.
3. Śāntideva (a.k.a. Akṣayamati?): SūMuĀ 128.9 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.27),
128.10 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.29), 130.5 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.94) [these
three verses are all aributed to the Bodhicaryāvatāra, though without
mentioning the author’s name, in SūMuĀ], 131.6 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 2.36),
131.7 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.20), 131.8 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.32), 131.9 (=
Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.72), 131.10 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 8.67), 131.11 (= Bodhi-
caryāvatāra 2.41) [these six verses are not aributed to any work or author
in SūMuĀ]; SuĀ 3313 (= Bodhicaryāvatāra 1.4; aributed in SuĀ to Bod-
hisava)
4. Haribhaṭṭa: SūMuĀ 17.4, 110.26 (= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 22.33), 123.1; SuĀ
245 (= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 4.4), 269 (= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 11.35), 536
(= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 11.42), 2160, 2936 (= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 20.21),
2937 (= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 33.70), 3369 (= Haribhaṭṭajātakamālā 4.23).
All these verses in SūMuĀ and SuĀ are aributed to Haribhaṭṭa.
B: Authors not known (at least as poets) from sources other than anthologies.
Some examples (not a complete list):
1. Ratnamitra: SuĀ 1173 (love verse).³
2. Bhadanta Kambalaka: SuĀ 1246 (love verse).
3. Bhadanta Ārogya: SuĀ 1580 (love verse).
4. Bhadanta Prajñāśānti: SūMuĀ 124.10 and SuĀ 3025 and 3026 [ed. bhadan-
taprajāśānteḥ] (stylistically similar verses on the positive karmic results of
following the Dharma, the positive karmic results of giving and the nega-
tive karmic results of not giving)
. Verses alluding to Buddhist teachings.
Some examples:
1. SuĀ 3313 (bodhisavasya) = Bodhicaryāvatāra 1.4:
kṣaṇasampad iyaṃ sudurlabhā pratilabdhā puruṣārthasādhanī|
yadi nātra vicintyate hitaṃ punar apy eṣa samāgamaḥ kutaḥ||
³Ludwik Sternbach’s invaluable A Descriptive Catalogue of Poets oted in Sanskrit Antholo-
gies and Inscriptions, 2 vols., Wiesbaden: Oo Harrasowitz, 1977 and 1980, misreads this author’s
name as Ratnamiśra. Ratnamitra is known as a name of at least one Buddhist teacher; neither
Ratnamitra nor Ratnamiśra seems to be found elsewhere as the name of a poet.
2
2. SūMuĀ 48.1 = SuĀ 1427 (no aribution):
anena vītarāgeṇa buddhenevādhareṇa te|
dūti nirvyājam ākhyātā sarvavastuṣu śūnyatā||
3. SuĀ 1426 (no aribution):⁴
vihāraḥ kaṇṭhadeśo ’yaṃ kaṣāye tava locane|
mukhaṃ vigatarāgaṃ ca dūti pravrajitāsi kim||
4. SuĀ 1382 (no aribution):⁵
prakaṭayati kṣaṇabhaṅgaṃ paśyati sarvaṃ jagadgataṃ śūnyam|
ācarati smṛtibāhyaṃ jātā sā bauddhabuddhir iva||
⁴is verse is also Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa 840.
⁵is verse is also Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa 544.
