Abstract

Rašīd al-Dīn's (1247-1318) Ǧāmiʿ al-tawārīḫ (‘Compendium of Chronicles’), often regarded as “the first world history” by historians, contains one of few precious systematic accounts introducing Indian religions to the Islamic world. The Indian History in the Ǧāmiʿ at-Tawārīḫ is composed of three parts: (I.1) a chronological and geographical description of India based on al-Bīrūnī's Kitāb al-Hind, (I.2) a history of the rulers of Delhi, (II) the life and teaching of Śākyamuni according to a Buddhist monk from Kashmir named "Kamālašrī Baḫšī" (a loaned title from Chin. 博士 via Old Uyghur bahšı). Buddhist parallels of Śākyamuni’s biography reported in the Ǧāmiʿ al-tawārīḫ have been identified in the Chinese, Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan Buddhist canons by Schopen (1965), Sakaki (2000), Elverskog (2008) and Lin (2021).

Based on the manuscript of British Library MS Add 7628, this paper examines how Buddhist terminology and formulaic phrases are transcribed, translated, or paraphrased from Indic into Arabic and Persian in Rašīd al-Dīn's rendition of Śākyamuni’s biography. A particular focus will be on (1) Ch. 8 or the *Ārya-vasiṣṭha-sūtra, identified by to be the Uposathavagga in the Pali Aṅguttara-nikāya and the 'Phags pa gnas 'jog gi mdo (Derge 333) in the Tibetan Kanjur; (2) Ch. 16 in Persian or Ch. 17 in Arabic, identified to be the Devatāsūtra, whose Sanskrit manuscript has been newly discovered and identified in Gilgit (Mette 1981), Chinese 天請問經 (Taishō 592), and Tibetan Lha'i mdo (Derge 329). With the help of parallel Buddhist sources as well as Rašīd al-Dīn’s Quranic and Sufic references, we are able to re-evaluate Buddhist translations as a transcultural phenomenon that spans from East Asia all the way to the Mediterranean world.

Suggested Readings

Elverskog, John. 2008. "The Mongolian Big Dipper Sūtra." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 29, no. 1. 87-124.

Jahn, Karl.1965. Rashīd Al-Dīn's History of India: Collected Essays with Facsimiles and Indices. London, Paris, The Hague: Mouton.

Jahn, Karl. 1980. Die Indiengeschichte des Rašīd Ad-Dīn: Einleitung, Vollständige Übersetzung, Kommentar und 80 Texttafeln. Wien: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,

Lin, Chia-Wei. 2021. The *Ārya-vasiṣṭha-sūtra in Rašīd ad-Dīn's Ǧāmiʿ at-Tawārīḫ: Text, Translation, and Commentary. Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg: unpublished BA thesis.

Mette, Adelheid. 1981. "Zwei kleine Fragmente aus Gilgit." Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 7: 133-151.

Sakaki Kazuyo 榊和良. 2000. "Chusē isurāmu bunken ni miru bukkyō no zen'akukan: Rashīdo Addīn no 'Shūsei' nimiru rokudōrinne" 中世イスラーム文献に見る仏教の善悪観: ラシード・アッディーンの『集史』に見る六道輪廻. Nihon bukkyō gakukai nenpo 日本仏教学会年報 65:11-22.

Schopen, Gregory. 1982. "Hīnayāna Texts in a 14th Century Persian Chronicle: Notes on Some of Rashīd al-Dīn's Sources." Central Asiatic Journal 26, No. ¾: 225-235.