buhnemann-gudrun-some remarks on the date of abhayakaragupta and the chronology of his works

7/27/2019 Buhnemann-Gudrun-Some Remarks on the Date of Abhayakaragupta and the Chronology of His Works

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Some Remarks on the Date of Abhayakaragupta andthe Chronology ofHis Works

By Gudrun BChnemann, Kyoto

Abhayakaragupta is known as the author of a number ofTantricworks and translator of Sanskrittexts into Tibetan. Most of his originalworks were lost and preserved only in Tibetan translations.

We do not have precise information about when he lived or where hewas bom, etc., since the available Tibetan sources provide contradictory accounts of his life. The colophons of some of his works state thatthey were written during specific years ofKing Ramapalasreign duringthe Pala Dynasty in Bengal and Bihar.

The present paper evaluates the accounts of Abhayakaragupta s lifeand attempts to provide a relative chronology of his works based on thestatements appearing in colophons and cross references found in hisworks.

The following Tibetan sources provide information on Abhayakaraguptas life:

1. the works ofTaranatha (b. 1575)a. bKa' babs bdun Idan gyi mam tkar (written 1600);b. rGya gar chos 'byun (written 1608);

2. AbhayaJcara'i Hogs bijod by Bio bzan chos kyi rgyal mlskanofTashi Ihun po Monastery, Tibet (written 1641), published inSingh 1968, pp. 189-192;

3. an account by S. C. Das based on writings of some Indianpanditas who laboured in Tibet, resembling 2. in contents;

4. dPag bsam. Ijon bzan(= PSJZ) of Sum pa mkhan po Ye 6es dpalbyor (written 1748).

The bKa babs bdun ldan, p. 109 and PSJZ 120, 23, state that

Abhayakara was born in Jarikhanda which according to Taranathaneighbours OdiviSa (= Orissa)". Jarikhanda must be identical with


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R. Sankrtyayana1has identified it with the area near Baidyanath(i.e. Devgadh/Deogarh)2 in the district of Dumka in Bihar. According

to Das (p. 16), Abhay&karagupta was bom in Eastern India near thecity of Gauda". This city in the northern part ofBengal, in the Maldadistrict, was once the capital ofBengal.1The Tibetan translation of hisVajrayanapattimafljari (P 3310, vol. 69, Tei 223b. 1) states that he wasfrom Magadha, which may referto eitherthe area where he was bomor where he taught, i. e. Vajrasana (=Buddhagaya), Nalanda and Vikra-ma6Ila.+ Magadha, the province ofBihar, properly South Bihar, nearJharakhaoda, extending into the vicinity of Gauda, includes the area ofthe Buddhist universities VikramaSila, Nalanda, etc. The city of Gauda

is very close to the location of VikramaSila. Although we cannotlocateAbhayakaraguptas birthplace, allthree sources refer to a similar areain north-eastern India.

Das (p. 16) writes that Abhayakara was bom in the middle oftheninth century, which is too early as it contradicts the other statemen tsin the same account, e.g., that he was a contemporary of King Rama-

1 R. S a n k ^ t y a y a n a : Tibbatmewbauddhadharma. In: Hindustani 4 (1934),

pp. 1-47, p. 29. , o t?2 Baidyanath is situated in the Santalpargapas at 24 30 N and 86 42 E.3 Gauda was located at 24 54' N and 88 8' E.4 According to bKa babs bdnn Ulan, pp. 112-113 and PSJZ 121, 1.


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pala. The chronologicaltables (reumig)on the history ofTibet by Sumpa mkhan po Ye aes dpal byor give his birth year as the Wood-Dragon

year (sin brug) and his year of death as the Wood-Serpent year (sinabrul), corresponding to 1064 and 1125. Ye See dpal byor assigns thesame Wood-Dragon year as birth year to Brom ston and Gian tshulbyan of rGyal, bu tin the ir cases the Wood-Dragon year in the earliersixty year cycle, i.e. 1004, is appropriate.

We know fromTibetan sources that Abhayakara was a contemporaryof King Ramapala. Moreover, the colophons ofthree of his works statethatthey were written during specific years ofRamapala s reign. Theworks and their dates are

1. the Abhayapaddhati, composed during the twenty-fifth year,2. the Munimalalamkara, composed during the thirtieth year,3. and the Amndyamanjari, completed during the thirty-seventh

year.

The chronology ofthe Pala kings is still a matter of controversy andthere are different calculations for dating Ramapaias reign. The initialyear of his reign period is given as

1. 1057 by Ba n e rj i 1928 (p. 533, 538);2. 1077 by R. C. Majum dar 1921 (p. 6) and A. K. Majum da r

1977-80, vol. 1 (p. 410);3. 1078 by B hat tac hary ya 1930 (p. 168);4. 1080 by D u f f (p. 131) and Pau l 1939 (p. 75);5. 1084 by Sm it h 1909 {p. 246) and Ray 1931-32 vol 1

(pp. 346-347); 6. 1092 by V id yab h u sana 1909 (p. 149) (on the basis ofTibetan

sources).While the date suggested by Ba n e rj i has been rejected by B ha t ta

c hary ya as too early, the one calculated by V id yabh u sana is too lateand does nottake archaeological and historical evidence into account,Ramapala probably ascended the throne between 1077 and 1084

Das (p, 18) reports thatRamapala ruled for forty years, while Sm it h R. C. Majum d a r , R ay , Pau l and A. K. Majum da r have shown thathe ruled for atleas t forty-two years, and the rGyagarchos >byun 190

and PSJZ i20>23 specify the duration of his reign as forty-sixyears. Ramapala was succeeded by his son Kumarapala, called Yak?apala in the rGyagarchos'byun190,22 and PSJZ 121,5 and AksapalainDas (p. 18). r


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The following tab le supplies the two kings names and reign dates asindicated by A. K. Majum da r 1977-80, vol. 1 (pp. 408-12) and Ray1931-36, vol. 1 (pp. 257, 282f., 350):

According to the rQya gar chos byun 190, 21-22 and Das (p. 18),Abhayakaragupta died before Ramapaia abdicated the throne in favourof his son. The date must have occurred between 1119 and 1126,depending on which calculation is used, and it can be brought intoaccordance with the year of hie death, 1125, given by Sum pa mkhan poYe Ses dpal byor. In contradiction to this, PSJZ 121, 6-7 states thatAbhayakara became the chief priest of VikraraaSila at the time ofKumarapalas dethronement by his minister Lavasena. This statementcoincides with the year of his death, 1125, only if A. K. M a j u m d a k scalculations for Ramapaia and Kumarapala are accepted.

Following is a list of works ascribed to Abhayakaragupta. Most ofthem are preserved in Tibetan translations only. Their references are

from the Peking Edition (P) ofthe TibetanTr

ipifaka

.Abhayapaddhati, a commentary (fiku)on the BuddhakapQlamahatantra-raja, also known as the BuddhakapalamahtiMinlrarajaiika (P 2526)According to the colophon ofthe fourteenthpafalaofthe only extan tSanskritmanuscript, G 3827, preserved in the Royal Asiatic SocietyofBengal, Calcutta, RASB, p. 163, the tex t was written in the twenty-fifth year of Ramapalas reign at VikramaSila. It mentions theAmnayamanjari, Kalacakravatara and Vajravali (cf. extracts of thetext in RASB, p. 164),

Abhi$ekaprakararm (P 2214)Amnayamanjari, a commentary (tikd) on the Sarpfputatantraraja(P 2328)The text states tha tit was composed during the thirty-seventh year ofRamapalas reign (P, vol. 55, Dsa 356b. 4). It is referred to in theAbhayapaddhati(cf. RASB, p. 164) and Vajravali178,1 and 182,4 etc.

Bodhipaddhati (P 4585)BodhisaUvasaijivaragraAanavidhi (P 5365)Cakrasaifivarabhisamaya (P 2213) _

buhnemann-gudrun-some remarks on the date of abhayakaragupta and the chronology of his works

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