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INTRODUCTION
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graphic copy of one single MSI brought from Tibet by the late Mahāpaņợita Rāhula Sāṁkstyāyana.
The discoverer of the MS. names it 'Śrāvakabhūmi' which contains 30 plates arranged as 1-A, B, 2—A, B to 15-A, B. The MS. originally belonged to the Shā-lu monastery in Tibet, and we have before us only its enlarged photograph in the size of 16" x 20". Regarding the substance of the MS. we have to rely upon the information of the discoverer that this is a palm-leaf-MS. In the photograph, the obverse is marked as ‘A’ and the reverse 'B'. At the bottom of each plate Śrāvakabhūmi or Śrā.Bhūmi has been written. The MS. has been arranged on thirty pages or plates of photograph and each page contains seven to ten leaves. Each leaf has six to nine lines which contain about 120 syllables each. The leaves are divided into three equal parts through artistic writing. In the photograghs the affixed pin-bolts are visible, which, at places, make some syllables illegible, damaged or completely lost.
The MS. is incomplete, and at many places, erazėd, broken and damaged on sides. At many places, it is either indistinct or blurred with ink which mars its
1. It is curious to note that the MS. of the YBS does not contain
the XIII and the XV bhūmis (i.e., the SBh. and the Bodhi). It is probable that while copying the YBS, the scribe did not care to include these two sections in it due only to their larger bulk and magnitude in comparision with other bhūmis. For a similar conclusion and information, see, Bhattacharya, ibid., Introduction, p. 8.
