Gilgit Manuscripts Vol 01

SR No.: 020346
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nalinaksha Dutt, D M Bhattacharya, Shivnath Sharma
Publisher: Government of Jammu
Total Pages: 266
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Catalogue
File Size: 20 MB

Page 81

SARVATATHAGATADHIȘTHĀNAVYOHAM been at that time, Sāntivarman, for safety while travelling, invoked Tārā, Bhřkūți, Hayagriva, Ekajați and lastly Avalokiteśvara all wellknown names of gods in the later Buddhist literature to aid him in his tour over the wild uninhabited region. In the account there is 10 indication that the route lay across the vast sea to an island like Madagascar, where Prof. Tucci' would have us look for the location of the Potalaka, the abode of Avalokitesvara on the basis of an account of the travels of Buddhagupta. It may be contended that in p. 157 of Tāranātha's Geschichte while describing the route of Candragomin from Nālandā to Potala via Dhanasri-glin (glin= vibära and not dvipa), it is said that he travelled in a boat which was wrecked, and that he was saved by the goddess Tārā. This also does not suggest that we are to look for Potala in Madagascar, for it is quite natural that in those days, when the land-routes were generally infested with wild animals and robbers, and when there were the difficulties of crossing rivers and mountains and obtaining food and shelter on the way, it was safer and more comfortable to travel by the river-routes or coastal sea-routes, and that this was preferred by the Indians is amply proved by the Jātakas and such other literature. In this case, I think, Candragomin went in a boat along the eastern coast up to Amarāvati and thence to Potala or Potalaka. In view of the fact that the scene of the present work is laid at. Potalaka, and the statement that the work will become popular in the south, it behoves us to look for its location somewhere near the southern extremity of India.
As the first two leaves of the manuscript are lost, the Sanskrit text is reconstructed from the Tibetan xylograph.
1 IHQ., VII, p. 695-6.