Story Of Rama In Tibet

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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THE STORY OF RAMA IN TIBET
J. W. DE JONG
The story of Rama is well known in Tibet and it is told in many texts. The oldest known version is found in six manuscripts from Tun-huang. Tun-huang in the north-west of China was occupied by the Tibetans during a period of about sixty years from 787 to 848. It is probably during the Tibetan occupation that this version of the story of Rama was written in Tun-huang. It is also possible that the manuscripts containing this story could have been written in Central Tibet and brought to Tunhuang during the Tibetan occupation. The six manuscripts containing this story are all incomplete and they differ in details. The six manuscripts which are usually designated with the letters A, B, C, D, E and F can be divided into two groups. Manuscripts A, C, D, and F represent one Recension: Recension I, and manuscripts B and E another recension, Recension II. The main difference between the two Recensions is that Recension I is more detailed, containing several episodes which are missing in Recension II. Recension I is preserved almost in its entirety in manuscripts D and A which together contain 491 lines. Only a few lines are missing. The complete manuscript of Recision I must live willained almival 500 lines. The second recension is only partly preserved, mainly in manuscript E. The 276 lines of manuscript E correspond to about 340 lines of manuscripts D and A. Probably Recension Il contained about 400 lines.
It is not my intention to repeat the detailed summary of the two recensions which I presented to the First International Sanskrit Conference in New Delhi in March 1972. However, it is necessary to briefly sketch the main lines of the story in order to explain the