The Prajñāpāramitā is one of the earliest Mahāyāna scriptures that have been passed down throughout history. Due to its prolonged transmission, the Prajñāpāramitā has not only evolved into a large corpus but is also extant in various languages and recensions. As such the text is important for the historical study of the Mahāyāna philosophy. This is especially true for the recension preserved in the Gilgit-Ms., because it contains interesting and important variants not found in the other edited Sanskrit versions. The edition of the Gilgit-Ms. is deemed even more essential, in view of the fact that the Fourteenth Chapter of the Prajñāpāramitā in 25,000 lines of the Gilgit-Ms. constitutes the earliest strata of the text.
In this edition, I have transcribed and edited this portion of the Gilgit-Ms. by taking all the Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese versions into consideration. This is an important ground-laying work, since it facilitates the accessibility of the Gilgit-Ms. for future scholars. I have attempted to provide an almost diplomatic edition so as to give readers an idea of what the manuscripts look like.
Since the language of the Gilgit-Ms. consists of Sanskrit interspersed with the so-called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, I have noted in the introduction the orthographical and grammatical features particular to the Gilgit-Ms. I hope that this approach can enhance our understanding of the linguistic particularities of the Prakrit language.
Pañcavijśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, Gilgit-Ms., Buddhist Sanskrit, the Fourteenth Chapter
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