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The evolution of the Buddhist rakṣā genre in the light of new evidence from Gandhāra: The *Manasvi-nāgarāja-sūtra from the Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2014

Ingo Strauch
Ingo Strauch*
Affiliation:
Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines the *Manasvi-nāgarāja-sūtra, a unique text in the rakṣā genre of Buddhist literature dating to the early centuries of the common era. In addition to exploring special features of the vocabulary and meaning of this text, the article places the *Manasvi-nāgarāja-sūtra in the wider context of Buddhist textual and ritual practice in the first, second and third centuries ce.

Keywords

Buddhist literatureDhāraṇī textsApotropaic textsGāndhārī literatureMantrasBajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 63 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2014 

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