(St. Petersburg, Russia)
On the Lost Chapters of the Mongolian Translation of Milarepa’s Collected Songs (mGur ‘Bum) by Siregetü Güsi Čorǰi
(57th Annual Meeting of the PIAC Vladivostok, 2014)
Milarepa, the mediator and poet, is esteemed in Tibet and Mongolian as an exemplary saint. The “standard” version of biography of Milarepa (tib.Mi la ras pa /1040-1123/) was compiled by famous Tibetan scholar Tsang NyonHeruka (tib. Gtsangsmyon he ruka /1452-1507), who divided it into two texts- the life story (tib. rnamthar) and “Collection of songs”, also known under short name Gurbum (tib. mgur ‘bum). These texts became widely spread in Mongolia and have had a profound effect on the development of Mongolian medieval literature, primarily hagiography and poetry. In 17 th century Gurbum was translated by a famous Mongolian translator of many Buddhist texts Shiregetu GushiCorji (mong. Širegetü güsičorǰi /XVI-XVII./). Later in 18 th century the Mongolian translation of Gurbum was edited and xylographically published in Beijing.The xylograph became widely spread in Mongolia and Buryatia and was used for making numerous manuscript copies. According to a small colophon on page 135a of the xylographic edition five chapters of Shiregetu’s translation were considered to be lost and were newly translated by Ngawan Tanpel (tib. Ngagdbangbstan ‘phel /1690|1700-1780/) in 1756. A unique manuscript of selected chapters from Gurbumof the reverend Milarepais kept in Ts.DamdinsurenHouse Museumin Ulaanbatar.Textological analysis has shown that the text traces back to the Mongolian translation of ShiregetuGushiCorji free from the eighteenth-century editing. Chapters VIII, X and the second part of XVIIth are probably the translation of the same author, considered to be lost in the middle of the 18th century.