Oriental Studies (Apr 2018)
On the History of Publications of the Oirat Translation of «the Sutra of Golden Light»
Abstract
The translation of the Tibetan text of «the Sutra of Golden light» in the Oirat language was made by Zaya Pandita. During the century since the translation of the text into the Oirat language in the middle of the XVIIth century, the sutra existed only in manuscript form. In the middle of the XVIIIth century, it was fi rst published by the xylographic method in the Dzungar khanate, and then by the initiative of the Volga Kalmyks. The appearance of printed texts did not affect the number of handwritten forms of the sutras. Today, more than thirty of its handwritten copies are stored in scientific and private collections in Mongolia, China and Russia. In the beginning of the XXIth century facsimile of the Oirat translations of the Sutra was published by Mongolian and Chinese researchers. The text of «the Sutra of Golden light» was translated into Russian and into modern Kalmyk language. The interest to the monument is raised by both scholars and ordinary believers.
