འཕགས་མ་ར་ཁྲད་ལ་མ་གྱན་མ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས intro.6

intro.6

The two Parṇaśavarī texts in the Kangyur must have been derived from the same basic text. The difference between the version translated here, The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī, and the other, The Parṇaśavarī Sūtra, is that in the latter the original text is rendered entirely in transliterated Sanskrit, and is then followed by a series of verses in Tibetan emphasizing the sūtra’s efficacy in a number of different contexts, with a specific emphasis on veterinary applications; the verses are unique to that version. In those Kangyurs that have an added Compendium of Dhāraṇīs, like the Degé Kangyur, these two Parṇaśavarī texts are each duplicated therein; thus in the Degé Kangyur The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī appears once in the Tantra section as Toh 736, and again in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs as Toh 995,⁴ while The Parṇaśavarī Sūtra appears as Toh 735 in the Tantra section and Toh 994 in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs. In the Tengyur, two texts almost identical to the one translated here are each included in two different anthologies of sādhanas. One has the title The Dhāraṇī Mantra of Parṇaśavarī (Toh 3361), and the other The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī (Toh 3540).