An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism c3.8

c3.8

A few words should be said about the manuscripts, most of which are preserved in the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, some in the Central Library, Boroda, some in the library of the Cambridge University, some in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Except the manuscripts preserved in the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, all the other manuscripts were available to the present writer in rotograph through the courtesy of Dr. S. N. Dasgupta, M.A., Ph.D. (Cal. & Cantab.), D. Lit. (Rome), the then Principal of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta. Apart from the fact that the manuscripts, scribed on palm-leaves, or indigenous hand-made paper in Newari (old Nepalese script), the texts are full of corruptions. Further, the texts were not composed in strictly correct and elegant Sanskrit. The metre is often defective; words are sometimes used without proper suffix; wrong forms are used in analogy; *sandhi* is not treated as essential; pseudo-Sanskritic words have crept in due probably to the influence of the Vernaculars. Because of all these the author has not thought it wise to tamper with the reading of the manuscripts in the form of corrections. Corrections have been made or suggested only in cases where the mistake or the corruption has been palpable. As for transcription, the author has experienced some typographical difficulty and a few words had to be left unmarked or without proper marking.