Indian Loan-Words in the Tibetan Language

Tibetans - surrounded by snowy mountains - are natives of the high plateau of Tibet. Mount Everest and Kailash are the most well known to Indians. Mt. Kailash and Mansarovar Lake are pilgrimage destinations for Hindus, Buddhists and Bonpos. Lord Shiva with Goddess Uma and many Devatas resided in sacred places in Tibet. India with its ancient

civilization, science and philosophy is the Karambhumi of many Chakra-varti Kings, saints and sages and philosophers for millions of years. Prince Siddhartha was born in the kingdom of Kapilvastu in the 6th century B.C. After many years in search of Truth he

experienced a supreme realization at Bodh-Gaya and gave his first sermon at Sarnath. The teachings of Gautam Buddha flourished in India and also spread across many far and near places: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, China, Japan, Thailand, Burma, through sea routes. Buddhism crossed the Himalayas

only after Tibetan kings took initiatives, by sending many young and bright Tibetans for studies in India. Most of them perished due to hardships crossing the mighty Himalayas. Many of them succumbed to the heat of the Indian Plains. Few of them survived and were able to learn from some of the great teachers

of that time. Thonmi Sambhota was one of the lucky ones. He mastered the Sanskrit language along Buddhist philosophy and Dharma. On his return to Tibet, King Songtsen Gampo asked Thonmi Sambhota to develop the Tibetan script on the basis of Indian languages he had studied. Based on Gupta scripts, Sambhota

managed to make a new Tibetan script with 30 consonants and 4 vowels, which is not only capable of writing Tibetan but also transcripts any Sanskrit word. Devanagari, evolved from such ancient scripts, is today the script in which Sanskrit, Hindi and some other regional languages are written. We can - even after many centuries - match the shape of many characters to each other. It was in the 9th century that Buddhism started gaining ground in Tibet. Indian Gurus came to Tibet, and Tibetans became

true disciples of India. Under the patronage of Tibetan kings the gargantuan task of translating Buddha’s teachings (Kagyur) and works of Indian Maha Pundits (Tengyur) was made. The Shastras were done under the guidance of Indian Acharyas. Kagyur has more than 100 big volumes and Tengyur about 220

volumes which are the most authentic reservoir of Buddhist literature preserved in Tibetan language, although India itself has lost most of the originals. In the process of translation, some Indian words were adopted and in due course of time they became Tibetan words in various fields of knowledge. These are the Indian loanwords in Tibetan language. The following are some of them. Let us now go through this interesting aspect of Indo-Tibetan Relationship: a)

Non Buddhist Texts in Tibetan Language In the 7th century, Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo sent Thonmi Sambhota to India to learn Sanskrit. Thonmi, after returning from India, devised the Tibetan Script on the basis of Indian script prevalent during the period. Gradually many Indian literatures were

translated into Tibetan. During the reign of Trisong Detsen, he invited Acharya Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava from India during which some Tibetans were ordained into the Buddhist Sangha for the first time. They studied Sanskrit and Buddhist texts to continue the translation of Buddhist texts into Tibetan.

They prepared a Sanskrit-Tibetan bilingual dictionary called Mahavyutpatti. Translations of Buddhist texts and Indian literature continued till the 12th and 13th Centuries Some works translated into Tibetan from Indian languages were not listed in the Kagyur and Tengyur collections. However, they are

available in the Dunhuang and other miscellaneous collections. These are precious Indian treasures preserved by Tibetans for many centuries. The theme of these texts are on Niti-Shastra (Ethics), Grammar, Poetry, Meters. It seems that during the early spread of Buddhism in Tibet, no common subject texts were translated into Tibetan. There was no trace of any list in the earliest Tibetan catalogues called ldan

kar ma and Phang thang ma. However, during the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet, many common subject texts were translated. In the 13th century, Shongton Dorjee Gyaltsen (1235-1280) translated Dandini’s Kavyadarsha, and Amar Singh’s Amarkosh, into Tibetan and started the tradition of its study, which is very

much alive till today. Similarly, Meghaduta was also translated and studied largely. Amarkosh and its commentary Kamadhenu are indispensable to the understanding of poetry. Therefore, Tibetan scholars not only started the tradition of learning these texts, but also wrote independent texts on synonym-

logy. In the field of medicine Tibetans translated many texts on the subject from India: YogaShataka, Jivatura, Acaryanagarjunabhasita avabhesajakalpa, Vaidyastangahrdayavrtti, Astanga Hridaya Samhita are few. The tradition of Indian Ayurvedic system is well preserved and disseminated by the Tibetans, and

is still in practice. Ramayana, one the most important literatures of India translated into Tibetan is available in the Dunhuang Collection (PT 983, IO 737, Documents Tibetians, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 1978). However, the text is in fragments. Tibetan scholars have quoted the events of Ramayana,

Mahabharata and Ten Vishnu Avatara in their works. Sanskrit grammar has taken a high place in the heart of the Tibetan scholars. It is indispensable to learn Sanskrit grammar to properly translate the source materials into the intended language. Kalapa Vyakarana, Chandra Vyakarana and Panini Vyakaranam

have also been translated into Tibetan. Indian Pandita Smriti-jnana composed a grammar book during his sojourn in Tibet, which later became one of the most referred books by Tibetan grammarians to explain Tibetan grammar. Similarly, Sarasvati-vyakarana is studied till date by the Tibetans. Among the Niti-

Shastra, the translation of Chanakya-Neeti is one of the foremost Niti-Shastra translated into Tibetan. Apart from that Prajnanananda a NitiShastra was also translated and studied by the Tibetans. Many Tibetan scholars wrote Niti-Shastras to guide the common man in moral thinking and in his worldly endeavours for better and harmonised societies. The great Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) wrote a much acclaimed book called The Treasure of Elegant Sayings, in

which he explained various aspects of worldly endeavours with reference to the stories of Panchatantra, and from other Indian sources. In the 15th century, Zangzhungwa Choewang Dakpa, a disciple of great master Tsongkhapa wrote poetry based on Ramayana called “A Poetry Called the Vena of Gandharva King”. Later Ngawang Tenpa Gyatso wrote an exclusive commentary on the text.

A contemporary Tibetan scholar, Dhondup Gyal (1953 -) wrote poetry on Ramayana, which has six chapters. Thus, there are many non-Buddhist texts existing in Tibetan translations, dating from the 7th century AD.

The brief list of the works of translation of Non-Buddhist texts into Tibetan are listed below.

Ayurveda

1. Yoga sataka

2. Jivatura

3. Acaryanagarjunabhasita avabhesajakalpa

4. Vaidyastangahrdayavrtti

5. Astangahrdayasamhita nama

6. Astangahrdayanama vaiduryakabhasya

7.Padarthacandrikaprabhasa nama astangahrdayavivrti

8. Aryadesamagadhamathuraksatriyabhisakkunathamnya

9. Aryadesaphahabdhisagdandasabhesajasamskara

10. Arya mulakosamahausadhavali

11. Ayurvedasarvasvasarasamgraha

12. Vaidyasiddhasara

13. Salihotriyasvayurvedasamhita nama

Grammar

1. Vyakaranasubanta nama

2. Tripratyayabhasya

3. Subantaratnakara nama

4. Dhatukaya

5. Candronadivrtiti nama

6. Unadi

7. Tyadyantakriyapadarohana nama

8. Unadivrtti 9. Kalaponadisutra

10. Dhatusutra

11. Sarasvativyakaranasutra

12. Vyakaranamahasastrasarasvativyakaranavrttiprakriyacaturanama

13. Kalapadhatusutra

14. Paninivyakaranasutra

15. Sabdhasastra

16. Astamahapadamula

17. Sisyahita vyakaranakalapasutravrtt

18. Syadyantaprakriy

19. Kalapasutravrtti syadivibhaktiprakriya

Poetry works

1. Meghaduta

2. Ramayana

3. Kavyadarsa Chanda and Kosa Literature

1. Chodoratnakara

2. Adhidhanansastravisvalocana-nama

3. Ekasabdhabahavarthapravartanabhidhanamanimala

4. Devasvaradistaniyamasahitaganapatisamudraphalaprayoga

5. Amarkosa

6. Amarakosatikakamadhenu-nama Shilpa Vidya

1. Rasasiddhisastra nama

2. Rasayanasastroddhrti Nitishastra

1. Nitisastraprajnadanda nama

2. Nitisastrajantuposanabindu nama

3. Canakyanitisastra

4. Nitisastra On Other Subjects

1. Tanuvicaranasastrasamksepa

2. Samudrika nama tanulaksanapariksa