An Oirat Manuscript of ‘The Hymn to the Green Tara’ from the Collection of Midjid Lama (Uvs Province, Mongolia)

The publication examines texts devoted to the cult of the goddess Tara, the latter being revered by all Mongolic peoples which is evidenced by field materials collected between 2013 and 2016 in Uvs and Khovd Provinces of Mongolia. One such religious text from the personal collection of Midjid Lama (Midjidorzh), the abbot of Namirin Khiid (Ömnӧgovi Sum, Uvs Province, Mongolia), serves as a vivid confirmation. The work publishes an Oirat-language manuscript entitled ‘The Hymn to the Green Tara’ (Oir. Noγōn Dāre ekeyin maqtāl orošiboi) with transliteration, commented translation, and facsimile of the original source. This is one of the prayer texts once used in ceremonial honoring of the goddess Tara. The article also discusses similar texts in Mongolian and Tibetan languages.

1. [‘The Hymn to the Green Tāra’]. An Oirat-language manuscript. In: Collection of Oirat texts of Mijiddorji (Midjid Lama). Small format. 6 p. (In Oir.)

2. [A Tibetan-language pocket prayer book]. A Tibetan manuscript. In: Scientific Archive, Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS. Fond 15. Ser. I. Arch. unit 466. 12x8 cm, 34 p. (In Tib.).

3. [Hymns to the Tara]. A. V. Zorin (transl., foreword, etc.). Moscow: Otkrytyi Mir, 2009. 272 p. (In Russ.)

4. Brief Catalogue of Oirat Manuscripts kept by Institute of Language and Literature. Vol. III by G. Gerelmaa. Ulaanbaatar: Soyombo printing Publ. 2005. 270 p. (In Eng.)

5. Catalogue of the Mongolian Manuscripts and Xylographs in the St. Petersburg State University Library. Compiled by V. L. Uspensky. Tokyo: Institute for the study of languages and cultures of Asia and Africa. 2001. 530+186 p. (In Eng.)

6. Luvsanbaldan Kh. [The Clear Script and Its Monuments]. Ts. Damdinsüren (ed.). Ulaanbaatar: Mong. Acad. of Sc., 1975. 356 p. (In Mong.)

7. Muzraeva D. N. [Tibetan- and Oirat-Language Buddhist Written Sources in Collections of Kalmykia]. Elista: Dzhangar, 2012. 224 p. (In Russ.)

8. Muzraeva D. N. [Tibetan–Mongolian Narrative Literature of the 17th–18th Centuries]. (Translated written monuments in Mongolian and Oirat languages). Elista: Dzhangar, 2013. 150 p. (In Russ. and Kalm.)

9. Muzraeva D. N. Hymns of Glorification from the Tibetan Collection of the Kalmyk Humanities Research Institute of the RAS. In: [Mongolian Studies of Russia]. Bulletin 5. Moscow: Inst. of Oriental Studies (RAS), 2001. Pp. 266–278. (In Russ.)

10. Muzraeva D. N. Monuments of the Tibetan Fond contained in the archives of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities and Applied Research. In: [Culture of Central Asia: Written Sources]. Is. 3. Ulan-Ude: Buryat Scient. Center (Sib. Branch) of RAS, 1999. Pp. 189–192. (In Russ.)

11. Orlova K. V. A description of Mongolian manuscripts and woodblock prints stored in Kalmykia’s fonds. In: [Newsletter (of the Society of Orientalists)]. Is. 5. Moscow: Inst. of Oriental Studies (RAS), Kalm. Hum. Res. Inst. of RAS, 2002. P. 85 p. (In Russ.)

12. Sazykin A. G. [Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences: a Catalogue of Mongolian Manuscripts and Woodblock Prints]. Vol. 2. Moscow: Vost. Lit., 2001. 415 p. (In Russ.)

13. Sumya D. A tradition of worshiping the Tara in Buddhism. Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the RAS. 2012. No. 3. Pp. 70–75. (In Russ.)

14. The Diluv Khutagt of Mongolia. Political Memoirs and Autobiography of a Buddhist Reincarnation. E. V. Gordienko (Eng.-to-Rus. transl.); S. L. Kuzmin, J. Oyunchimeg, N. G. Inozemtsev (eds.). Moscow: Save Tibet Foundation, 2018. 352 p. (In Russ.)

15. Zorin A. V. [At the Roots of Tibetan Poetry. Buddhist Hymns in Tibetan Literature of the 8th–14th Centuries]. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie, 2010. 384 p. (In Russ.).