Kingship and almsgiving: on the Khotanese ‘Dharma-preaching text on the Pravāraṇa day’ from Dunhuang

Abstract

Abstract The Dunhuang Khotanese manuscript Pelliot chinois 2787, erroneously described as a ‘panegyric of King Viśa’ Saṃgrāma’, is in fact a dharma-preaching text used by Khotanese Buddhist monks during the dharma assembly on the Pravāraṇa day (or Pravāraṇā day), so it should be entitled ‘Dharma-preaching text by Khotanese Buddhist monks at the dharma assembly on the night of the Pravāraṇa day’, or simply ‘Dharma-preaching text on the Pravāraṇa day’. This article demonstrates that there is another Khotanese fragment, Pelliot chinois 2834, belonging to the same manuscript. Both the dharma-preaching text and the dharma assembly are associated with the construction of a Buddhist monastery named Viṣṇavakrrārma by the Khotanese king Viśa’ Saṃgrāma. The dharma-preaching text foregrounding the four kinds of brahma-merit ( brāhmapuṇya ) accumulated by Viśa’ Saṃgrāma finds resonance with the incorporation of the Kaniṣkāvadāna (The tale of Kaniṣka). The concept of brāhmapuṇya is widely attested in Indian epigraphic sources and plays a significant role in the institution of Buddhist kingship. In sum, this article argues that, in the tenth century, the Khotanese attempted to legitimise the Khotanese kings as dharma-protecting cakravartin kings (sovereigns of the world) when the Buddhist kingdom was plagued by various crises from both within and without.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2026 · DOI ↗