Èrshíbā yàochā dàjiàng mínghào 二十八藥叉大將名號
Names of the Twenty-Eight Great Yakṣa Generals
by 不空 (譯抄之)
About the work
A very brief Xùzàngjīng-only enumeration translated under the Tang dynasty by 不空 Bùkōng (= Skt. Amoghavajra, 705–774). The colophon — 不空譯抄之 — gives this as a 抄之 (“extracted / abridged”) translation. The text repeats the basic structure of KR6j0650 and KR6j0651: a list of four yakṣa generals per cardinal direction, with names rendered phonetically. The dating window 746–774 covers Amoghavajra’s productive period at Chang’an after his return from his second Indian/Sri Lankan voyage in 746.
Abstract
The text gives, by quarter:
East: Nǐnǐyīfǎn jiā 你你逸反伽 (= the Dipingā / Dīrgha- of the parallel texts), Sūnìngdáluò 蘇寗怛落 (= Sunetra), Bùluónàjiā 布羅拏迦 (= Pūrṇaka), Jiébǐlí 劫比攞 (= Kapīla).
South: Sēngsīyùnfǎnhè 僧思孕反賀 (= Siṃha “Lion”), Lǔbōsēnghè 𢞬跛僧賀 (= Upa-siṃha), Xiǎngqǐluō 餉企攞 (= Śaṅkhilā), Nànshàngnà 難上那 (= Nanda).
West: Hèluò 賀落 (= Hāla?), Hèlǐjìshuò 賀哩計爍 (= Hari-keśa “Yellow-haired”), Bōluópú 鉢羅僕 (= Praptiruṇa?), Bīngqíluó 氷伽羅 (= Piṅgala “Tawny-eyed”).
The Amoghavajra text is the most precise philologically of the three parallels: he uses yìfǎn 反 / fǎnqiè notations to specify exact pronunciation, characteristic of his translation method. Amoghavajra’s transcription of Hari-keśa (賀哩計爍) is particularly diagnostic of post-mid-Tang Indian phonology.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The pair KR6j0651 / KR6j0652 preserves the Liáng (Saṃghapāla, ~520) and the mid-Tang (Amoghavajra, ~750) recensions of the same Indian yakṣa-name list, separated by some 230 years. The systematic differences — Dìkē / Nǐnǐyīfǎn jiā, Xiūnièduōluó / Sūnìngdáluò, etc. — provide useful evidence for the Indian phonology of the yakṣa-list across early-medieval and high-medieval transmission.
Links
- CBETA online: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X0184
- Companion texts: KR6j0650, KR6j0651
- Kanseki DB