THREE NEW FRAGMENTS OF THE ALTUN YARUK SUDUR FROM BEZEKLIK
THREE NEW FRAGMENTS OF THE ALTUN YARUK SUDUR FROM BEZEKLIK

Summary/Abstract: Not only the large number of fragments – more than 1000 out of the 8500 Old Turkic fragments preserved in the Berlin Turfan collection – but also the large number of different copies proves the pre-eminence of the Altun Yaruk Sudur (Skt. Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra), “The Sūtra of Golden Light” among the Old Uigurs. A nearly complete copy and a large number of further manuscripts are preserved in the St. Petersburg collection. We also know about smaller fragments from different copies in the London collection and about at least three fragments among the recent findings from the Bezeklik caves, preserved in the Turfan Museum. It is for the first time that two of the three fragments from the new Bezeklik findings are published and that for the third, previously published one, a new interrelation to a manuscript, preserved in fragments in the Berlin collection, is established.

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