Powers of Protection : The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections This sourcebook explores the most extensive tradition of Buddhist dhāraṇī literature and provides access to the earliest available materials for the first time: a unique palm leaf bundle from the 12th 13th centuries and a paper manuscript of 1719 CE. The Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha collections have been present in South Asia and especially in Nepal for more than eight hundred years and served to supply protection merit and auspiciousness for those who commissioned their compilation. For modern scholarship these diverse compendiums are valuable sources of incantations and related texts many of which survive in Sanskrit only in such manuscripts Frontmatter Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 An Edition of Cambridge Ms. Add. 1680.8 3 An Edition of Cambridge Ms. Add. 1326 Appendices A.1 Gilgit spell texts (ca. 6th 7th c.) A.2 Lhan Kar Ma catalogue spells and related texts (ca. 800 CE) A.3 Asiatic Society of Bengal Kolkata Ms. B 5 A.4 University of Tokyo Library Ms. 201 A.5 University of Tokyo Library Ms. 420 A.6 Private collection Ms. Kathmandu = NGMPP E 1774 3 A.7 National Archives Kathmandu Ms. NAK 5 31 = NGMPP B 107 14 A.8 Unspecified collection Ms. and Asha Archives Kathmandu Ms. 2507 A.9 Bodleian Library Oxford Ms. 1449 Ms. Hodgson 6 A.10 Asha Archives Kathmandu Ms. No. 2566 A.11 Bibliothèque Nationale Paris Ms. No. 62 A.12 Royal Asiatic Society London Hodgson Ms. 55 A.13 Private collection Ms. Kathmandu = NGMPP E 614 3 A.14 University of Tokyo Library Ms. 419 A.15 University of Tokyo Library Ms. 418 A.16 Toyo Bunko Tokyo Ms. No. 13 A.17 National Archives Kathmandu Ms. NAK 3 589 = NGMPP A 131 9 A 861 13 A.18 National Archives Kathmandu Ms. NAK 3 641 = NGMPP A 131 10 References Index