The Mongolian Manuscripts on Birch Bark from Xarbuxyn Balgas in the Collection of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences

The present work is the second volume of the edition of Mongolian manuscripts on birch bark, found inside a halfdestroyed stupa near the ruined town of Xarbuxyn Balgas in Central Mongolia and dating back to the first part of the 17th century. Only a few of the manuscripts survived completely. Most of them are fragments, with many rather damaged pieces. The manuscripts of Xarbuxyn Balgas constitute one of the oldest and largest collections of Mongolian original texts, covering a great variety of – mostly religious and divinatory – subjects. The second volume of the edition contains 60 manuscript texts, representing 57 individual texts. Many of them could be identified, some of them could at least be attributed to a particular genre and topic. There are fragments proving a special early tradition of the songs of the famous Tibetan poet Milarepa. Other texts are early evidences for the use of canonical Buddhist, transmitted in a condensed form as powerful means for collecting merits and gaining protection. The texts are edited in Latin transcription and facsimile. Detailed commentaries are added.