British Library Fragment 5C (Gandhārī)
This fragmentary hymn of praise was discovered among the British Library Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts, a collection of Buddhist texts on birch bark from the ancient Gandhāra region (modern northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan). The manuscript dates to the 1st–2nd century CE and is written in a Sanskritized form of Gandhāri Prakrit using the Kharoṣṭhī script.
The poem is composed in the Sragdharā meter (21 syllables per line) — one of the most elaborate classical Indian verse forms — and celebrates the Buddha's physical radiance, the glory of his stūpas, and the enduring power of his teaching. The manuscript is heavily damaged, with substantial lacunae throughout. The surviving verses paint a vivid picture of Buddhist devotional culture in Gandhāra: stūpas decorated with gold and jewel-nets, shining like Mount Meru, and the Buddha himself radiant as the sun.
This is a Good Works Translation from Gandhāri Prakrit. Translated from the transliteration published by Stefan Baums (LMU Munich, 2019; updated 2020). No prior complete English translation existed in freely available form.
Gospel Reading
By the great sage's miraculous display
the hosts of the Māras were scattered.
In the palace of the destroyer of becoming,
his golden radiance shining —
goddesses and asura women, lifted by the wind.
Even now, the stūpas of the great sage —
on whose surfaces are piled nets of gold and jewels —
radiate the white brilliance of the fixed mass of Kailāsa,
rising up like the peaks of Meru.
Even now the spotless protector shines like the sun,
before the great multitude.
By me the protector of the world, the destroyer of becoming, has been praised —
the radiance of the best of men.
Scholarly Translation
The following preserves all lacunae faithfully. [...] marks where the birch bark is damaged or lost.
1.
[...] by the great sage's miraculous display [...]
the hosts of the Māras [...]
2.
[...] in the palace [...]
[...] radiance [...] shining [...]
[...] wind-lifted [...]
3.
Even now, the stūpas of the great sage [...] grief [...]
on whose surfaces are piled nets of gold and jewels —
they radiate the white brilliance of the fixed mass of Kailāsa,
rising up like the peaks of Meru.
4.
Even now [...] burden [...]
[...] from the starry sky [...]
5.
Even now, the spotless protector, shining like the sun [...]
[...] the great multitude [...]
6.
By me the protector of the world, the destroyer of becoming, has been praised [...]
[...] the radiance of the best of men [...]
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Gandhāri Prakrit. Translated from British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5C (BL 5C = CKM 8), dating to the 1st–2nd century CE. Source transliteration published by Stefan Baums in Gāndhārī Stotras: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment BL 5C and Bajaur Collection Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 8 (LMU Munich, 2019; updated 2020). A stotra (hymn of praise) in the Sragdharā meter, this text represents one of the earliest surviving Buddhist devotional compositions from Gandhāra. The manuscript is severely damaged; only fragments of six verses survive. Lacunae marked with [...] indicate damage or loss of the birch-bark manuscript.
Translated and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2025.
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Source Text: Gandhārī Prakrit Transliteration
Gandhāri Prakrit transliteration from BL 5C (British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5C). Published by Stefan Baums, LMU Munich, 2019; updated 2020. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
[1] + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ? [ñ]. ? ? ? ? + + ? ? ? .i ? ? [ś]. a [sti] t. [a] .[r]. ? + + + + + + + + + + + .r. ? ? [ma]harṣivikurvitaṃ ○ [ajavi] .ṃ? [ra] marugaṇa ra ? + + +
[2] + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ? [ga sa ta] ni ga śa g[u]ṃraṃ · agra bhavana ? + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ○ ? ? ? svavarṇa ? ? .i + + + + + + vadudhuda + + + + + + + + + + + + +
[3] ājāvi śogani mahāmuṇisa · thūbāni svārnamaṇijālatalācitāni · kelāsahāsadhruasācayapāḍarābhāṃ · bhrāyāṃti meruśikharāṇi va ūnadāni
[4] (ājāvi) – ⏑⏑⏑– ⏑⏑– ⏑– – · – – ⏑– ⏑⏑⏑– ⏑⏑ bhōyanāgāṃ · bhrēgāyohōdarasagā ⏑⏑– .i bhārāṃ · tārāya – ⏑⏑⏑– khatalā sagāśā
[5] ājāvi nāsa vimalō vi ya bhāḱarābhā · – – mahājana ⏑– ⏑⏑– ⏑– –
[6] maya lokanaδo bhavasudano pasaṃtho · + + + + + + + + + + + + narudarasa + + + +
Source Colophon
Gandhāri Prakrit source text from British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5C (BL 5C = CKM 8). Birch-bark manuscript, 1st–2nd century CE, from the Haḍḍa region of eastern Afghanistan (ancient Gandhāra). Currently held by the British Library, London. Transliteration by Stefan Baums, published in Gāndhārī Stotras (LMU Munich, 2019; updated 2020). Freely available at the Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra project, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
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