Until a few decades ago, when world-wide interest in Mahayana Buddhism began to rise, literature related to Mahayana Buddhism was limited to classical languages, such as Tibetan and Chinese. As a result of the efforts of scholars, like Mahapandita Rahul Sankrityayana, some Sanskrit texts did come to the attention of readers, but they were often inaccurate and incomplete. Seeing this situation, some contemporary scholars proposed an ambitious programme, the chief object of which was to prepare authoritative editions of the available Sanskrit texts; to restore fragmentary texts with the help of their Tibetan translations; to encourage high-level research based on the material available in these languages, and to make Buddhist literature available in classical languages, like Tibetan and Sanskrit, easily accessible in modern languages, such as Hindi and English. In order to accomplish this ambitious programme, the need for various kinds of lexicons was felt. Accordingly, the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies undertook a grand dictionary project focused on the creation of two kinds of lexicon – general and specialised lexicons.

As part of the effort to prepare general lexicons, work is currently in progress on the creation of a Sanskrit-English dictionary. Work on this dictionary, which will run into 16 volumes, commenced in 1981. So far 13 volumes have been published, and efforts are underway to complete the remainder of the work by 2005.

In addition to general lexicons, the dictionary unit is also compiling critical, specialised Tibetan-Sanskrit lexicon of synonyms related to the respective Buddhist fields of logic; philosophy; metaphysics; ethics; scripture; practitioners’ literature; Tantra; medicine; astrology; poetry; grammar etc. These specialised terminologies are presented in terms of their meanings, definition and contextualised usage. In addition, such terminology is also presented with their Tibetan-Sanskrit equivalents alongside definitions and contextualised usage of these technical and proper terminology within the non-Buddhist Indian schools of thought like Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankhya etc. which appear in Buddhist literature.

Characteristics
:
The present lexicon has the following special characteristics, which set it apart from older Tibetan-Sanskrit lexica like Mahavyutpatti, as well as modern ones like Bhot-Sanskritabhidan:

1. The basic lexical corpus constituting this dictionary has been culled, principally through a comparative study of available Sanskrit texts and their Tibetan translations. For confirmation of Tibetan-Sanskrit lexical equivalents, their meanings and spellings, virtually all available Tibetan and Sanskrit lexicons, both ancient and modern, were consulted. Additionally, scholars specialising in the Tibetan and Sanskrit languages were consulted.

2. The present lexicon has been principally constructed with the intention of aiding textual-restoration work. Equally, the lexicon will be of use in the editing of Sanskrit and Tibetan works as well as in research and study at higher levels.

3. The present work incorporates over forty thousand entries of general, technical and proper terminology along with over hundred and fifty thousand Sanskrit equivalents relating to virtually all Buddhist as well as non-Buddhist Indian Philosophical schools, such as Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankhya etc. This lexicon is of a magnitude greater than all other Tibetan-Sanskrit lexicons currently available.

4. In the present work, the context of headwords, Sanskrit equivalents, and their meanings are given from Tibetan and Sanskrit sources.

5. The material used in the lexicon has been critically dealt with by employing modern methods of lexicography.

Scholars working in this area have greatly praised this dictionary and have termed it a historic effort. In this connection, the review by Prof. J.W. De Jong which appeared in the Indo Iranian Journal is worth mentioning.


(J.S. Negi)
Chief Editor
Dictionary Unit