The story of Master Conch: two problems in the Khotanese Jātakastava

The article offers a new edition and translation of story 27 (verses 95–96) in the Late Khotanese Jātakastava, a poem that summarises fifty-two stories from the Buddha’s former births, closed by praises of the Bodhisattva’s virtues. The translation takes into account the correction of the previous reading 95a jaṃbuña ‘golden’ into jaṃguña ‘similar to a conch, conch-like’, which brings the Khotanese narrative in line with the story as told in Nāgārjuna’s Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra. The adjective *jaṃgūna- is an -ūna- derivative from jaṃga- ‘conch’, a variant of the loanword śśaṃgga- (cf. daśagraiva/dajagraiva Daśagrīva’) from Sanskrit śaṅkha- through Gāndhārī *śaṃgha- (śagha- in the Khotan Dharmapada). Further, the translation provides a thorough reinterpretation of the closing praise (96cd) on the basis of its detailed orphological, syntactic, and lexical discussion. A glossary to the story is included.