“Poetical prefaces of manuscript texts from western Tibet”

L’articolo traduce le prefazioni dei manoscritti provenienti dal Tibet occidentale conservati nel Fondo Tucci Tibetano dell’IsIAO. Le prefazioni hanno la caratteristica di descrivere accuratamente il luogo e il tempo della scrittura, fornendo notizie storiche rilevanti per la microstoria della regione. he study of the poetical prefaces found in the manuscripts from western Tibet gives many historical informations as in In terms of their contents, there is the same distinctive manner of arranging topics in seven successive phases: 1) The initial clause always contains praise to Buddha and to faith in the Law. Then we find 2) a general and 3) a particular description of the place where the copy has been made. Then, 4) mention of the ruler of the place, and 5) the name of the donor or donors of the copy are to be found, as well as 6) the title of the copied work and 7) a list of the offerings. The most important consequence is that the manuscripts with this kind of preface can be dated.