The Catalogue of the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum
Modern library pagination and markings
In this volume, the western numbering is written in blue pencil numbers. The second index leaf (see below) bears a rectangular IOL paper sticker, white with red borders (as in other volumes, with a heart-shaped decoration in each corner), with the red handwriting: "326 pages"; and in blue writing, "Misc. COLLN. GYUT 23."; and in large Tibetan writing, "rgyud 'a".
Paper composition
Some sheets are thinner than others (eg. 111), although most are quite thick, appearing to consist of two layers of paper.
Size of folios
The size of the plain sheets is 578 x 125mm. There is some size variation (eg. 31 and 101 are 569 mm in length, (the first) 177 only 542 mm), and some sheets are not cut very straight (especially, many of the left-hand edges go down to the left; 280 has an unevenly cut bottom edge).
Sheet numberings
As in other volumes, many of the sheets have tiny Tibetan numerals written sideways, some of which are missing or partially cut off, and where they do occur, they do not seem to correspond to the page numbering in words.
Pagination
Page details are given in words written sideways in black ink, to the left of the writing on each recto side.
Page settings
Most sheets, as in other volumes, have 7 lines of black ink writing, with double red vertical lines to the sides of the writing. The lines are ruled with faint (diluted?) reddish ink. The writing is not always exactly square on the page (eg. on 53, it goes slightly down from left to right).
Ornaments, openings and punctuation
Double yig mgo are found in the upper left corner of all recto sides, apart from 1-3. gNyis and gsum each have a triple yig mgo, and the verso side of gcig also has a triple yig mgo. The regular double yig mgo usually start on or to the right of the red vertical margin delineators. There are some slight differences in style, with some larger or more elongated than others.
Handwriting
The writing in this volume seems to be quite consistent in style, with some size variation; the letters are mostly clear and distinct.
Corrections and interventions
We have an instance (236b) of an insertion marked in the same way as that on 144b of volume Ya: a symbol of a cross with a small circle in each of the four corners made by the cross; the symbol marks the place in the text and is repeated above the writing area, in front of the insertion which is given in small writing.
Readers' marks
9a has the added words in what appears to be pencil, "rgyud dgu", written in poor large writing, to the left of the page, under the folio identification in ink. There appear to be some faintly drawn doodles, possibly in the same hand, to the bottom of 101a, to the left and bottom of 165a, and to the left of 167 and 168.
Marks and blemishes
Very occasionally, an ink smudge makes the writing difficult to read (eg. 151a).
State of preservation
The writing in this volume is rarely obscured by tears and holes, although many sheets are damaged, especially at the edges, and particularly in the first part of the volume. The first folios, particularly those up to 13, are in poor condition, with damage to the upper parts of each sheet, possibly through water damage, but despite some transference of parts of the upper layers of sheets to adjacent folios and the consequent removal of parts of the red boxes and some black ink, as well as tears out of the sheets (eg. 3), the writing is mostly legible (occasionally, part of a line is missing, eg. 8a line 1; 11b line 7). The condition of the sheets improves later in the volume, but there are still occasional sheets (eg. 61) which appear to have been affected by water damage and have a section of the top layer of paper removed or displaced, and the final sheets in the volume are also in fairly poor condition, especially the last few folios where there are significant holes in the writing area. There are many sheets with edge indentations, in the first third of the volume especially at the top, where the sheets have been damaged, but also some indentations along the bottom and sides of sheets, and such indentations continue throughout the volume. Some sheets have one or more small holes outside the writing area (eg. 86, 88, 90-98, 162, 175, 189, 191-3, 195, 248, 250-67, 274, 278, 304-6, 312-19, 322, 326), and some have holes within the writing area (eg. 18, 109, 116-7, 185-6, 250, 322-6) which mostly do not obscure the writing (eg. the hole on 18 appears to predate the writing since space has been left for it). Some sheets have tears from the edges (eg. 11, 18, 22-24, 38, 44-5, 56, 88, 200, 238), or tears out of the edges (eg. 244); some folios are rather crinkled, and many sheets are brownish in colour and in some cases rather dirty. However, the clear writing is hardly ever obscured. There are some attempted repairs. 23 has a large tear, which has been partially repaired with a strip of an IOL label stuck along one side on the part of the tear outside the writing area. Other sheets have small pieces of Tibetan paper stuck at the edge over one (eg. 146a, 189b, 190a, 193b, 225a, 249b, 251a, 252b) or over both sides (eg. 27, 159, 250, 255) of a tear or hole. There is an impressive repair of 46, which appears to have been torn into two, and carefully stuck together, with the aid of paper on each side of the folio, at the top and bottom. A tear from the top of 56 also seems to have been repaired by sticking the two parts of the sheet together, although without any added paper. There is a rather less successful repair of 93, which like 46, appears to have been torn in two. In this case, the two edges of the tear have not been lined up exactly correctly, but the repair has successfully bound the two sides, with thread stitching visible above and below the writing area on 93a, and two pieces of paper stuck on the other side of the stitching on 93b. 323 also has a repair where the sheet appears to have been torn in half: the tear has been left in the centre of the folio, allowing the writing to be read, while paper sticks the two sides together above and below the writing area.
Cover folios
The damaged and repaired blue lacquered front folio measures approximately 560 x 113mm. The folio appears to have been torn right down the sheet in two places and partly down the sheet in another place: the tears have been repaired by paper stuck along them. Two of the repairs attempt to preserve the original shape of the sheet, and in one case, the red box has been carefully left, with the paper stopping above and below it. However, in one case, the paper repair appears not to be of Tibetan paper and the 'repair' attaches the incorrect sides of the folio together. The sheet otherwise is in poor condition, with tears in the edges, creasing, and bits of red material stuck on it. The lacquer has come away over much of the folio, and some parts are green. Margins are ruled in red, in what was once the recto side (now split over the two sides), making a box measuring 337mm on one side, plus 100mm visible on the other side x 45 mm. Both the recto and verso sides are plain blue, and the index leaves are sewn to the right of the verso side of the folio, with two thick leather cross stitches, backed up with white thread stitches which attach the layers together.
Index leaf 4: 118 mm x 85 mm, plain beige canvas type cloth, stained with dirt, fraying badly at the edges, the writing entirely washed out across the middle. Two horizontal neatly ruled red lines at the top, under which there is writing: [yig mgo x 1]/ /gled. bam. 'a ['a in red, slightly larger] pa 'di la/
’A1, dpal rta mchog rol pa'i rgyud chen po/
’A2, rta mgrin dregs pa bsrung bzlogi rgyud/
’A3, dpal rta mgrin dregs pa zil gnon gyi rgyud/
’A4, ’A5, ’A6, ’A7, ’A8, ’A9, yang [- next five titles not legible]
’A10, rta mgrin gsang 'dus kyi rgyud/
’A11, dred. pa tshar gcod kyi rgyud/
’A12, dpa'o gcig pa 'phrin las kyi rgyud/
’A13, phyir zlog stobs chen gyi rgyud/
’A14, na' ga klu 'dul gyi rgyud/
’A15, rdo rje 'phreng ba dbang chen 'dus pa'i rgyud
rnams bzhugs so// //
Decorated first folios: construction
The first folio, gcig, is a laminate of about 17 sheets, 570 x 124 mm.
The recto side is plain azure blue lacquer, but with gold margins ruled and the collection, volume, and folio identifications given at the left border, in gold writing. The top sheet is in poor condition: much of the lacquer has been rubbed off, there appears to have been some water damage and the gold lines are visible but not very clear. There are also some tears into the sheet from the edges. The box made by the ruled lines measures 406 x 64mm (left)/ 67mm (right), with the vertical lines not at exact right angles to the horizontal lines, but coming down slightly to the left. Thick crossed stitches attach the folio together, two along the top, five along the bottom, and one to the left and the right of the folio.
Decorated first folios: frames [ TITLE PAGE]
The verso side of gcig (1b) is blue lacquer, with elaborate intertwining straight gold lines around the outside of the page, outlining exactly the same interlocking key design as we find in other volumes. The upper sheet has a rectangular window cut out for the text, 448 x 72mm, outlined (around the frame) with a red paint line. There is a tear in the centre of the upper window frame. The lower window frame is untorn but in poor condition, with parts of the lacquer and gold lines entirely rubbed away.
Decorated first folios: window curtain
There is a silk cover fitted over the window, with three layers sewn together, the material rather stained and the colour faded. The upper part of the cover tucks under the window frame above. Due to the tear in the centre of the upper window frame, yellow running stitches are visible beneath the frame, attaching the material layers to the sheets below. The yellow layer is at the top, with gold thread around the outside, and it measures 426mm (above)/ 421mm (below) x 89mm to the top of the folio, 62 mm visible beneath the frame. A blue layer is the middle layer, with white thread around the outside, measuring 436mm (above)/ 428mm (below) x 66 mm visible beneath the frame to the left and 68 mm visible to the right. The third and final layer beneath is orange, with green thread around the outside, measuring 446 (above)/ 440 (below) x 74 mm visible beneath the frame to the left and 72mm visible to the right. They are not exact rectangles of material, they go in slightly to the bottom and the bottom edge of the orange layer forms a slightly wavy line, and it does not quite cover the whole of the window frame, especially on the right and left sides, where there are slight gaps between the curtain and frame.
Decorated first folios: window layout
Beneath the cover is a double lined gold rectangle drawn on black lacquer, with 3 lines of gold writing, split across two sides of the page. There are miniatures to the left and right, besides which the areas for writing are bounded by vertical strips with a regular pattern of gold lines, in this case, the wavy line and spiral design (see "General Information on Volumes"). The miniatures on this folio are finely executed, and the central miniature has an elaborately painted background. The larger miniature in the centre, which breaks up the page, is bounded to the left and right by a thin double vertical gold line, outlining a rectangle, 80 x 70mm. The lefthand vertical lines come down very slightly to the left. The lefthand miniature is within a rectangle 51 x 69mm, the righthand miniature's rectangle is 50 x 69mm. The legends for the miniatures are written below each, within the border of gold lines outside the window. Each legend is within double ornamenal brackets. They are partly illegible, having been partly rubbed out, but where they are unclear, they can be reconstructed easily following the parallels with other volumes:
[ first, to the left:] {{[yig mgo x 1]// rig 'dzin tshe dbang nor bu la na mo//}} [ second, to the left of centre:] {{//lha lcam man da' ra ba/ [da' ra ba/ and following yig mgo illegible but reconstructed] [yig mgo x 1]//sangs rgyas gnyis pa oyan rje/ [Then continued to the right of centre, on the other side of the gold vertical strip transversing text:] mkha' 'gro ye shes mtsho rgyal//}} [third, to the right:] {{ [yig mgo x 1]/ /'o bran dbang phyug la na mo//}}Cloth volume wrapping
The whole text is wrapped in a coarse square piece of red cloth with string attached to two of the corners to tie around the text in wrapping it.
Size of folios
The second folio, gnyis, measures 575 x 125 mm.
Decorated second folios
The recto side of gnyis is blue lacquer, with 4 lines of gold writing, within a double gold rectangular box, the outer measuring 481 x 76 mm, the inner, 465 x 65 mm. The margins are ruled as usual, with the collection, volume and folio identification to the left. The boxes are not exact rectangles; the vertical lines are not at exact right angles to the horizontal lines, coming down slightly to the left. The folio is a laminate of about 9 layers, with thick cross stitches visible on both sides, two to the top and bottom, one to the left and right. The condition of the lacquered sheet is poor: much of the lacquer and some of the gold has been rubbed out, possibly through water damage, but the writing remains legible. The verso side is ordinary paper.
Page settings
As mentioned above, 2a has 4 lines of gold writing. 2b is ordinary paper. 2b - 6a have double red lined rectangular boxes and margins; in the case of 2b and 3a, with an inner double red lined rectangular box. 2b and 3a each have 4 lines of black writing; 3b - 5b, have 5 lines of slightly smaller writing, and 6a, 6 lines of writing. The boxes are not very exact rectangles, and the ink sometimes is of variable thickness. Sometimes, the lines overshoot the boxes or do not quite join up at the corners. The writing lines are not exactly parallel to the horizontal lines of the boxes: the lines 4a-6a come up slightly at the right. The boxes measure as follows. 2b (outer): 493 x 78mm (left)/ 80mm (right); 3a (outer): 495 x 82mm (left)/ 84mm (right); 3b: 483 x 77mm (left)/ 80mm (right); 4a: 491 x 83mm (left)/ 78mm (right); 4b: 494 (above)/ 491 (below) x 84mm (left)/ 80mm (right); 5a: 488 x 78mm (left)/ 80mm (right); 5b: 480 x 80mm; 6a: 485 x 80mm (left)/ 85mm (right). 6b starts the usual style of red margins down each side and 7 lines per side.
Elements of decoration
4a and 4b have decorated strips in the left and right-hand margins, exactly the same as 2b in Volume Pha, black ink designs, in this case, with the wave pattern (see "General Information on Volumes"). The pattern is not properly completed in the left margin of 4a, where the lower quarter of the strip changes from carefully drawn curved lines in definite directions to curved squiggles drawn haphazardly.
Corrections and interventions
There appears to be an insertion indicated in front of the chapter reference by a cross with a small circle above. No insertion is given but it is likely that the symbol indicates that, "/rta mchog rol pa'i tantra las/" (which is expected but omitted) should be added here.
Microfilm
Folio 100 is given after 101 on the microfilm.
Missing or misplaced folios and other numbering anomolies
There are two folios 177: brgya don bdun and brgya don bdun 'og, which appears to follow. brGya don bdun may have been labelled, "gong"; there appears to have been some writing after bdun but a small piece of the top layer of paper has been removed from the sheet here.
Page settings
326a is the final page. The text is within a red rectangular box, 500 x 76 mm with 6 ruled lines, of which 5 are used. 326b is blank.
State of preservation
This final folio 326 is rather damaged: the edges are torn down and there are several holes in the middle of the folio, some ink smudging and some evidence of water damage, especially to the top of the sheet. Despite this, the syllables are largely legible.