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. There is a rectangle of cloth at the front of the volume, more closely woven than the cloth wrapping for the volume, with a design on it which appears to be Western style, not Tibetan. On this material is stuck a rectangular IOL paper sticker, which is white with red borders (as in other volumes, with a heart-shaped decoration in each corner). We find red handwriting, "258 pages"; blue writing, "MISC. COLLN. GYUT 30", and in large Tibetan writing, "rgyud a".
Paper composition
Some sheets are thinner than others (eg. 16, 21), although most are quite thick, appearing to consist of two layers of paper.
Size of folios
The size of the plain sheets is 577 x 125mm. Some sheets are thicker than others, and there is some slight size variation. Also many sheets are not cut at exact right angles; often the left-hand side comes out at an angle as it goes down (eg 7 and many others). 24 is not cut straight at the bottom; to the left there is an apparently accidental small cut going up slightly from the bottom. On the right edge of 45, it appears that the paper did not come away smoothly when cut - some small pieces still remain at the edge. 241 is not cut straight on either side; 247 and 248 are not cut straight at the bottom. 250 is unevenly cut at the top and bottom, 251 to the left side and the bottom.
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.
Ornaments, openings and punctuation
Double yig mgo are found in the upper left corner of all recto sides, apart from 1, 2, 4. gNyis and bzhi 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 of a fairly consistent style throughout, similar to that of Volume Pha, and varying slightly in size; the sheets near the end of the volume tend to have slightly smaller writing than earlier ones.
Readers' marks
There appear to have been some large, poorly written syllables (possibly repetitions of ka yi, and single sa, and bya), which have been rubbed out, at the bottom of 143a; also similar rubbed out writing is found at the bottom of 144a (rna, ga, ka, and some stacked syllables). The writing is definitely not our scribe's hand.
State of preservation
The writing in this volume is rarely obscured by tears and holes. Most sheets are in a reasonable state with few holes or tears, although some sheets are badly affected by what appears to be water damage. The first few folios have several holes and blotches. 2 has no holes over the writing area but a large hole through all the layers to the bottom left, a smaller hole through the top blue sheet at the bottom centre, and indentations at the top, left, and bottom sides. The large hole continues through 3, 4 and the top layer of 5, and the indentations also continue through the next few sheets, becoming less noticable on 5. 3b-8a have a large discoloured grey area down through the centre left of each folio (water damage?). Similarly, 107-126 all have large discoloured grey areas on both sides of each folio; in some cases, the writing is made less clear or even so washed out as to be almost illegible. 122 also has a small hole in the writing area, partly obscuring one letter on 122b. 10b has blotches across the bottom right of the sheet. Otherwise in the volume, there are occasional small holes and tears. We find small indentations: eg. 18a has an indentation at the top and the left top corner torn off. 28 has the bottom left corner torn off. 33, 35 each have a small indentation at the top. 38 has a small tear in the left edge and a small hole above the writing area. The right edge of 53 is unevenly cut, with indentations. 65 has a crease across the top left corner. 66 has a torn crease across the right bottom corner. 67 has a small hole in the writing area; on 67a, the writing is unaffected, on 67b one syllable is affected but still legible. 71 has a small hole below the writing area to the left. 85 has the top left corner torn off. 86 has a small hole in the writing area but the letters are unaffected. So too does 103; in this case, there is a gap between the letters for the hole on 103a, suggesting that the hole was present before text was written. 128 has a small hole in the writing area, apparently made by an attempt to delete a letter on 128a. 128 also has the bottom left corner torn off; 134 the top right corner torn off. 93-105 have an indentation going through all the sheets on the top edge to the right. 106 has a strip of paper stuck to the top edge, overlapping both sides, apparently as a repair. 138 has small indentation at the bottom and a tear on the right edge. Other sheets with small edge indentations include: 143, 166, 176, 182, 183, 222-231, 248, 252-254, 257. Sheets with small holes outside the writing area include: 151, 153, 166, 177, 190, 191, 203, 236. Sheets with small edge tears include 152, 183, 225. Sheets with a single corner torn off include: 165, 198. 164 has a hole in the writing area which slightly obscures a syllable on 164b (but it is still legible), and also another small hole outside the writing area and an edge indentation. Other sheets with small holes inside the writing area, not obscuring the writing, include 207. The final folio, 258, has all its edges torn away and damaged but the writing area remains unaffected.
Cover folios &
Substitutes for missing first folios
At the British Library, there is a roughly cut and damaged blue lacquered front folio. It is plain blue in colour, with margins ruled in red on the recto side, making a box, 44mm in height. The complete box is not there; the folio was presumably torn and the left third of the side is covered with a roughly cut lacquered piece, sewn from the top to bottom with white thread. No index leaves are attached to the right hand side of blue lacquered page at the front, although some stitch holes indicate where the index leaves once must have been attached. The verso side is ordinary paper; 3 lines of large poor writing, giving the missing title of the first text, which is on 1b (and thus, at the Victoria and Albert Museum). On this folio, we have the following "Sanskrit" title: Front folio verso side line 1-1 [yig mgo x 3]/ /rgya gar skad du/ ma ma karma sarba tan tra tsa ta na ma ma/ [ tsheg shad (U0F0F) curving] Tibetan title: line 1-2 bod skad du/ ma mo thams cad kyi las rgyud lung zhes bya ba/ [ tsheg shad (U0F0F) curving] Homage: line 2-3 yum chen mo mu kha le la phag [sic] 'tshal lo/ Beginning of opening to text: line 3 /'di skad
There are no index leaves in this volume.
Decorated first folios: construction
The first folio, gcig, which is held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is a laminate of about 12 sheets, 569 x 123 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 box made by the ruled lines measures 422 x 68mm, with the vertical lines not at exact right angles to the horizontal lines, but coming down slightly to the left. The blue sheet is torn slightly at the edges and the upper corners. The blue lacquer is rubbed off in parts. 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, 446 x 75mm, outlined (around the frame) with a red paint line. There are some small tears in the window frame; one tear from the bottom right corner of the frame to the bottom of the sheet, and one crease in the centre of the upper window frame, but the gold writing is largely unaffected.
Modern library pagination and markings
Victoria and Albert accession numbers are written in ink, upside down, at the top right-hand side of the folio, on a plain paper layer which is visible where the blue lacquer sheet has torn off at the corner.
Decorated first folios: window curtain
There is a silk cover fitted over the window, with three layers sewn together. The yellow layer is at the top, with gold thread around the outside, and it measures 420 (above)/ 424 (below) x 65mm visible (the upper part tucks under the blue frame above). A blue layer is the middle layer, with white thread around the outside, measuring 429 (above)/ 432 (below) x 71mm to the left/ 68mm to the right, visible. The third and final layer beneath is orange, with green thread around the outside, measuring 436 (above)/ 441 (below) x 76mm to the left, 74mm to the right visible. They are not exact rectangles of material, the bottom of the orange layer forms a slightly wavy line, and to the left and right, it does not quite come to the window 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 diamond and swastika design (see "General Information on Volumes"). 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, 79 (above)/ 80 (below) x 70mm. The lefthand miniature is within a rectangle 50 x 69mm, the righthand miniature's rectangle is 50 x 70mm. 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:
[first, to the left:] {{ [yig mgo x 1]/rgyal ba tshe dpag med la na mo/}} [second, to the left of centre:] {{ [yig mgo x 1]//gtsug tor rnam rgyal [continued to the right of centre, on the other side of the gold vertical strip transversing the text:] ma la na mo//}} [ third, to the right:] {{[yig mgo x 1]// yid bzhin 'khor lo'i tshe [next syllables rubbed out, a final "la" is readable] sgrol dkar yum/}}Cloth volume wrapping
The whole text is wrapped in a coarse rectangular piece of maroon cloth with a fringe along one side. It is badly torn and there are a number of holes in it.
Size of folios
The second folio, gnyis, measures 573 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 measuring 475 x 76mm left/79mm right. 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 6 layers, with thick cross stitches visible on both sides, two to the top and bottom, one to the left and right. 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. The boxes measure as follows. 2b: 492 bottom x 80mm right/84mm left; 3a: 492 top/ 494 bottom x 81mm; 3b: 495 x 83mm right/78mm left; 4a: 490 x 77mm right/80mm left; 4b: 485 x 80mm right/83mm left; 5a: 490 x 76mm right/80mm left; 5b: 490 x 80mm right/75mm left; 6a: 480 x 78mm to the right and 81mm to the left. 6b starts the usual style of red margins down each side and 7 lines per side.
Microfilm
242a is phtographed twice on the British Library microfilm; 242b does not appear to be photographed.
Page settings
258 is the final folio. 258a has a red rectangular box, 487 x 82 mm (left)/78 mm (right), with 6 ruled lines, of which only 4 are used. 258b has an empty red rectangular box with margins ruled but no lines.