Altan Saba

[numberings as per Mongolian attibutions to naks.atra-s;

naks.atra-aequivalents to the Chinese;

Bodish]

p.

ord. # (M.)

Mongolian

ord. # (n.)

Chinese

ord. #

Bodish

             

252

1

needles, sword

7

     
 

2

bowl of wheat

8

 

21

gro-bz`in "wheat face"

 

3

"wraps"

9

"woman": horse-skin "wrapped itself around the young woman and flew away." (LSW)

   
 

4

"hand"

10

"empty" (p. 72) [empty-handed?]

20

phul "handful"

 

5

"cup" of grain {cf. association of the grail-cup with the Siege Perilous}

11

"perilous" (p. 73)

   
 

6

"yurt" [tent set up at stopping-place]

12

"stopping-place" (p. 77)

   

253

7

"silk-scarves"

13

"Written with ... the cloth radical ..." (p. 78)

   
 

8

poplar-wood

14

scepter (p. 79)

   
 

9

"seven effigies"

15

"seven points" on effigy (p. 82)

   
 

10

"exceptionally fine"

16

conFINEd (p. 83)

   
 

11

"four effigies"

17

"four quarters" (p. 86)

   
 

12

garud.a = vehicle of Vis.n.u, whose head became the sun

18

sun above badge (p. 87)

   
 

13

head of swine [rooting?]

19

"shovel" (p. 89)

   

254

14

"vulture"

20

"beak" (p. 94)

9

mc^hu "lips, beak"

 

15

"it is bad for sheep"

21

"three divinities" (p. 95) {cf. "a ewe between two rams" (MLCR, p. 201)}

   
 

16

"at a cross-road"

22

p. 96 (ideograph of double lines crossed: looking like a cross-road)

   
 

17

"five crops"

23

"ghost" (p. 99) = asterism comprising 5 stars (p. 64)

   
 

18

"Fulfillment ... Assembled" {cf. fulfillment of sexual desires at the guhya-samaja "secret assembly"}

24

"willow" (p. 101), supposedly an allusion to "'willow lane' the alley of prostitutes." (p. 102)

   
 

19

"house and field", a religious service (p. 254, fn. 45) [musical?]

 

[Moran citeth] (p. 102) Psalm 137:2 -- "our harps upon the willows"

   
 

20

[Abhi-jit (often omitted)]

       

255

21

"evil star": "human head"

25

"star" (p. 104)

4

mgo "head"

 

22-23

(p. 255, fn. 47) "anu"

26-27

     
 

24-25

 

28-1

     
 

26

 

2

     
 

27

 

3

     
 

28

"seven men"

4

asterism of 7 stars (p. 110)

   
             
 

AS

   

A&ACS

 

T-ED, s.v. rgyu-skar (p. 111)

[that the Mongolian is extended through 2 * 28 = 56, would indicate it to be related rather with a Chinese list of some 60, such as names of days or years of the 5 * 12 = 60 years, or (as in the S^an dynasty) days -- relate the 60 Daoist apotheosized military generals]

M&LCR = http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mlcr/mlcr05.htm

LSW = http://china.candidemedia.com/html/dispatches/eight/8vox.html

AS = MONUMENTA SERICA, Vol. XXIV (1965). U of CA at Los Angeles. pp. 207-272 John R. Krueger: "The Altan Saba (The Golden Vessel)".

A&ACS = Hugh A. Moran & David H. Kelley: The Calendar and the Ancient Alphabet Signs. 1970.

T-ED = H. A. Ja:schke: A Tibetan-English Dictionary, with Special Reference to the Prevailing Dialects. 1881.