Art. I.—Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hodgson Collection)

The manuscripts of Buddhist works described in the following pages were collected in Nepal by Mr. Brian Houghton Hodgson—who has contributed so largely to the elucidation of Northern Buddhism—and presented by him to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1835 and 1836. The great importance of a thorough examination of the Buddhist Sanskrit works of Northern India, both for Prâkrit philology and for Buddhist research, is becoming more and more apparent; and it seemed very desirable that the contents of this collection, which, though deficient in many of the standard works, is perhaps the finest of original manuscripts in Europe, should become better known to scholars interested in these inquiries. A detailed analysis of the works was beyond the scope of the present catalogue, as it would in many cases be extremely difficult, if not impossible, without comparing other copies. It is hoped, however, that the brief description now offered will, at least, suffice for the identification of the works, and will for that reason be acceptable to Sanskrit scholars.