6th International Symposium Oriental Studies

79 The 6 th International Symposium on Oriental Ancient Documents Studies religious (ritual) practice and the existence of demotic forms of Buddhism in the Tanguts daily culture. Among the last group of texts besides of Chinese and Tangut lists of Buddhist spells there are many dhāra ṇ ī, written by Indian script — siddha ṃ ( siddhamat ṛ ka ). Siddha ṃ , evolved from Gupta script, as an independent script was formed in the 6 th c. and was spread, primarily, in the north of India. As a characteristic feature of this script can be called the ‘sharpness’ of signs ( ak ṣ aras ), that’s why siddha ṃ is called ‘sharp script’. Most clearly such ‘sharpness’ is shown in the bottom right part of a sign. Another characteristic feature of this script is wedge-shaped, triangular upper part of a sign resembling a nail head. When Buddhism has permeated in China in the 1 st c., and the translations of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese language were started, the knowledge of Sanskrit and Indian writing systems was a privilege of a narrow circle of Chinese intellectual elite, mainly of surroundings of Buddhist monks. But, the main purpose of the gaining of the knowledge of Sanskrit and Indian writing systems was the opportunity of maximal adequate translation into Chinese language. The complexity of the adaptation of Sanskrit Buddhist spells to the Chinese religious culture was concluded in the serious difference between phonetic structures of Sanskrit and Chinese language. One of the main problems, that Vajrayāna’s followers sought to solve, was the making of an adequate system of the transmission (written fixation and reproduction) of the phonetic form of Sanskrit spells-dhāra ṇ ī by means of hieroglyphs and Chinese phonetics. When the activity in the translations of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Chinese language gradually declined in the 10 th c., the knowledge of Indian written culture in China also become unclaimed. Therefore, in the reconstruction of the ‘Sanskrit original’ of the Buddhist spells transcribed by means of hieroglyphics Chinese Buddhists often made various errors that lead to a distortion of the original meaning of the text. The Tangut manuscripts and block-prints containing Buddhist spells written by Indian script were published in various ways. The most common types of the stitching were book-‘harmonica’ and book-‘butterfly’. The stitching as a book-‘butterfly’ was originated in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279) and was also borrowed by the Tanguts. The books stitching in a manner of ‘harmonica’ or ‘butterfly’ perfectly fitted for the copying of various Buddhist ‘missals’, ‘dhāra ṇ īs’ collections because a