Nine Thousand Articles

Our Dictionary of Gāndhārī has reached 9,000 articles, now with a total of 54,684 references. Article nine thousand is mahajiṭuṃgha, which occurs in a wooden document preserved in the Qinghai Tibetan Medical Culture Museum. This document is a ruling in regnal year 25 of King Aṃgoka. It is the only attestation of maha- ‘great’ with the title jiṭuṃgha ‘palace attendant’ (a Chinese title bestowed on the king of Krorayina). The fact that documents with later dates in the reign of Aṃgoka do not use this title suggests that this may either be a copying error influenced by the use of maha- in other titles for this king (maharaya, mahaṃta), or a temporary claim to a grander title, or perhaps rather that it reflects a more ornate and flattering tone in this one document.