A Buddhist technical term in Christian Sogdian. This article surveys the Indian (Sanskrit
and Prakrit) loanwords used in the Christian literature in Sogdian, including some which have not
been noticed previously. In particular, it discusses a possible borrowing of the Buddhist Sanskrit
technical term citta-saṃtāna-, used in a Christian Sogdian text in the sense “train of thought”. Finally,
it raises the question whether snks’r, the Buddhist Sogdian equivalent of Sanskrit saṃsāra- “cycle of
existence”, may result from a confusion between this term and saṃskāra- “conditioned state”.
44th Zograph Readings “Interpreting traditional Indian texts” will be held on May 23–26, 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The program of the conference is now available.
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