Volumes of the "Sacred Books of the East", Oxford University Press 1879-1910

Creative-Commons-Lizenz CC BY-SA 4.0 (Source / Quelle: en.wikipedia.org, 23 February 2026, at 21:17 UTC), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (Reprints), Online Editions (at holybooks.com, archive.org, sacred-texts.com)

mit Bezug zu / with relevance for: Grenzbegriffe "Indien", "Orient" ("L'Ezour Vedam", eigentlich ein Auszug aus den Puranas, 1778; Brian Pennington: "Was Hinduism Invented?", Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005), "Nominalismusproblem", 1932ff.: Japan-China, Ferdinand Wagenseil ("Himmlische Dame", China, ca. 13. Jh.), Laotse (Wien: Saturn, Boston: Beacon, Albany, New York: SUNY, Hans B. Wagenseil: "Die Farben der Natur", "Schale aus Bergkristall. Laotisches Liebesmärchen"; Michel Foucault: "daß wir auf dem Rücken eines Tigers sitzen" → "Die Kultur. Eine unabhängige Zeitung mit internationalen Beiträgen", tradukante Georg Wilhelm Hegel), Konfuzius (Buenos Aires: Sur), "Bhagavad Gita", "Upanishads", "Confucianism", "Vedanta" (Albany, New York: SUNY), Milano: Feltrinelli (Helmuth von Glasenapp: "Le religioni non cristiane", 1962), Boston: Beacon (Nathan Söderblom: "The living God. Basal forms of personal religion", 1962), James Laughlin → New York: New Directions Publishing (esp. Thomas Merton: "Seeds of contemplation", 1949; "The way of Chuang Tzu", 1965; "Gandhi on non-violence", 1965; "Zen and the birds of appetite", 1968; further authors are Hermann Hesse: "Siddhartha", 1951; Geoffrey Parrinder: "The Wisdom Of The Early Buddhists", 1976; D. Howard Smith: "The wisdom of the Taoists", 1980; Merchant-Prince Shattan: "Manimekhalaï. The Dancer with the Magic Bowl", transl. by Alain Danielou, 1989), "Bloomsbury Group" (Aldous Huxley, editorial advisor 1951-1962, bimonthly Vedanta and the West → Hollywood, California: Vedanta Press → "Bhagavad Gita. The Song of God", transl. by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, preface by Aldous Huxley, 1945; Swami Prabhavananda: "Spiritual Heritage of India", 1962)

im Kontext der Geschichte der Religionswissenschaft / in context of the history of religious studies:
1. "Kanonisierung und Kanonbildung in der asiatischen Religionsgeschichte" (hrsg. von Max Deeg, Oliver Freiberger, Christoph Kleine, Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2011) → "Anciennität" der Auswahl ad fontes Friedrich Max Müllers ⇆ Popularität der Puranas (Legenden wichtiger Gottheiten) in der gelebten Religion
2. Paradigmenwechsel in der Methodenreflexion: Microstoria (Carlo Ginzburg: "Il formaggio e i vermi. Il cosmo di un mugnaio del Cinquecento", Torino: Einaudi 1976; Frankfurt: Syndikat 1979), Classical Styles (Clifford Geertz: "Islam Observed. Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia", Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1968, "Religiöse Entwicklungen im Islam. Beobachtet in Marokko und Indonesien", übers. von Brigitte Luchesi, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1988), thick description (Clifford Geertz: "The Interpretation of Cultures", New York: Basic Books 1973; "Dichte Beschreibung. Beiträge zum Verstehen kultureller Systeme", Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2002)
3. Interesse an anderen Editionen (Primärquellen des Subalternen, religiöse Gegenwartskultur) wie "The Sacred Books of the Hindus" (ed. by Baman Das Basu and Sris Chandra Basu, Allahabad: Panini Office 1911ff.), Übersetzungen von Manmatha Nath Dutt (Calcutta: Elysium Press [65/2 Beadon Street] 1892-1912), "Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology Series. Purāṇas in Translation" (ed. by Jagdish Lal Shastri, Arnold Kunst, G. P. Bhatt and Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1970ff., 79 Volumes), Mayavati, Almora / Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama ("Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita", transl. by Swami Swarupananda, 1909; "The Minor Upanishads", 1917; "The Complete Works of the Swami Vivekananda", "Mayavati Memorial edition", 1921-1926), "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" (transl. by Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, New York / London: Collier Macmillan Publishers 1968; Alachua, Florida / Mayapur, West Bengal: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. of International Society for Krishna Consciousness 1983)
4. Entwicklung neuer "religionswissenschaftlicher" Begriffe für religiöse "Phänomene": "Reform Hinduist Movements", "Neo-Hinduismus" (f.e. John Nicol Farquhar: "Modern Religious Movements in India", New York: The Macmillan Company, 1915; Helmuth von Glasenapp: "Religiöse Reformbewegungen im heutigen Indien", Leipzig: Hinrichs 1928) → "New Religious Movements. A Perspective for Understanding Society" (ed. by Eileen Barker, New York / Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press 1982)
5. "Systematische Religionswissenschaft" (international discipline identities between "study of religion" ⇆ "religious studies") ⇆ transdisziplinäre Zugänge aus Philologien versus Sozialwissenschaften (Friedrich Max Müller, Rudolf Otto ⇆ Bronislaw Malinowski, Clifford Geertz), "Urmonotheismus" (Pater Wilhelm Schmidt: "Der Ursprung der Gottesidee. Eine historisch-kritische und positive Studie", 12 Bände, Münster: Aschendorff 1912-1955) ⇆ "Der adoptierte Gott" (Rainer Flasche, "Africana Marburgensia", Special Issue 17, Marburg 1998, S. 22-35, archive.org), Karl Jaspers: "Achsenzeit" ("Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte", München / Zürich: Piper & Co. Verlag 1949) ⇆ Artur Danto: "History tells stories" ("Analytical Philosophy of History", Cambridge University Press 1965, p. 111; Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1974), Ninian Smart ("The Religious Experience of Mankind", Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1969; "Religion and the Western Mind", Albany, New York: SUNY 1987) ⇆ Russell T. McCutcheon ("'Like Small Bumps on the Neck...'. The Problem of Evil as Something Ordinary", in: "Journal of Mundane Behavior", Vol. 1, No. 3, 2000, archive.org: "our systems of socially reproduced knowledges and expectations" ⇆ "Critics not Caretakers. Redescribing the Public Study of Religion", Albany, New York: SUNY 2001) ⇆ Samuel Salzborn, 2010 ("barbarische[r] Polytheismus", "Unterschied zu prägenital gefärbten heidnischen Religionen" ⇆ "Rückkehr der Notwendigkeit zur Abspaltung und Projektion") → Transformation von "Religion" zum (ritualisierten und mythologisierten) Ressentiment gegenüber Ex. 20, 3-6 (s. Spinoza) mittels Verdopplung der Wirklichkeit im "Bekenntnis" oder "Mysterium"

¶ "The Sacred Books of the East is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Frichrich Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, and Islam" (WP).

Vol. Title and contents Group Translator Published Time of Origin

1 The Upanishads, part 1/2:
Khândogya Upanishad

Talavakâra or Kena-Upanishad

Âranyaka

Brâhmana

Vâjasaneyi-Sâmhita Upanishad
Hindu Max Müller 1879 "[T]he Muktikā Upanishad, predates 1656 CE and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads including itself as the last"
(WP, using as sources Preeti Tripathy: "Indian religions. Tradition, History and Culture", Colorado Springs: Axis Publications 2010, p. 84, Sris Chandra Sen: "Vedic literature and Upanishads. The Mystic Philosophy of the Upanishads", Mumbai: General Printers & Publishers 1937, p. 19).

2 The Sacred Laws of the Âryas (Dharmaśāstra), part 1/2:
Âpastamba

Gautama

Vâsishtha

Baudhâyana
Hindu Georg Bühler 1879 "The Dharmashastras are based on ancient Dharmasūtra texts, which themselves emerged from the literary tradition of the Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva) composed in 2nd millennium BCE to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE"
(WP, using as source esp. James Lochtefeld: "Dharma Shastras", in: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism", Vol. 1: "A-M", New York: Rosen Publishing 2002, pp. 191-192).

3 The Confucianism:
The Shû King (Classic of History)
Book of Thang

Books of Yü

Books of Hsiâ

Books of Shang

Books of Kâu

Shih King, the Book of Odes (Classic of Poetry)
I. Odes of the Temple and the Altar

II. Minor Odes of the Kingdom

III. Major Odes of the Kingdom

IV. Lessons from the States

The Hsiâo King (Classic of Filial Piety)
China James Legge 1879 "Founded by Confucius in the Hundred Schools of Thought era (c. 500 BCE), Confucianism integrates philosophy, ethics, and social governance [...]. Suppressed during the Legalist Qin dynasty (c. 200 BCE), Confucianism flourished under the Han dynasty (c. 130 BCE) [...]. The Tang dynasty (c. 600 CE) witnessed a response to the rising influence of Buddhism and Taoism in the development of Neo-Confucianism, a reformulated philosophical system that became central to the imperial examination system and the scholar-official class of the Song dynasty (c. 1000 CE). The abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 marked the decline of state-endorsed Confucianism"
(WP, using as sources Herbert Fingarette: " Confucius. The Secular as Sacred", New York: Harper 1972, pp. 1-2; Yiu-ming Fung: "Problematizing Contemporary Confucianism in East Asia", in: "Teaching Confucianism", ed. by Jeffrey Richey, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008, pp. 157-186, esp. p. 163; Justin Yifu Lin: "Demystifying the Chinese Economy", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012, p. 107).

4 Zend-Avesta, part 1/3:
Vendîdâd
Zor James Darmesteter 1880 "The classic view is that the Vendidad is a late creation and its current use within the Videvdad liturgy happened later still. This is based on the corrupted Avestan of the text and the seeming lack of any connection between its content and the liturgy in which it is used. Therefore, whereas the Vendidad may be a product of the Parthian period, the ceremony may be 'an innovation of the Islamic period'"
(WP, using as sources Williams W. Malandra: "VENDĪDĀD i. Survey of the history and contents of the text", in: "Encyclopædia Iranica", New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul 2000; Jivanja J. Modi: "The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees", Bombay: British India Press 1922, pp. 350-351; Almut Hintze: "On the Ritual Significance of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti", in: "Zoroastrian Ritual in Context. Studies in the History of Religions", ed. by Michael Stausberg, Leiden: Brill 2004, pp. 291-316, esp. p. 300).

5 Pahlavi Texts, part 1/5:
Bundahis

selections of Zâd-sparam

Bahman Yast

Shâyast lâ-Shâyast
Zor E. W. West 1880 "Pahlavi literature traditionally defines the writings of the Zoroastrians in the Middle Persian language and Book Pahlavi script which were compiled in the 9th and the 10th centuries AD"
(C.G. Cereti: "Middle Persian literature I: Pahlavi Literature", in: "Encyclopedia Iranica", New York: iranicaonline.org 2009).

6 Qur'an part 1/2 – chapters I-XVI Islam E. H. Palmer 1880 "Uthman ibn Affan (Arabic: عُثْمَان بْن عَفَّان, romanized: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; c. 573 or 576 – 17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate in Sunni Islam ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, was a second cousin, son-in-law, and senior companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in tradition, and played a major role in early Islamic history. During his reign as caliph, he was known for ordering the official compilation of the standardized version of the Quran, known as the Uthmanic codex, which is still used today" (WP).

7 The Institutes of Visnu. Hindu Julius Jolly 1880

8 The Bhagavadgîtâ:
Sanatsugâtîya

Anugîtâ.
Hindu Kâshinâth Trimbak Telang 1882 "The Bhagavad Gita ([...] Sanskrit: भगवद्गीता [...] lit. 'God's song'), often referred to as the Gita [...], is a Hindu scripture, likely composed in the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, including the Vedic concept of dharma (duty, rightful action); Sankhya-based yoga and jñana (knowledge); and bhakti (devotion). Among the Hindu traditions, the Gita holds a unique pan-Hindu influence as the most prominent sacred text and is a central text in the Vedanta and Vaishnava traditions"
(WP, using as sources Arvind Sharma: "The Hindu Gītā. Ancient and Classical Interpretations of the Bhagavadgītā", London: Open Court 1986, p. 3; Jeannette D. Fowler: "The Bhagavad Gita. A Text and Commentary for Students", Eastbourne: Sussex Academy Press 2012, p. xxiv; J.A.B. van Buitenen: "The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata", Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2013, p. 6: "ca. 200 BC is a likely date"; Wendy Doniger: "Bhagavadgita. Definition, Contents, & Significance", in: "Britannica online", 2024).

9 The Qur'an, part 2/2 – chapters XVII-CXIV Islam E. H. Palmer 1880

10 Dhammapada: a collection of verses
Sutta-Nipâta: a collection of discourses, one of the canonical books of the Buddhists
Bud Max Müller (Dhammapada from Pāli, Sutta-Nipata from Pāli) 1881 "According to tradition, the Dhammapada's verses were spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. Glenn Wallis states: '[...] In fact, it is possible that the very source of the Dhammapada in the third century B.C.E. is traceable to the need of the early Buddhist communities in India to laicize the ascetic impetus of the Buddha's original words.' The text is part of the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Sutta Piṭaka, although over half of the verses exist in other parts of the Pāli Canon. A 4th or 5th century CE commentary attributed to Buddhaghosa includes 305 stories which give context to the verses. The Pāli Dhammapada is one of the most popular pieces of Theravāda literature. Its oldest available manuscripts date to 1500 CE. A compiler is not named. A critical edition of the Dhammapada in Latin was produced by Danish scholar Viggo Fausbøll in 1855, becoming the first Pāli text to receive this kind of examination by the European academic community"
(WP, using as sources esp. Valerie J. Roebuck: "Dhammapada, Dharmapada and Udanavarga. The Many Lives of a Buddhist Text", in: "Religions of South Asia", Vol. 6, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 225-244; Oskar von Hinüber: "Dhammapada", in: "Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism", ed. by Robert E. Buswell Jr., New York: Macmillan Reference 2004, pp. 216-17).

11 Buddhist Suttas:
Mahā-parinibbāṇa Suttanta

Dhamma-kakka-ppavattana Sutta

Tevigga Sutta'anta

Âkankheyya Sutta'a

Ketokhila Sutta'a

Mahâ-Sudassana Sutta'anta

Sabbâsava Sutta'a
Bud T. W. Rhys Davids 1881

12 Satapatha Brahmana, part 1/5:
Mâdhyandina Shakha I-II
Hindu Julius Eggeling 1882 "Arthur Berriedale Keith states that linguistically, the Shatapatha Brahmana belongs to the later part of the Brāhmaṇa period of Vedic Sanskrit (8th-6th century BCE). Asko Parpola dates it to around 700 BCE. J. Eggeling (translator of the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina recension into English), dates the final written version of the text to 300 BCE, although he states that some elements are 'far older, transmitted orally from unknown antiquity'"
(WP, using as sources Keith: "Aitareya Āraṇyaka", p. 38 ("Introduction"): "by common consent, the Shatapatha is one of the youngest of the great Brāhmaṇas", footnotes: "Cf. Macdonell, Sanskrit Literature, pp. 203, 217. The Jaiminiya may be younger, cf. its use of ādi, Whitney, P.A.O.S, May 1883, p.xii"; Asko Parpola: "Human Sacrifice in India in Vedic Times and Before", in: "The Strange World of Human Sacrifice", ed. by Jan N. Bremmer, Leuven: Peeters Publishers 2007, p. 158; "The Shatapatha Brahmana. Sacred Books of the East", Vols. 12, 26, 24, 37, 47, translated by Julius Eggeling, published between 1882 and 1900).

13 Vinaya Texts, part 1/3:
Pāṭimokkha

Mahâvagga, I–IV.
Bud Hermann Oldenberg 1881 "According to tradition, the Tripiṭaka was compiled at the First Council shortly after the Buddha's death. The Vinaya Piṭaka is said to have been recited by Upāli, with little later addition. Most of the different versions are fairly similar, most scholars consider most of the Vinaya to be fairly early, that is, dating from before the separation of schools"
(WP, using John Hinnells: "New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions", Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 2004, p. 380).

14 The Sacred Laws of the Âryas, part 2/2:
Vâsishtha

Baudhâyana

Parisishta
Hindu Georg Bühler 1882

15 The Upanishads, part 2/2:
Katha Upanishad

Mundaka Upanishad

Taittiriya Upanishad

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad

Svetasvatara Upanishad

Prasña Upanishad

Maitrayani Upanishad
Hindu Max Müller 1884

16 The Sacred Books of China, part 2/6 – the texts of Confucianism:
Yi King (I Ching).
China James Legge 1882 "The I Ching was originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000-750 BC). Over the course of the Warring States and early imperial periods (500-200 BC), it transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the Ten Wings. After becoming part of the Chinese Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the I Ching was the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East and was the subject of scholarly commentary. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, it took on an influential role in Western understanding of East Asian philosophical thought"
(WP, using as sources Martin Kern: "Early Chinese literature. Beginnings through Western Han", in: "The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature", Volume 1: "To 1375", ed. by Stephen Owen, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010, pp. 1-115, esp. p. 17; Geoffrey Redmond: "The Yijing in Early Postwar Counterculture in the West", in: "The Making of the Global Yijing in the Modern World", ed. by Benjamin Wai-ming Ng, Singapore: Springer 2021, pp. 197-221; Joseph A. Adler: "Introduction to the Study of the Classic of Change (I-hsüeh ch'i-meng)", Provo, UT: Global Scholarly Publications 2022, chs. 1, 6, 7).

17 Vinaya Texts, part 2/3
Mahavagga, V–X

Kullavagga, I–II
Bud Hermann Oldenberg 1882

18 Pahlavi Texts, part 2/5
Dâdistân-î Dinik

Epistles of Mânûskîhar
Zor E. W. West 1882

19 The Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king: a life of Dharmakṣema (A. D. 420). Bud Samuel Beal 1883

20 Vinaya Texts, part 3/3:
Kullavagga, IV–XII.
Bud Hermann Oldenberg 1885

21 The Saddharma-Pundarika or The Lotus of the True Law. Bud H. Kern 1884 "According to Donald Lopez 'the general scholarly consensus is that the Lotus Sūtra took shape in four phases.' One of the earliest four layer theories of the development of the sūtra was Kogaku Fuse's [Michael Pye: "Skilful Means. A concept in Mahayana Buddhism", Milton Park, Oxfordshire: Routledge 2003, pp. 173-178]. [...] Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline Stone opines that there is consensus about the stages of composition but not about the dating of these strata. Author Yoisho Tamura argues that the first stage of composition (Chapters 2–9) was completed around 50 CE and expanded by chapters 10–21 around 100 CE. He dates the third stage (Chapters 22–27) around 150 CE. [...] It is cited by Indian Buddhists such as Vasubandhu (in his commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha), Candrakīrti (Madhyamakāvatāra-bhāṣya), Śāntideva, Kamalaśīla and Abhayākaragupta. According to Paramārtha (499–569 CE), there were over fifty Indian commentaries on the Lotus. [...] Three translations of the Lotus Sūtra into Chinese are extant. It was first translated into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa's team ['Zhèng Fǎ Huá Jīng'] in 286 C. E. in Chang'an during the Western Jin period (265–317 CE)"
(WP, using as sources Donald Lopez: "The Lotus Sutra. A Biography", Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 2016, pp. 21-22; Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone: "Interpreting the Lotus Sutra", in: "Readings of the Lotus Sutra", ed. by Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone, New York: Columbia University Press 2009, pp. 1-61, esp. pp. 7-8; Yuichi Kajiyama: "The Saddharmapundarika and Sunyata Thought", in "Journal of Oriental Studies", Vol. 10, 2000, p. 72-96, esp. p. 73; Daniel Boucher: "Gāndhāri and the Early Chinese Buddhist Translations Reconsidered. The Case of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka sūtra", in: "Journal of the American Oriental Society", Vol. 118, Heft 4, 1998, pp. 471-506; Erik Zürcher: "The Buddhist Conquest of China", Reihe "Sinica Leidensia", Vol. 11, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill 2006, pp. 57-69).

22 Jaina Sûtras, part 1/2
Âkârânga Sûtra

Kalpa sûtra
Jain Hermann Jacobi
from the Prâkrit
1884 "The Ācārāṅga Sūtra, the foremost and oldest Jain text (First book c. 5th–4th century BCE; Second book c. Late 4th–2nd century BCE), is the first of the twelve Angas, part of the agamas which were compiled based on the teachings of 24th Tirthankara Mahavira"
(WP, using as source esp. Sagarmal Jain: "Jain Literature [From earliest time to c. 10th A.D.]", in: "Aspects of Jainology", Vol. VI, 1998, p. 4).
"The Kalpa Sūtra (Sanskrit: कल्पसूत्र) is an important Jain scripture containing the biographies of the Tirthankaras, notably Parshvanatha and Mahavira. Ascribed to Acharya Bhadrabahu, which would place it in the 4th century BCE, it states that it was written down 980 or 993 years after the Nirvana (Moksha) of Mahavira or 1230 years after the Nirvana of Tirthankar Parswanath. [...] The oldest surviving copies are written on paper in western India in the 14th century"
(WP, using as sources Hermann Jacobi and Mildred O. Budny: "Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts", in: "Research Group on anuscript Evidence", Princeton, manuscriptevidence.org, 18. Apr. 2018).

23 Zend-Avesta, part 2/3:
Sîrôzahs

Yasts

Nyâyis
Zor James Darmesteter 1883 "After the loss of the Sasanian Avesta, the Avestan corpus survived through a number of manuscript traditions in Iran and India. These manuscripts overwhelmingly correspond to their ritual and devotional use, and it is assumed that this use guaranteed their survival. The oldest surviving fragment of a manuscript dates to 1323 CE but most extant manuscripts date from after the 17th century. [...] The corpus of Avestan literature was produced during the Old Iranian Avestan period and transmitted within an oral culture of priestly composition. It was not until the Sasanian period, that the Zoroastrian priesthood produced an authoritative edition of this corpus. This edition is described in the Zoroastrian literature of the 10th century, but was lost at some undetermined time afterwards. Since then, no new authoritative edition of the scattered Avestan corpus has been produced by the Zoroastrian community. After Avestan manuscripts became known in the Western world, several scholarly attempts were made to create a critical edition of the diverse manuscripts through which the, now much reduced, Avestan corpus had survived. The first critical edition was published in 1852 by Westergaard [Niels L. Westergaard: 'Zendavesta. Or The religious books of the Zoroastrians', Copenhagen: Berling brothers 1852]"
(WP, using as sources Alberto Cantera: "Die Manuskriptologie der Avesta-Handschriften", in: "Handbuch Iranistik", ed. by. Ludwig Paul, Wiesbaden: Reichert 2013, p. 345: "Avesta wird die Gesamtheit von zoroastrischen Texten in altiranischer Sprache genannt, die in vielen einzelnen Handschriften überliefert sind"; Alberto Cantera: "On the Edge between Literacy and Orality. Manuscripts and Performance of the Zoroastrian Long Liturgy", in: "Oral Tradition", Vol. 35, 2022, Nr. 2, pp. 211-250; Mary Boyce: "Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. Textual Sources for the Study of Religion", Manchester: Manchester University Press 1984, p. 176; P. Oktor Skjaervø: "The Zoroastrian Oral Tradition as Reflected in the Texts", in: "The Transmission of the Avesta", ed. by Alberto Cantera, Reihe "Iranica", Vol. 20, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2012, p. 552; Jean Kellens: "Avesta", in: "Encyclopædia Iranica", Vol. 3, New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1987, pp. 35-44).

24 Pahlavi Texts, part 3/5:
Dinai Mainög-i khirad

Sikand-Gümanik Vigar

Sad Dar
Zor E. W. West 1884

25 The Laws of Manu: with extracts from seven commentaries. Hindu Georg Bühler 1886 "Philologists [Sir William] Jones ['The Institutes of Hindu Law. Or, The Ordinances of Manu', Calcutta / London: Sewell & Debrett 1796, archive.org] and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, in the 18th century, dated Manusmriti to around 1250 BCE and 1000 BCE respectively, which, from later linguistic developments, is untenable due to the language of the text which must be later than the late Vedic texts such as the Upanishads, themselves dated a few centuries later, around 500 BCE. Later scholars shifted the chronology of the text to between the 1st or 2nd century CE. [Patrick] Olivelle adds that numismatic evidence and the mention of gold coins as a fine suggest the text may date to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. However, the majority of scholars agree that it was composed sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE"
(WP, using as sources William Wilson Hunter: "The Indian Empire. Its People, History and Products", London: Truebner 1886, p. 114, archive.org; Matt Stefon: "Manu-smriti. Hindu law", in: "Britannica", 2023; Patrick Olivelle: "Manu's Code of Law", Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005, pp. 24-25; Ludo Rocher: "The Dharma sāstras", in "Wiley Blackwell Companion to Hinduism", ed. by Gavin Flood, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons 2022, pp. 69-80, esp. p. 76).

26 Satapatha Brahmana, part 2/5
Mâdhyandina Shakha III–IV
Hindu Julius Eggeling 1885

27 The Sacred Books of China, part 3/6 – the texts of Confucianism:
The Lî Kî I (Book of Rites)
China James Legge 1885

28 The Sacred Books of China, part 4/6 – the texts of Confucianism:
The Lî Kî Ii (Book of Rites)
China James Legge 1885

29 Vedic domestic ceremonies:
Sankhyayana-Grihya-sutra

Āśvalāyana-Grihya-sutra

Paraskara-Grihya-sutra

Khadia-Grihya-sutra
Hindu Hermann Oldenberg 1886

30 Vedic domestic ceremonies:
Gobhila

Hiranyakesin

Apastamba

Yajña Paribhashasutras
Hindu Hermann Oldenberg (Apstamba),
Max Müller (Yajna)
1892

31 Zend-Avesta, part 3/3:
Yasna

Visparad

Afrînagân

Gâhs

miscellaneous fragments
Zor Lawrence Heyworth Mills 1887

32 Vedic Hymns, part 1/2
Hymns to the Maruts

Hymns to Rudra

Hymns to Vâyu

Hymns to Vâta

Bibliographical list of the more important publications on the Rigveda
Hindu Max Müller 1891 "According to Jamison and Brereton, in their 2014 translation of the Rigveda, the dating of this text 'has been and is likely to remain a matter of contention and reconsideration'. The dating proposals so far are all inferred from the style and the content within the hymns themselves. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium BCE. Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the hymns must post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE. A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the Rigveda is that of the Mitanni documents of northern Syria and Iraq (c. 1450-1350 BCE), which also mention the Vedic gods such as Varuna, Mitra and Indra. Some scholars have suggested that the Rig Veda was composed on the banks of a river in Haraxvaiti province in southern Afghanistan [...]. Other evidence also points to a composition date close to 1400 BCE. [...] The Rigveda's core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age, [...]. According to Michael Witzel, the codification of the Rigveda took place at the end of the Rigvedic period between c. 1200 and 1000 BCE, in the early Kuru kingdom. [..] According to Barbara West, it was probably first written down about the 3rd-century BCE. [...T]hirty manuscripts of Rigveda at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, collected in the 19th century by Georg Bühler, Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts of India, including Kashmir, Gujarat, the then Rajaputana, and Central Provinces [,...] were transferred to Deccan College, Pune, in the late 19th century. [...] The oldest of the Pune collection is dated to 1464 CE"
(WP, using as sources "The Rigveda. The Earliest Religious Poetry of India", transl. by Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2014, pp. 5-6; J. P. Mallory et al.: "Indo-Iranian Languages", in: "Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture", Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997; Michael Witzel: "Vedas and Upanisads", in: "The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism", ed. by Gavin Flood, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing 2003, pp. 68-69; Michael Witzel: "Beyond the Flight of the Falcon", in: "Which of Us are Aryans? Rethinking the Concept of Our Origins", ed. by Romila Thapar, Rupa: Aleph 2019, p. 11; Rajesh Kochar: "The Vedic People. Their History and Geography", Hyderabad, Telangana: Orient Longman 2000; Barbara A. West: "Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania", New York: Infobase Publishing 2010, p. 282; "Rigveda manuscripts in preserved safely in Pune Institute", oneindia.com, 29. Feb. 2008).

33 The Minor Law-Books: Brihaspati Hindu Julius Jolly 1889

34 Vedanta-Sutras, part 1/3
Commentary by Sankaracharya, part 1 of 2

Adhyâya I–II (Pâda I–II).
Hindu George Thibaut 1890

35 The Questions of King Milinda, part 1/2
Milindapañha
Bud T. W. Rhys Davids 1890 "The earliest part of the text is believed to have been written between 100 BC and 200 AD. The text may have initially been written in Sanskrit; Oskar von Hinüber suggests, based on an extant Chinese translation of Mil as well as some unique conceptualizations within the text, the text's original language might have been Gandhari. However, apart from the Sri Lankan Pali edition and its derivatives, no other copies are known. The oldest manuscript of the Pali text was copied in 1495 AD"
(WP, using as source esp. Oskar von Hinüber: "A Handbook of Pāli Literature", Berlin u.a.: de Gruyter 2000, pp. 83-86).

36 The Questions of King Milinda, part 2/2
Milindapañha
Bud T. W. Rhys Davids 1894

37 Pahlavi Texts, part 4/5
Contents of the Nasks
Zor E. W. West 1892

38 Vedanta-Sutras, part 2/3
Commentary by Sankaracharya, part 2 of 2

Adhyâya II (Pâda III–IV)–IV
Hindu George Thibaut 1896

39 Texts of Taoism, part 1/2
Tâo Teh King (Lâo Dze (Lao Tsu)

The Writings of Kwang-tze (Chuang-tse), I–XVII
China James Legge 1891 "Traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, with several similar early versions recovered, the texts' authorship and dates of composition and compilation are debated.[8] The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BCE. While tradition places Laozi earlier, a more conservative estimation would date modern versions of the text only as far back as the late Warring States period (475-221 BCE)"
(WP, using as sources Mircea Eliade: "A History of Religious Ideas", Vol. 2: "From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity", translated by Willard R. Trask, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1984, p. 26; Alan Chan: "Laozi", in: "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy", ed. by Edward N. Zalta, Stanford: The Metaphysics Research Lab 2018, plato.standford.edu).

40 Texts of Taoism, part 2/2
The Writings of Kwang Tse, XVII–XXXIII

The Thâi-shang tractate of actions and their retributions (Treatise on the Response of the Tao)

Other Taoist texts

the Index to vols. 39 and 40
China James Legge 1891

41 Satapatha Brahmana, part 3/5:
Mâdhyandina Shakha V–VII
Hindu Julius Eggeling 1894

42 Hymns of the Atharvaveda, Together With Extracts From the Ritual Books and the Commentaries Hindu Maurice Bloomfield 1897

43 Satapatha Brahmana, part 4/5:
Mâdhyandina Shakha VII, IX, X.
Hindu Julius Eggeling 1897

44 Satapatha Brahmana, part 5/5:
Mâdhyandina Shakha XI–XIV.
Hindu Julius Eggeling 1900

45 Jaina Sûtras, part 2 of 2:
Uttarâdhyayana Sûtra

Sûtrakritânga Sûtra
Jain Hermann Jacobi
(from Prâkrit)
1895

46 Vedic Hymns, part 2/2:
Hymns to Mandalas I–V)
Hindu Hermann Oldenberg 1897

47 Pahlavi Texts, part 5/5:
Marvels of Zoroastrianism
Zor E. W. West 1897

48 Vedanta-Sutras, part 3/3, with the commentary of Râmânuja Hindu George Thibaut 1904

49 Mahâyâna Texts, part 1/2:
Aśvaghoṣa

Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts, part 2/2:

Longer Sukhâvatî-vyûha

Shorter Sukhâvatî-vyûha

Vagrakkhedikâ

the longer Pragñâ-pâramitâ-hridaya-sûtra

the shorter Pragñâ-pâramitâ-hridaya-sûtra

Amitâyur dhyâna-sûtra
Bud Takakusu Junjiro (Amitâyur) 1894 "Some important evidence for early Mahāyāna Buddhism comes from the texts translated by the Indoscythian monk Lokakṣema in the 2nd century CE, who came to China from the kingdom of Gandhāra. These are some of the earliest known Mahāyāna texts"
(WP, using as source esp. Robert E. Buswell, ed.: "Encyclopedia of Buddhism", Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale / Macmillan Reference USA 2004, p. 492).

50 General index to the names and subject-matter of the Sacred Books of the East. Index Arthur Anthony Macdonell 1910

Vol.	Title and contents	Group	Translator	Published	Time of Origin
1	The Upanishads, part 1/2: Khândogya Upanishad Talavakâra or Kena-Upanishad Âranyaka Brâhmana Vâjasaneyi-Sâmhita Upanishad	Hindu	Max Müller	1879	"[T]he Muktikā Upanishad, predates 1656 CE and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads including itself as the last" (WP, using as sources Preeti Tripathy: "Indian religions. Tradition, History and Culture", Colorado Springs: Axis Publications 2010, p. 84, Sris Chandra Sen: "Vedic literature and Upanishads. The Mystic Philosophy of the Upanishads", Mumbai: General Printers & Publishers 1937, p. 19).
2	The Sacred Laws of the Âryas (Dharmaśāstra), part 1/2: Âpastamba Gautama Vâsishtha Baudhâyana	Hindu	Georg Bühler	1879	"The Dharmashastras are based on ancient Dharmasūtra texts, which themselves emerged from the literary tradition of the Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva) composed in 2nd millennium BCE to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE" (WP, using as source esp. James Lochtefeld: "Dharma Shastras", in: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism", Vol. 1: "A-M", New York: Rosen Publishing 2002, pp. 191-192).
3	The Confucianism: The Shû King (Classic of History) Book of Thang Books of Yü Books of Hsiâ Books of Shang Books of Kâu Shih King, the Book of Odes (Classic of Poetry) I. Odes of the Temple and the Altar II. Minor Odes of the Kingdom III. Major Odes of the Kingdom IV. Lessons from the States The Hsiâo King (Classic of Filial Piety)	China	James Legge	1879	"Founded by Confucius in the Hundred Schools of Thought era (c. 500 BCE), Confucianism integrates philosophy, ethics, and social governance [...]. Suppressed during the Legalist Qin dynasty (c. 200 BCE), Confucianism flourished under the Han dynasty (c. 130 BCE) [...]. The Tang dynasty (c. 600 CE) witnessed a response to the rising influence of Buddhism and Taoism in the development of Neo-Confucianism, a reformulated philosophical system that became central to the imperial examination system and the scholar-official class of the Song dynasty (c. 1000 CE). The abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 marked the decline of state-endorsed Confucianism" (WP, using as sources Herbert Fingarette: " Confucius. The Secular as Sacred", New York: Harper 1972, pp. 1-2; Yiu-ming Fung: "Problematizing Contemporary Confucianism in East Asia", in: "Teaching Confucianism", ed. by Jeffrey Richey, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008, pp. 157-186, esp. p. 163; Justin Yifu Lin: "Demystifying the Chinese Economy", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012, p. 107).
4	Zend-Avesta, part 1/3: Vendîdâd	Zor	James Darmesteter	1880	"The classic view is that the Vendidad is a late creation and its current use within the Videvdad liturgy happened later still. This is based on the corrupted Avestan of the text and the seeming lack of any connection between its content and the liturgy in which it is used. Therefore, whereas the Vendidad may be a product of the Parthian period, the ceremony may be 'an innovation of the Islamic period'" (WP, using as sources Williams W. Malandra: "VENDĪDĀD i. Survey of the history and contents of the text", in: "Encyclopædia Iranica", New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul 2000; Jivanja J. Modi: "The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees", Bombay: British India Press 1922, pp. 350-351; Almut Hintze: "On the Ritual Significance of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti", in: "Zoroastrian Ritual in Context. Studies in the History of Religions", ed. by Michael Stausberg, Leiden: Brill 2004, pp. 291-316, esp. p. 300).
5	Pahlavi Texts, part 1/5: Bundahis selections of Zâd-sparam Bahman Yast Shâyast lâ-Shâyast	Zor	E. W. West	1880	"Pahlavi literature traditionally defines the writings of the Zoroastrians in the Middle Persian language and Book Pahlavi script which were compiled in the 9th and the 10th centuries AD" (C.G. Cereti: "Middle Persian literature I: Pahlavi Literature", in: "Encyclopedia Iranica", New York: iranicaonline.org 2009).
6	Qur'an part 1/2 – chapters I-XVI	Islam	E. H. Palmer	1880	"Uthman ibn Affan (Arabic: عُثْمَان بْن عَفَّان, romanized: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; c. 573 or 576 – 17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate in Sunni Islam ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, was a second cousin, son-in-law, and senior companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in tradition, and played a major role in early Islamic history. During his reign as caliph, he was known for ordering the official compilation of the standardized version of the Quran, known as the Uthmanic codex, which is still used today" (WP).
7	The Institutes of Visnu.	Hindu	Julius Jolly	1880
8	The Bhagavadgîtâ: Sanatsugâtîya Anugîtâ.	Hindu	Kâshinâth Trimbak Telang	1882	"The Bhagavad Gita ([...] Sanskrit: भगवद्गीता [...] lit. 'God's song'), often referred to as the Gita [...], is a Hindu scripture, likely composed in the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, including the Vedic concept of dharma (duty, rightful action); Sankhya-based yoga and jñana (knowledge); and bhakti (devotion). Among the Hindu traditions, the Gita holds a unique pan-Hindu influence as the most prominent sacred text and is a central text in the Vedanta and Vaishnava traditions" (WP, using as sources Arvind Sharma: "The Hindu Gītā. Ancient and Classical Interpretations of the Bhagavadgītā", London: Open Court 1986, p. 3; Jeannette D. Fowler: "The Bhagavad Gita. A Text and Commentary for Students", Eastbourne: Sussex Academy Press 2012, p. xxiv; J.A.B. van Buitenen: "The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata", Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2013, p. 6: "ca. 200 BC is a likely date"; Wendy Doniger: "Bhagavadgita. Definition, Contents, & Significance", in: "Britannica online", 2024).
9	The Qur'an, part 2/2 – chapters XVII-CXIV	Islam	E. H. Palmer	1880
10	Dhammapada: a collection of verses Sutta-Nipâta: a collection of discourses, one of the canonical books of the Buddhists	Bud	Max Müller (Dhammapada from Pāli, Sutta-Nipata from Pāli)	1881	"According to tradition, the Dhammapada's verses were spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. Glenn Wallis states: '[...] In fact, it is possible that the very source of the Dhammapada in the third century B.C.E. is traceable to the need of the early Buddhist communities in India to laicize the ascetic impetus of the Buddha's original words.' The text is part of the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Sutta Piṭaka, although over half of the verses exist in other parts of the Pāli Canon. A 4th or 5th century CE commentary attributed to Buddhaghosa includes 305 stories which give context to the verses. The Pāli Dhammapada is one of the most popular pieces of Theravāda literature. Its oldest available manuscripts date to 1500 CE. A compiler is not named. A critical edition of the Dhammapada in Latin was produced by Danish scholar Viggo Fausbøll in 1855, becoming the first Pāli text to receive this kind of examination by the European academic community" (WP, using as sources esp. Valerie J. Roebuck: "Dhammapada, Dharmapada and Udanavarga. The Many Lives of a Buddhist Text", in: "Religions of South Asia", Vol. 6, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 225-244; Oskar von Hinüber: "Dhammapada", in: "Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism", ed. by Robert E. Buswell Jr., New York: Macmillan Reference 2004, pp. 216-17).
11	Buddhist Suttas: Mahā-parinibbāṇa Suttanta Dhamma-kakka-ppavattana Sutta Tevigga Sutta'anta Âkankheyya Sutta'a Ketokhila Sutta'a Mahâ-Sudassana Sutta'anta Sabbâsava Sutta'a	Bud	T. W. Rhys Davids	1881
12	Satapatha Brahmana, part 1/5: Mâdhyandina Shakha I-II	Hindu	Julius Eggeling	1882	"Arthur Berriedale Keith states that linguistically, the Shatapatha Brahmana belongs to the later part of the Brāhmaṇa period of Vedic Sanskrit (8th-6th century BCE). Asko Parpola dates it to around 700 BCE. J. Eggeling (translator of the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina recension into English), dates the final written version of the text to 300 BCE, although he states that some elements are 'far older, transmitted orally from unknown antiquity'" (WP, using as sources Keith: "Aitareya Āraṇyaka", p. 38 ("Introduction"): "by common consent, the Shatapatha is one of the youngest of the great Brāhmaṇas", footnotes: "Cf. Macdonell, Sanskrit Literature, pp. 203, 217. The Jaiminiya may be younger, cf. its use of ādi, Whitney, P.A.O.S, May 1883, p.xii"; Asko Parpola: "Human Sacrifice in India in Vedic Times and Before", in: "The Strange World of Human Sacrifice", ed. by Jan N. Bremmer, Leuven: Peeters Publishers 2007, p. 158; "The Shatapatha Brahmana. Sacred Books of the East", Vols. 12, 26, 24, 37, 47, translated by Julius Eggeling, published between 1882 and 1900).
13	Vinaya Texts, part 1/3: Pāṭimokkha Mahâvagga, I–IV.	Bud	Hermann Oldenberg	1881	"According to tradition, the Tripiṭaka was compiled at the First Council shortly after the Buddha's death. The Vinaya Piṭaka is said to have been recited by Upāli, with little later addition. Most of the different versions are fairly similar, most scholars consider most of the Vinaya to be fairly early, that is, dating from before the separation of schools" (WP, using John Hinnells: "New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions", Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 2004, p. 380).
14	The Sacred Laws of the Âryas, part 2/2: Vâsishtha Baudhâyana Parisishta	Hindu	Georg Bühler	1882
15	The Upanishads, part 2/2: Katha Upanishad Mundaka Upanishad Taittiriya Upanishad Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Svetasvatara Upanishad Prasña Upanishad Maitrayani Upanishad	Hindu	Max Müller	1884
16	The Sacred Books of China, part 2/6 – the texts of Confucianism: Yi King (I Ching).	China	James Legge	1882	"The I Ching was originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000-750 BC). Over the course of the Warring States and early imperial periods (500-200 BC), it transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the Ten Wings. After becoming part of the Chinese Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the I Ching was the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East and was the subject of scholarly commentary. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, it took on an influential role in Western understanding of East Asian philosophical thought" (WP, using as sources Martin Kern: "Early Chinese literature. Beginnings through Western Han", in: "The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature", Volume 1: "To 1375", ed. by Stephen Owen, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010, pp. 1-115, esp. p. 17; Geoffrey Redmond: "The Yijing in Early Postwar Counterculture in the West", in: "The Making of the Global Yijing in the Modern World", ed. by Benjamin Wai-ming Ng, Singapore: Springer 2021, pp. 197-221; Joseph A. Adler: "Introduction to the Study of the Classic of Change (I-hsüeh ch'i-meng)", Provo, UT: Global Scholarly Publications 2022, chs. 1, 6, 7).
17	Vinaya Texts, part 2/3 Mahavagga, V–X Kullavagga, I–II	Bud	Hermann Oldenberg	1882
18	Pahlavi Texts, part 2/5 Dâdistân-î Dinik Epistles of Mânûskîhar	Zor	E. W. West	1882
19	The Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king: a life of Dharmakṣema (A. D. 420).	Bud	Samuel Beal	1883
20	Vinaya Texts, part 3/3: Kullavagga, IV–XII.	Bud	Hermann Oldenberg	1885
21	The Saddharma-Pundarika or The Lotus of the True Law.	Bud	H. Kern	1884	"According to Donald Lopez 'the general scholarly consensus is that the Lotus Sūtra took shape in four phases.' One of the earliest four layer theories of the development of the sūtra was Kogaku Fuse's [Michael Pye: "Skilful Means. A concept in Mahayana Buddhism", Milton Park, Oxfordshire: Routledge 2003, pp. 173-178]. [...] Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline Stone opines that there is consensus about the stages of composition but not about the dating of these strata. Author Yoisho Tamura argues that the first stage of composition (Chapters 2–9) was completed around 50 CE and expanded by chapters 10–21 around 100 CE. He dates the third stage (Chapters 22–27) around 150 CE. [...] It is cited by Indian Buddhists such as Vasubandhu (in his commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha), Candrakīrti (Madhyamakāvatāra-bhāṣya), Śāntideva, Kamalaśīla and Abhayākaragupta. According to Paramārtha (499–569 CE), there were over fifty Indian commentaries on the Lotus. [...] Three translations of the Lotus Sūtra into Chinese are extant. It was first translated into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa's team ['Zhèng Fǎ Huá Jīng'] in 286 C. E. in Chang'an during the Western Jin period (265–317 CE)" (WP, using as sources Donald Lopez: "The Lotus Sutra. A Biography", Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 2016, pp. 21-22; Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone: "Interpreting the Lotus Sutra", in: "Readings of the Lotus Sutra", ed. by Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone, New York: Columbia University Press 2009, pp. 1-61, esp. pp. 7-8; Yuichi Kajiyama: "The Saddharmapundarika and Sunyata Thought", in "Journal of Oriental Studies", Vol. 10, 2000, p. 72-96, esp. p. 73; Daniel Boucher: "Gāndhāri and the Early Chinese Buddhist Translations Reconsidered. The Case of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka sūtra", in: "Journal of the American Oriental Society", Vol. 118, Heft 4, 1998, pp. 471-506; Erik Zürcher: "The Buddhist Conquest of China", Reihe "Sinica Leidensia", Vol. 11, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill 2006, pp. 57-69).
22	Jaina Sûtras, part 1/2 Âkârânga Sûtra Kalpa sûtra	Jain	Hermann Jacobi from the Prâkrit	1884	"The Ācārāṅga Sūtra, the foremost and oldest Jain text (First book c. 5th–4th century BCE; Second book c. Late 4th–2nd century BCE), is the first of the twelve Angas, part of the agamas which were compiled based on the teachings of 24th Tirthankara Mahavira" (WP, using as source esp. Sagarmal Jain: "Jain Literature [From earliest time to c. 10th A.D.]", in: "Aspects of Jainology", Vol. VI, 1998, p. 4). "The Kalpa Sūtra (Sanskrit: कल्पसूत्र) is an important Jain scripture containing the biographies of the Tirthankaras, notably Parshvanatha and Mahavira. Ascribed to Acharya Bhadrabahu, which would place it in the 4th century BCE, it states that it was written down 980 or 993 years after the Nirvana (Moksha) of Mahavira or 1230 years after the Nirvana of Tirthankar Parswanath. [...] The oldest surviving copies are written on paper in western India in the 14th century" (WP, using as sources Hermann Jacobi and Mildred O. Budny: "Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts", in: "Research Group on anuscript Evidence", Princeton, manuscriptevidence.org, 18. Apr. 2018).
23	Zend-Avesta, part 2/3: Sîrôzahs Yasts Nyâyis	Zor	James Darmesteter	1883	"After the loss of the Sasanian Avesta, the Avestan corpus survived through a number of manuscript traditions in Iran and India. These manuscripts overwhelmingly correspond to their ritual and devotional use, and it is assumed that this use guaranteed their survival. The oldest surviving fragment of a manuscript dates to 1323 CE but most extant manuscripts date from after the 17th century. [...] The corpus of Avestan literature was produced during the Old Iranian Avestan period and transmitted within an oral culture of priestly composition. It was not until the Sasanian period, that the Zoroastrian priesthood produced an authoritative edition of this corpus. This edition is described in the Zoroastrian literature of the 10th century, but was lost at some undetermined time afterwards. Since then, no new authoritative edition of the scattered Avestan corpus has been produced by the Zoroastrian community. After Avestan manuscripts became known in the Western world, several scholarly attempts were made to create a critical edition of the diverse manuscripts through which the, now much reduced, Avestan corpus had survived. The first critical edition was published in 1852 by Westergaard [Niels L. Westergaard: 'Zendavesta. Or The religious books of the Zoroastrians', Copenhagen: Berling brothers 1852]" (WP, using as sources Alberto Cantera: "Die Manuskriptologie der Avesta-Handschriften", in: "Handbuch Iranistik", ed. by. Ludwig Paul, Wiesbaden: Reichert 2013, p. 345: "Avesta wird die Gesamtheit von zoroastrischen Texten in altiranischer Sprache genannt, die in vielen einzelnen Handschriften überliefert sind"; Alberto Cantera: "On the Edge between Literacy and Orality. Manuscripts and Performance of the Zoroastrian Long Liturgy", in: "Oral Tradition", Vol. 35, 2022, Nr. 2, pp. 211-250; Mary Boyce: "Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. Textual Sources for the Study of Religion", Manchester: Manchester University Press 1984, p. 176; P. Oktor Skjaervø: "The Zoroastrian Oral Tradition as Reflected in the Texts", in: "The Transmission of the Avesta", ed. by Alberto Cantera, Reihe "Iranica", Vol. 20, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2012, p. 552; Jean Kellens: "Avesta", in: "Encyclopædia Iranica", Vol. 3, New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1987, pp. 35-44).
24	Pahlavi Texts, part 3/5: Dinai Mainög-i khirad Sikand-Gümanik Vigar Sad Dar	Zor	E. W. West	1884
25	The Laws of Manu: with extracts from seven commentaries.	Hindu	Georg Bühler	1886	"Philologists [Sir William] Jones ['The Institutes of Hindu Law. Or, The Ordinances of Manu', Calcutta / London: Sewell & Debrett 1796, archive.org] and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, in the 18th century, dated Manusmriti to around 1250 BCE and 1000 BCE respectively, which, from later linguistic developments, is untenable due to the language of the text which must be later than the late Vedic texts such as the Upanishads, themselves dated a few centuries later, around 500 BCE. Later scholars shifted the chronology of the text to between the 1st or 2nd century CE. [Patrick] Olivelle adds that numismatic evidence and the mention of gold coins as a fine suggest the text may date to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. However, the majority of scholars agree that it was composed sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE" (WP, using as sources William Wilson Hunter: "The Indian Empire. Its People, History and Products", London: Truebner 1886, p. 114, archive.org; Matt Stefon: "Manu-smriti. Hindu law", in: "Britannica", 2023; Patrick Olivelle: "Manu's Code of Law", Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005, pp. 24-25; Ludo Rocher: "The Dharma sāstras", in "Wiley Blackwell Companion to Hinduism", ed. by Gavin Flood, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons 2022, pp. 69-80, esp. p. 76).
26	Satapatha Brahmana, part 2/5 Mâdhyandina Shakha III–IV	Hindu	Julius Eggeling	1885
27	The Sacred Books of China, part 3/6 – the texts of Confucianism: The Lî Kî I (Book of Rites)	China	James Legge	1885
28	The Sacred Books of China, part 4/6 – the texts of Confucianism: The Lî Kî Ii (Book of Rites)	China	James Legge	1885
29	Vedic domestic ceremonies: Sankhyayana-Grihya-sutra Āśvalāyana-Grihya-sutra Paraskara-Grihya-sutra Khadia-Grihya-sutra	Hindu	Hermann Oldenberg	1886
30	Vedic domestic ceremonies: Gobhila Hiranyakesin Apastamba Yajña Paribhashasutras	Hindu	Hermann Oldenberg (Apstamba), Max Müller (Yajna)	1892
31	Zend-Avesta, part 3/3: Yasna Visparad Afrînagân Gâhs miscellaneous fragments	Zor	Lawrence Heyworth Mills	1887
32	Vedic Hymns, part 1/2 Hymns to the Maruts Hymns to Rudra Hymns to Vâyu Hymns to Vâta Bibliographical list of the more important publications on the Rigveda	Hindu	Max Müller	1891	"According to Jamison and Brereton, in their 2014 translation of the Rigveda, the dating of this text 'has been and is likely to remain a matter of contention and reconsideration'. The dating proposals so far are all inferred from the style and the content within the hymns themselves. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium BCE. Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the hymns must post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE. A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the Rigveda is that of the Mitanni documents of northern Syria and Iraq (c. 1450-1350 BCE), which also mention the Vedic gods such as Varuna, Mitra and Indra. Some scholars have suggested that the Rig Veda was composed on the banks of a river in Haraxvaiti province in southern Afghanistan [...]. Other evidence also points to a composition date close to 1400 BCE. [...] The Rigveda's core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age, [...]. According to Michael Witzel, the codification of the Rigveda took place at the end of the Rigvedic period between c. 1200 and 1000 BCE, in the early Kuru kingdom. [..] According to Barbara West, it was probably first written down about the 3rd-century BCE. [...T]hirty manuscripts of Rigveda at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, collected in the 19th century by Georg Bühler, Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts of India, including Kashmir, Gujarat, the then Rajaputana, and Central Provinces [,...] were transferred to Deccan College, Pune, in the late 19th century. [...] The oldest of the Pune collection is dated to 1464 CE" (WP, using as sources "The Rigveda. The Earliest Religious Poetry of India", transl. by Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2014, pp. 5-6; J. P. Mallory et al.: "Indo-Iranian Languages", in: "Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture", Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997; Michael Witzel: "Vedas and Upanisads", in: "The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism", ed. by Gavin Flood, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing 2003, pp. 68-69; Michael Witzel: "Beyond the Flight of the Falcon", in: "Which of Us are Aryans? Rethinking the Concept of Our Origins", ed. by Romila Thapar, Rupa: Aleph 2019, p. 11; Rajesh Kochar: "The Vedic People. Their History and Geography", Hyderabad, Telangana: Orient Longman 2000; Barbara A. West: "Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania", New York: Infobase Publishing 2010, p. 282; "Rigveda manuscripts in preserved safely in Pune Institute", oneindia.com, 29. Feb. 2008).
33	The Minor Law-Books: Brihaspati	Hindu	Julius Jolly	1889
34	Vedanta-Sutras, part 1/3 Commentary by Sankaracharya, part 1 of 2 Adhyâya I–II (Pâda I–II).	Hindu	George Thibaut	1890
35	The Questions of King Milinda, part 1/2 Milindapañha	Bud	T. W. Rhys Davids	1890	"The earliest part of the text is believed to have been written between 100 BC and 200 AD. The text may have initially been written in Sanskrit; Oskar von Hinüber suggests, based on an extant Chinese translation of Mil as well as some unique conceptualizations within the text, the text's original language might have been Gandhari. However, apart from the Sri Lankan Pali edition and its derivatives, no other copies are known. The oldest manuscript of the Pali text was copied in 1495 AD" (WP, using as source esp. Oskar von Hinüber: "A Handbook of Pāli Literature", Berlin u.a.: de Gruyter 2000, pp. 83-86).
36	The Questions of King Milinda, part 2/2 Milindapañha	Bud	T. W. Rhys Davids	1894
37	Pahlavi Texts, part 4/5 Contents of the Nasks	Zor	E. W. West	1892
38	Vedanta-Sutras, part 2/3 Commentary by Sankaracharya, part 2 of 2 Adhyâya II (Pâda III–IV)–IV	Hindu	George Thibaut	1896
39	Texts of Taoism, part 1/2 Tâo Teh King (Lâo Dze (Lao Tsu) The Writings of Kwang-tze* (Chuang-tse), I–XVII*	China	James Legge	1891	"Traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, with several similar early versions recovered, the texts' authorship and dates of composition and compilation are debated.[8] The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BCE. While tradition places Laozi earlier, a more conservative estimation would date modern versions of the text only as far back as the late Warring States period (475-221 BCE)" (WP, using as sources Mircea Eliade: "A History of Religious Ideas", Vol. 2: "From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity", translated by Willard R. Trask, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1984, p. 26; Alan Chan: "Laozi", in: "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy", ed. by Edward N. Zalta, Stanford: The Metaphysics Research Lab 2018, plato.standford.edu).
40	Texts of Taoism, part 2/2 The Writings of Kwang Tse, XVII–XXXIII The Thâi-shang tractate of actions and their retributions (Treatise on the Response of the Tao) Other Taoist texts the Index to vols. 39 and 40	China	James Legge	1891
41	Satapatha Brahmana, part 3/5: Mâdhyandina Shakha V–VII	Hindu	Julius Eggeling	1894
42	Hymns of the Atharvaveda, Together With Extracts From the Ritual Books and the Commentaries	Hindu	Maurice Bloomfield	1897
43	Satapatha Brahmana, part 4/5: Mâdhyandina Shakha VII, IX, X.	Hindu	Julius Eggeling	1897
44	Satapatha Brahmana, part 5/5: Mâdhyandina Shakha XI–XIV.	Hindu	Julius Eggeling	1900
45	Jaina Sûtras, part 2 of 2: Uttarâdhyayana Sûtra Sûtrakritânga Sûtra	Jain	Hermann Jacobi (from Prâkrit)	1895
46	Vedic Hymns, part 2/2: Hymns to Mandalas I–V)	Hindu	Hermann Oldenberg	1897
47	Pahlavi Texts, part 5/5: Marvels of Zoroastrianism	Zor	E. W. West	1897
48	Vedanta-Sutras, part 3/3, with the commentary of Râmânuja	Hindu	George Thibaut	1904
49	Mahâyâna Texts, part 1/2: Aśvaghoṣa Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts, part 2/2: Longer Sukhâvatî-vyûha Shorter Sukhâvatî-vyûha Vagrakkhedikâ the longer Pragñâ-pâramitâ-hridaya-sûtra the shorter Pragñâ-pâramitâ-hridaya-sûtra Amitâyur dhyâna-sûtra	Bud	Takakusu Junjiro (Amitâyur)	1894	"Some important evidence for early Mahāyāna Buddhism comes from the texts translated by the Indoscythian monk Lokakṣema in the 2nd century CE, who came to China from the kingdom of Gandhāra. These are some of the earliest known Mahāyāna texts" (WP, using as source esp. Robert E. Buswell, ed.: "Encyclopedia of Buddhism", Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale / Macmillan Reference USA 2004, p. 492).
50	General index to the names and subject-matter of the Sacred Books of the East.	Index	Arthur Anthony Macdonell	1910

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