THT-fragments of Maitreyasamiti-Nātaka: Current state of the topic and some new identifications

The Buddhist drama Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka is one of the most important Tocharian A texts, and the most important text about the life of Maitreya, the Future Buddha, in Central Asia. Interestingly, it has an equivalent in the Old Uyghur (prose) text Maitrisimit nom bitig . Although the Tocharian A fragments are often very small, incomplete parts of the text can sometimes be emended by comparing them with parallel passages in Uyghur. The present article for the first time provides an overview of the Tocharian A fragments from the Berlin Turfansammlung which were not included in the edition of Tocharian A texts by E. Sieg and W. Siegling (‘THT-fragments’). Some new Tocharian A materials are identified, edited and discussed here with the aid of the Uyghur parallels, which hitherto have not been published with an English translation.