The DZDL survives only in the Chinese translation of 100 scrolls made by the Kuchean monk Kumārajīva from 402 to 406 CE.Ramanan, Krishniah Venkata, Dr. (1966). Nāgārjuna's Philosophy as presented in Mahā-prajñāpāramitā-śāstra . Charles E. Tuttle Company of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1966. page 14. According to the primary sources, the Indic text consisted of 100,000 gāthās (lines), or 3,200,000 Sanskrit syllables, which was condensed by Kumārajīva by two-thirds to obtain the 100 scrolls of the Chinese translation. Kumārajīva translated the first 34 scrolls in full, and abridged the rest of the material.Lee, Youngjin, Traditional Commentaries on the Larger Prajñāpāramitā It was translated by Kumārajīva, working together with his student Sengrui, who "stopped writing, argued for the right translation," and "checked his translation against the original for the entire day" as well as with the Qin emperor Yao Xing (366–416 CE).
