The article deals with some passages in the Mahāvastu (abbr. Mv), which were misunderstood by Émile Senart in his editio princeps but can be restored or considerably improved on the basis of better readings found in an old palm-leaf manuscript from Nepal (abbr. ms. Sa), dating back to the 12-13th centuries, as well as by comparison with the parallel passages found in the Sanskrit, Pāli and Tibetan texts.