Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara: The British Library Kharosthi Fragments (An Old and Rare Book)

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In September 1994, the British Library's Oriental and India Office Collections, through the generous assistance of an anonymous benefactor, acquired the collection of twenty-nine birch bark scrolls containing texts in Kharosthi script that constitute the subject of this volume. It immediately became clear that this was a find of extraordinary interest, among other reasons because these fragments are likely to be the oldest Buddhist manuscripts, as well as the oldest Indian manuscripts, known to date. In June 1996, this discovery came to the attention of the media, and in that and subsequent months numerous reports, inevitably varying in accuracy, appeared in the press and electronic media worldwide. The first scholarly publication on the manuscripts, a brief summary of and introduction to the new materials (Salomon 1997a), was published in July 1997. The present book provides a more detailed description of the new manuscripts and a survey of their contents, in order to evaluate, in a preliminary way, their overall significance and to set an agenda for their further study. It is intended as the first volume of a series of studies of these manuscripts. Subsequent volumes in this series will comprise editions and detailed studies of particular texts within this corpus, and it is hoped that the first of these volumes, an edition and study of the Rhinoceros Horn Sutra fragment, will appear not long after the publication of this introductory volume. Also projected for a later phase of the project are comparative studies of the Buddhological and linguistic and paleographic significance of these manuscripts.

Because of the wide interest in this discovery that has been expressed outside as well as within the academic community, I have attempted to make this presentation as accessible as possible to the nonspecialist reader, without compromising scholarly standards. Much of the material in chapter 1, for instance, is intended primarily for the nonspecialist, with a view to providing a broader context within which the significance of the new materials can be understood. It is also for the convenience of the nonspecialist audience that a Glossary, providing brief definitions of Buddhist words and other technical terms that will be familiar to the experts, has been added (pp. 249-51). Some other sections of the book, such as chapter 6, on the language and script, and the Appendix, on the interpretation of the inscriptions on the pots associated with the manuscripts, may try the patience of the general reader, who should feel free to skip at least parts of them, though in each case the introductory and concluding portions may be of broader interest. Chapter 8, on the other hand, in which the topics introduced in a general way in the first chapter are developed at greater length, is particularly intended for the attention of both categories of readers. It is also with the interests of the nonspecialists in mind that, contrary to standard scholarly practice in this field, I have translated quotations from scholars writing in French and German into English. I hope that in doing so I have not in any way distorted their intended meanings. In the case of longer quotations, the original text is given in a footnote, so that those who wish to check the translation can do so conveniently. I am fully aware that, in trying to write a book that will be of use and interest to both professional scholars and to general readers, one runs the risk of pleasing neither. I can only hope that this is not the case here, but when in doubt I have favored the interests of the former and trust that the latter will understand my priorities.

Inevitably, most of what is said here about the manuscripts, their contents, and their significance is provisional. Much of it will need to be supplemented and modified in the course of future detailed studies, and at least some of it will surely turn out to be incorrect. Nonetheless, I have felt, in view of the unusual degree of interest that this discovery has aroused worldwide, an obligation to bring out this volume as soon as practically feasible, even if this requires some compromise with the degree of certainty and comprehensiveness that is normally desirable in a scholarly publication.