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Your support makes all the difference.In September 1994 the British Library acquired 29 scrolls, fashioned from birch bark, containing texts written in Gandhari - a vernacular language derived from Sanskrit. They weren't in great condition, having been removed from the clay pot in which they were (allegedly) found, and forced into narrow glass jars, so that bits of scroll flaked off, and littered the base of the jars like brown dandruff.
Conservators at the British Library gently remoisturised the scrolls (blotting paper, silica gel and a bell-jar), before unrolling them, a process involving two very careful people, a pair of tweezers and an ultrasonic humidifier. The fragments are now stored between layers of glass, and are being studied by a team led by Richard Salomon, Professor of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington, who will talk about the scrolls and the methods used to decipher and evaluate them, at the British Library on Tuesday.
These scrolls are very important. They are, according to the Dalai Lama's foreword to Salomon's book, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara: The British Library Kharosthi Fragments, "the oldest surviving Buddhist texts ever discovered". Dating from some time between the early first century and the middle of the second century, these fragmentary manuscripts are poised to do for our understanding of Buddhism what the Dead Sea Scrolls did for Judaism and Christianity.
Gandhara covered what is now eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Rich and culturally influential, the area provided an important point of contact between India and both China and the West. It has also been known for some time that Gandhara was also one of the world's major centres of Buddhism. But until now, the Gandharan Buddhists' beliefs and doctrines have been largely obscure.
Written with a reed pen and black ink, the scrolls include Sutra texts and commentaries, scholastic treatises, poetry, avadanas (stories), hymns, and even the odd medical text. Much of the material is difficult to decipher, and it'll take years of study, interpretation and comparison with other ancient Buddhist texts and inscriptions before the full meaning of the writings becomes clear - if, indeed, it ever does.
Richard Salomon, British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 (0171-412 7222) Tue, 6.15pm, pounds 5/pounds 3.50
Lisa Gee
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