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Manuscript · c. 5th–7th century CE; found 1931

The Gilgit manuscripts

Found
Inside a stupa at Naupur near Gilgit, in 1931, with more found in 1938
Kept at
Most in the National Archives of India, New Delhi; others in other collections

Birch-bark books of Buddhist scripture in Sanskrit, the oldest manuscript collection to survive in the subcontinent.

What it says

The hoard holds texts such as the Saddharmapundarika (Lotus) sutra, the Samadhiraja sutra and the monastic code of the Mulasarvastivada school, with some painted wooden covers. Colophons name donors, among them kings of the Patola Shahi line of Gilgit. The script is an early form of Sharada.

What it proves

They preserve the Sanskrit originals of texts otherwise known only in Tibetan and Chinese, and show Sanskrit learning in the far north of Bharat. UNESCO entered them in the Memory of the World Register in 2017.

Evidence for

The Age of Great Kingdoms

Sanskrit learning in the far north

Evidence

The Arthashastra manuscript found in 1905Manuscript
Text of Kautilya, minister of Chandragupta Maurya; this Grantha copy c. 16th century, identified 1905

The Arthashastra manuscript found in 1905

The palm-leaf copy that brought Kautilya’s Arthashastra, the ancient book of statecraft, back into print after centuries in which it was known only by quotation.

The Spitzer manuscriptManuscript
c. 2nd century CE (radiocarbon 80–230 CE)

The Spitzer manuscript

The oldest philosophical manuscript in Sanskrit, named after Moritz Spitzer who first studied it, which holds a list of the parvas of the Mahabharata.

The Bower manuscriptManuscript
c. 6th century CE; acquired 1890

The Bower manuscript

Birch-bark leaves in Gupta-era Brahmi holding seven texts, three of them on medicine, including the Navanitaka.

The Bakhshali manuscriptManuscript
Radiocarbon dates between the 3rd and 10th centuries CE (2017; the dating is debated)

The Bakhshali manuscript

Seventy fragile leaves of birch bark holding a book of arithmetic in Sharada script, in which zero is written as a dot.

Manuscripts of the Sushruta SamhitaManuscript
Oldest dated copy 878 CE

Manuscripts of the Sushruta Samhita

A palm-leaf copy of the Sushruta Samhita made in Nepal in 878 CE, older than any other dated copy and older than the commentary of Dalhana that shaped the printed text.

Rigveda manuscripts at BORI, PuneManuscript
Copied c. 1464–1800s CE; on the UNESCO register since 2007

Rigveda manuscripts at BORI, Pune

Thirty manuscripts of the Rigveda, some with Sayana’s commentary, that UNESCO entered in its Memory of the World Register in 2007.

The Mewar RamayanaManuscript
1649–1653 CE

The Mewar Ramayana

Valmiki’s Ramayana in more than four hundred paintings, made at the Sisodia court while Mewar still refused to bow to the Mughals in spirit.

Tipu Sultan’s letters to the Sringeri mathManuscript
1790s CE

Tipu Sultan’s letters to the Sringeri math

About thirty letters from Tipu Sultan to the Jagadguru of Sringeri, among them his reply after Maratha horsemen raided the math in 1791.