Hello Pali friends,
"The oldest surviving Buddhist texts in the Pali language come from the relic chamber of a Buddhist stupa at Sri Ksetra. They consist of a twenty-leaf manuscript of solid gold and a large gilded reliquary of silver (Fig. 2). A new and exhaustive palaeographic study of these inscriptions shows that they date from the mid-fifth to mid-sixth century AD. Unlike all the other early Buddhist societies of Southeast Asia, evidence of Mahayanist contacts in Pyu sites is scant. It is clear that the Pyu kingdoms were in contact with several Indian kingdoms in the south east as well as in North India, but stood in a tutelary relationship to none. From the earliest evidence, Pyu Buddhist writing, art, and architecture show processes of adaptation at work that laid the foundations for distinctively Burmese traditions of Buddhism within the greater Buddhist eucumene."
http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/25/theme/25T6.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Gombrich mentioned it in the first chapter of "How Buddhism Began: the conditioned genesis of the early teachings":
http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=aIO ... Yo#PPA9,M1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
These leafs are probably now at the Sri Ksetra archaeological museum:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/820/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.hsdejong.nl/myanmar/pyay/ind ... ttaya.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Ksetra" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.visitmyanmar.com/Pages/Other ... visit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Echalon wrote:
For anyone that is interested, here's a black and white photo of a portion of the aforementioned Golden Pali Text:
The Golden Pali Text, which as far as I can find out is the oldest surviving Pali manuscript, consists of 20 solid gold "leaves" containing 60 lines of Pali, which make up 8 excerpts from the Canon. It dates from the 5th-6th century, and is a golden replica of a palm-leaf manuscript. If you're interested in learning more about the circumstances of its creation, check out Tracing Thought through Things by Janice Stargardt (where this photo is from). If you want to know what it says (the transcription, that is), check out "Die Goldblätter aus Śrī Kṣetra" by H. Falk in Issue 41 (1997) of Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Südasiens.
Metta, Dmytro
Oldest surviving Pali manuscript
Oldest surviving Pali manuscript
Last edited by Assaji on Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Oldest surviving Pali manuscript
That's fantastic, Dmytro.
I'll be in Myanmar in about six weeks and if I have time, I'll check it out. Is there any information on the museum at Sri Ksetra that you have?
Thanks again,
Ben
I'll be in Myanmar in about six weeks and if I have time, I'll check it out. Is there any information on the museum at Sri Ksetra that you have?
Thanks again,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
Re: Oldest surviving Pali manuscript
Hi Ben,
http://culturemyanmar.info/pages/doa_ar ... ayekhittra" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even if the leafs are not there, it seems worth checking out.
Have a nice journey,
Dmytro
Here's the official page:Ben wrote:I'll be in Myanmar in about six weeks and if I have time, I'll check it out. Is there any information on the museum at Sri Ksetra that you have?
http://culturemyanmar.info/pages/doa_ar ... ayekhittra" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even if the leafs are not there, it seems worth checking out.
Have a nice journey,
Dmytro
Re: Oldest surviving Pali manuscript
Excellent!
Thank you so much, Dmytro!
with Metta
Ben
Thank you so much, Dmytro!
with Metta
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
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Re: Oldest surviving Pali manuscript
Beautiful!Dmytro wrote:
The Golden Pali Text, which as far as I can find out is the oldest surviving Pali manuscript, consists of 20 solid gold "leaves" containing 60 lines of Pali, which make up 8 excerpts from the Canon. It dates from the 5th-6th century, and is a golden replica of a palm-leaf manuscript.