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The Introduction
: Background
We come to know
through Buddhist history that enormous amount of Buddhist literature that was
created in Sanskrit beginning right from the period starting from Buddha's
Mahaparinirvana and continuing till the 11th century AD. Out of this vast
literature only a small portion of it was translated into Tibetan between 7th
and 11th century. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, the great treasure of
Buddhist Sanskrit literature was lost or destroyed due to various historical
conditions.
An exhaustive history
of the Sanskrit Buddhist literature has long been needed. The reasons behind the
scarcity of research in Sanskrit Buddhist literature are many. One of the major
reasons is the disappearance of Buddhism from major parts of India and the
unavailability of the original Sanskrit Buddhist works.
In 1824, Mr. Brian Hodgson, a British diplomat in Nepal, discovered a great
number of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts in Nepal. The existence of these before
his time was unknown, and his discovery entirely revolutionized the history of
Buddhism, as it was known to Europeans in the early part of this century. Copies
of these works, totaling 381 folio manuscripts have been distributed so as to
render them accessible to European scholars.
Of these eighty-six
manuscripts comprising 179 separate works, many were presented to Asiatic
Society of Bengal: 85 to the Royal Asiatic Society of London; 30 to the Indian
Office Library; 7 to the Bodleian Library, Oxford; 174 to the Société Asiatique,
and to French scholar Eugene Bern ouf. The last two collections have since been
deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale of France.[1]
Prof. Jaya Deva Singh
writes in his Introduction to Madhyamika Philosophy:
Books on Mahayana Buddhism were completely lost in India. Their translation
existed in Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan. Mahayana literature was written mostly
in Sanskrit and mixed Sanskrit. Scholars who have made a study of Buddhism
hardly suspected that there were also books on Buddhism in Sanskrit.
In a similar manner
Suniti Kumar Chatterji writes:
One great service the people of Nepal, particularly the highly civilized Newars
of the Nepal Valley, was to preserve the manuscript of Mahayana Buddhist
literature in Sanskrit. It was the contribution of Sri Lanka to have preserved
for human kind the entire mass of the Pali literature of Theravada Buddhism.
This went also to Burma, Cambodia, and Siam. It was similarly the great
achievement of the people of Nepal to have preserved the equally valuable
original Sanskrit texts of Mahayana Buddhism.
It is in Nepal that
most of the Sanskrit Buddhist documents have been found. Concerning Nepalese
Buddhist literature, as many as 20 reports have been published :***
Most of the
manuscripts originally preserved in Nepal have been carried out of the country
by the pioneers of the modern Indology. An earliest illustrated Manuscript of
Astasahasrika Prajñaparamita dated 1015 AD is now in the collection of the
Cambridge University Library. This Manuscript offered new material to students
of South Asian and Central Asian art history. It is difficult to know exactly
when the tradition of illustrated manuscripts began. But from available
documents it seems that copying and writing manuscripts began as early as the
tenth century in Nepal, i.e. during Narendra Deva's reign (998 A.D.).[2] These
include miniatures and painted book covers.
One peculiar feature of Newar Buddhism is that the Buddhist priest called
Vajracarya, does not stay in the monastery or temple but with his family and
performs the rites dressed in everyday clothes. Only those who belong to the
Vajracarya family can become a priest, but they must have already gone through a
form of initiation called acarya abhiseka and been married.
Another peculiarity
of Newar Buddhism is its ritual and its sacred literature, which are written in
Sanskrit language, because of which we can call Newar Buddhism “Sanskrit
Buddhism.” We have discussed about the status of Newar Buddhism elsewhere.[3]
With the collapse of Indian Buddhism, some of the Buddhists escaped from
suppression in India and fled to Nepal. The Newars of Kathmandu Valley accepted
them and their religious and cultural inheritance. The two groups intermarried
and their religions and cultures merged to become Newar Buddhism. This happened
from 9 century to 13 century A.D. They have continued to copy Sanskrit
manuscripts repeatedly up to the present day. All Buddhists owe a debt to the
Newars, through whose efforts we can study these Sanskrit manuscripts today.
Scripts used in Nepalese Manuscripts
Four types of script were generally used to write the Manuscripts, they are
Pracalita, Newa, Ranjana, Bhujimole and Devanagari
script. Among these, Newari script was used for most of the manuscripts.
Ranjana is used for books used for worship such as Prajñaparamita and so
forth. They were often written on Indigo-paper in gold or silver.. The Bhujimole
script was used in ancient times (11th to 17th c.) and was written mostly on
palm leaves. Devanagari script is used in modern times both by Hindus and
Buddhist alike.
Types of
Nepalese Manuscripts
1. Palm-leaf Manuscript
[4]
The Sritala Palm leaves are used for writing and painting, because of their thin
and flexible qualities. From early 11th to 17 centuries manuscripts were written
on palm leaves called Tadapatra. 1084 number of Rolled Palm Leaf
Manuscripts (RPLM) are held by the National Archives of Nepal alone. These
written during the 14th century. One of the oldest among these dates from 1334
CE. It is excellent material for writing and remains preserved in rather
excellent condition. It is safe from worms and also can be scrolled into a small
bundle. Most of them are written in Bhujimole script. Most of the historical
documents of early medieval period were found in these palm leaves. Some of the
RPLM are also in the custody of British Library.
RPLMs
are placed in small pigeonhole boxes. These are made of straw board and bucrum.
These boxes are stored inside a steel cabinet rack to protect from dust, dirt
and thieves.
Problems and causes of deterioration
Observation data of
RPLM in the National Archives show the 37.8% are deteriorated by following
factors, whereas rest of them are in good condition.
|
Factors |
Effect |
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Insects |
only insect holes are seen on RPLM |
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Fungi: |
Grey and white color powders are
distinctly visible on reverse side of the tails |
|
Dryness and Inflexibility: |
Due to low temperatures and low
relative humidity, the majority of RPLMs are dried and inflexible. |
|
Difficulties in Opening: |
Due to their rolled condition,
researchers and photographers have faced problems in this task. |
|
Broken pieces: |
Some of the broken pieces are joined
together using celluloid tape and masking tape. |
Protective measures:
Experiments have demonstrated that citronella oil and polypropylene glycol relax
slowly. Some force is required to open them, whereas water-based items open
fully and do not need any force to open them. Cracked and weaken RPLMs are
strengthened with the help of Archibond. Experiments demonstrate excellent
results.
From the early 11th to 17th centuries, manuscripts were written on palm leaves
called Tadapatra. This too is excellent material for writing and preserves well.
It is safe from worms and also can be scrolled into a small bundle. Most of the
historical documents of early medieval period were found in this type of palm
leaf.
Haritalika Paper Manuscript
[5]
Haritalika is yellow in color, has a crystalline solid structure, is odorless,
water insoluble and impervious to inorganic salt. Haritalika is used in
hand-made paper (Nepali paper) with some binding agents or media to make it more
durable and insect resistant. Nepali hand-made papers are made from the bark of
Lokta plant. It contains sheets of cellulose compound. It is creamy in color and
contains some small pieces of solid dark brown raw materials due to impurity of
pulp. It is supposed to be made from the bark of the Lokta plant. Microscopic
study of paper clearly indicate that it contain long fibers, arranged
irregularly, having a rough surface. Due to this, it offers a premium coating of
Haritalika paste. The majority of hand-made papers are physically and chemically
of good quality, high strength, and a strong PH factor of 7-9. These have a high
value of tensile strength, folding endurance, and bursting strength.
Manufacture of Haritalika paper
Starch paste is prepared by using rice flour, water, formaldehyde (1:5:0.1) in a
thick aluminum vessel. Nepali hand-made paper is flattened on a smooth board
using a small quantity of water. Then a coating of the prepared paste described
above is applied uniformly using long brushes very attentively. Another sheet of
Nepali hand-made paper is placed and press over it. In this way the number of
hand made papers is pasted down according to the required thickness of the
paper. In freshly prepared paper, the paste is added and finely grounded
Haritalika powder (2:1) mixed and stirred thoroughly in a porcelain mortar with
a pestle.
The paste is coated upon a freshly prepared layer of Nepali hand-made paper with
the help of a long brush and dried at room temperature. The dried paper is
peeled off and trimmed as per the required manuscript size
Use of Haritalika paper
Haritalika coated paper is used for writing valuable documents and books to
protect it from biological agents that might lead to its deterioration.
It seems that this type of paper is convenient for handling. That's why around 17th
century most of the Nepalese manuscripts were written on handmade paper called
“Nepali paper” produced in the Himalayan foothills around the 16-17 century.
Since the manuscript is written on both sides, a single layer of Nepali paper is
too thin to write on and not fit for writing manuscripts. It was made thick by
pasting 3-5 layers of paper together. This thick, pasted paper is cut into a
long rectangular shape. Nepali paper is usually given a layer of yellow coating
of Hartala (As2S3) on one side or on both sides of the leaves for protection
from worms.
Thyasaphu Paper Manuscript
The long rectangular folding books are mainly employed for rituals, Dharani
recitation and Stotra gita or hymns.
Scroll Manuscript
It is used mostly for writing Vamsavalis or chronicles or genealogical records of
royal family.
Bound Book Manuscript
The bound book is quite new and was most probably copied from Western examples.
Preservation Measures
1.Buddhist Library, Nagoya: A report
In the early seventies Mr. Hidenobu Takaoka, a Japanese Buddhist priest, visited
the Kathmandu Valley and investigated thoroughly the status of Nepalese Buddhist
culture. Lamenting the situation of the multitude of scattered manuscripts and
the condition of Buddhism in Nepal, he undertook to preserve the Nepali
Manuscript heritage by taking microfilms of Sanskrit and Newar Manuscripts. It
took him a decade of efforts to microfilm the Buddhist Manuscripts exclusively
from private collections rather than certain public archives. Due to fear of
theft or trafficking he kept hidden the names of the collectors and simply
mentioned as A, KA, KH, GA, GH, CH, and DH. It was a judicious decision. In his
catalogue he had been able to microfilm 1521 titles of Buddhist manuscripts.
There are yet number of private collectors owning the manuscripts that were not
microfilmed yet. This was not possible because of conservative behavior of the owner or for some unknown reasons.
In 1981, he published
“A Microfilm Catalogue of the Buddhist Manuscripts in
Nepal” from Buddhist Library, Japan. Manuscripts in his collection are Mahayana Sutras, Jataka-avadana, Sastras, Tantra,
Purana literature, Strotra, Caryagita, Pujavidhi, Dharani-mantra, Tantra
commentaries and so forth.
2.The Asa Archives: A report on manuscript preservation
[6]
The Asa Archives is a public library of Nepalese Manuscripts named after the
late Mr. Asha Man Singha Kansakar, father of the late Mr. Prem Bahadur Kansakar
(1917-1991). Mr. Kansakar was prominent activist, social worker, educationist
and Newar writer who had founded several social, cultural, literary and
educational institutions. The nucleus of this was donated by Prem Bahadur
Kansakar to Cvasa Pasa, a premier literary association of Newar writers on
august 16, 1985. To this personal collection were later added the donations of
valuable manuscripts and palm leaf documents by several well-wishers and
friends. Among them mention should be made of Mr. Ian Alshop, an American
student of Kansakar, Dharma Ratna Vajracarya, Guru Sekhar Rajopadhyaya, Rev.
Hidonobu Takaoka, Gyan Ratna and Dr. Kamal Prakash Malla. Similarly, more than a
dozen other donors have helped this archive with gifts from their personal
collections of manuscripts.
The Archives were inaugurated by Prof. Yujiro Hayashi, the Executive Director of
the Toyota Foundation, Japan on December 7, 1987. It was made accessible to the
public since that time. The Toyota Foundation had made a generous grant to
purchase, innovate and furnish the house where it is now located. The Foundation
has also supported the documentation of the manuscripts and initial operation of
the archives with a fund deposited as seed money and endowment.
The Collections
In this archive there are several valuable collections of palm leaf, loose-leaf
pothi and folded manuscripts (thyasaphus). There are more than 6,700 manuscripts and about
1100 palm leaf land grant documents. These manuscripts belong to various sects
and genres written in different languages and scripts. Largest among these are
the ritual texts, medical texts, manuals of magic and necromancy,
astrology/astronomy, Vedic and Puranic texts, and Tantric texts of the Saiva,
Bauddha, and Sakta sects. A large number also comes from the Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. There are technical and symbolical drawings and
architectural designs of religious and secular structures, painted covers, and
book illustrations of great beauty and delicacy. Perhaps the most important
component of the archives is the literary texts, hymns, songs, plays, popular
narratives, didactic tales and Buddhist avadanas in the Newar language. One can
find specimens of beautiful calligraphy in the collection written in plain black
ink, silver and golden letters.
The Archives has also a collection of nearly all Nepal bhasa books in print,
journals, magazines and newspapers in Nepal bhasa. There is also a small Nepal
collection, consisting of books on Nepal in English and other languages which
will be of great interest for study and research on the culture and heritage of
the Nepal valley.
Catalogues
The archive is preparing a systematic and descriptive catalogue of all its
collections. Presently, several types of temporary catalogues are available.
There is a handwritten catalogue in the form of a ledger of the collection, with
running numbers, classification by religion, language or genre with a workable
amount of information. This is also available in the form of a card catalogue.
There are at present two printed catalogues available. One was prepared by Mr.
Charles M. Novak, A Catalogue of the Selected Buddhist Manuscripts in the Asa
Archives, (1986). The other catalogue is the Descriptive Catalogue of Selected
Manuscripts in the Asa Archives prepared by Dr. Janak Lal Vaidya and Prem
Bahadur Kansakar (Kathmandu, Cvasa pasa 1991). This is a descriptive catalogue
of the 547 most important manuscripts in the collection. There is also a
descriptive monograph on the Asa Archives (1996), containing important speeches,
and articles all edited by the librarian Mr. Raja Shakya. A short title
catalogue of 5382 catalogued manuscripts in the collection is in press and will
be out in February this year.
Digitalization of the Collection
In collaboration with the Buddhist Library of Japan, Nagoya, the Asa Archives is
completing the digitalization of its entire collection of manuscripts. When the
project is completed at the end of this month, all the manuscripts including
their paintings and illuminations will be available on CDROM. [Demonstration of
CDROM on the collection of Manuscripts]
3. Nepal Research Center - Nepal German Manuscript
Preservation Project: A report [7]
A principal task of the Nepal Research Center is to house and support the
Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMPP). The NGMPP was established
in 1970 by an agreement between His Majesty's Government of Nepal and German
Oriental Society. It is a joint venture between the Department of Archaeology,
the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (up to 1995 it was under the Ministry
of Education and Culture), His Majesty's Government and the German Oriental
Society. It is designed to preserve on microfilm Nepal's extraordinary wealth of
manuscripts and historical documents, thereby contributing considerably to the
preservation of the country's cultural heritage and identity, as well as
providing invaluable opportunities to explore virtually all aspects of its
manifold literary, religious and historical traditions.
All equipments and materials necessary for the execution of the NGMPP are
provided by the German Oriental Society with financial assistance from the
German Research Council. In consultation with its Nepali counterpart, the
society set up a photographic section in the National Archives. Run by experts
and technicians provided by His Majesty's Government, it microfilms the
collections of the Nepal Archives, and develops and copies all films of the
project, including those produced by a separate microfilming unit located at the
Nepal Research Center. According to the agreement, one positive copy of each
film, together with the original negative, remains in the National Archives,
while a second positive copy is handed over to German Oriental Society for
preservation in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin PreuBischer Kulturebesitz, the
former Prussian State Library.
During its first phase, from 1970 to 1975, the activities of NGMPP were limited
to the collections of the National Archives. The subsequent extension of the
agreement provided for the inclusion of all public libraries and private
manuscript collections within the Bagmati Zone. To date, around 155,000
manuscripts with nearly five million folios have been microfilmed in the whole
of Nepal.
With the second extension of the agreement, the restriction to the Bagmati zone
was lifted. From 1982 onwards, the NGMPP undertook various exploratory tours and
opened temporary microfilming stations in other parts of the Kingdom. Up to
February 1987, the Sanskrit section alone microfilmed 2,267 manuscripts with
74,487 folios outside the Kathmandu valley, namely in Kaskikot (1982), Gorkha
(1983), Janakpur (1984/85) and Rajbiraj (1986/87). It should be pointed out
that, through these activities of the NGMPP, many texts have become available
for the first time outside what may have been a very limited area of
dissemination.
This wealth of manuscripts is not only distinguished by its exceptional range of
diversity - nearly all sub-fields of Hindu and Buddhist Sanskrit literature are
represented - but frequently also by the rarity and greater antiquity of
individual pieces. In many cases, the microfilmed manuscripts represent the
oldest available sources for a given text, and this holds true not just for the
Buddhist Sanskrit texts, but also for many Vedic, Brahmanic and Hindu works
which are extant elsewhere, if at all, only in later copies.
4. The Nepal Archives: A Report on Preservation of Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts
Recently, The Nepal Archives has published a catalogue of the entire Sanskrit
Buddhist Manuscripts in the collection with a view to facilitate scholars and
researchers. It also includes a catalogue of microfilm reels prepared by Nepal
German Manuscript Preservation Project acquired through its mission work in the
different districts of Nepal. This does not mean that the catalogue was the
first of its kind. It has published several catalogues previously. One special
feature of this catalogue is that it exclusively addresses Buddhist manuscripts
along with additional manuscripts microfilmed in Nepal German Manuscript
Preservation Project.
The number of Buddhist manuscripts in the possession of the Nepal Archives
totals 889 plus the 940 acquired in different mission by the NGMPP thus the
grand total of 1829 manuscripts.
Another catalogue, a catalogue of
the Buddhist Tantric Manuscrips in the
National Archives of Nepal and Kesar Library, deals specifically with this
excellent collection of Tantric Buddhist manuscripts (See bibliography). This
most valuable catalogue was compiled by Prof. Mitutoshi Moriguchi from Taisho
University.
It would be befitting to give the classification of Buddhist manuscripts with
regard to its subjects:
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Buddhist Mahayana Sutra
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Sastras:
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Avadana
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Karmakanda
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Mahatmya and Purana
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Jataka
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Katha or stories
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Tantra
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Dharani
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Strotra
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Caryagita (music)
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Paintings
5. Nagarjuna Institute: A Report on Buddhist Dharani Input Project (BDIP).
Since the inception of Buddhist Dharani Input Project in 1999 January., Nagarjuna
Institute has inputed titles from 100 strotras and 80 Dharanis. The institute's aim is to input the
entire collection of Dharanis (more than 600 titles) from the collection of
Nagarjuna Institute., the Asa Archives, and the Nepal Archives. We are informed that
by the end of February, the Asa Archive is producing CDROMs of
the manuscripts on Dharanis and Strotras so that it can help the researchers.
The Nepal Archive has already put their entire collection of Buddhist
manuscripts in Microfilm, so it is a matter of purchasing the microfilms. Since
resources are desperately lacking wherewith to purchase the microfilm copies,
the completion of the input project has been delayed. Should funds become
available, it would be certain that we could complete this first phase of our input
project at the end of this year.
Conclusion
The importance of Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts and their future
The importance of inputting these Sanskrit Buddhist texts into a digital format
cannot be over-emphasized, for it was from these valuable Sanskrit originals
that entire Mahayana and Vajrayana texts were translated into the Chinese and
Tibetan languages, and derivatively, into Korean, Japanese and Mongolian. With
the Sanskrit originals in our possession, the translated versions are of
secondary importance. Sanskrit Buddhist literatures found in Nepal
are remarkably greater in number than the Pali literatures available today. It is
imperative that these Sanskrit originals should be preserved in digital format
so that they are accessible to the many varieties of researchers.
The purpose of my
article is to appeal to you as representatives of the
scholarly world to facilitate the compilation of the Sanskrit Buddhist Tripitaka
in whatever manner possible for you. A Sanskrit Buddhist Tripitaka should be
compiled in a digital format (CDROM) including all the aforementioned texts.
Were UC Berkeley or other foundations interested in funding this project, our
hope of creating a Sanskrit Buddhist Tripitaka can be realized.
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