Fw: Sanskrit Vimilakirti

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Well the images are certainly of a paper, not palm leaf MS.  And I would
say 11-12c is the very earliest possible dating for a MS in that
condition, with that script.  But I wouldn't argue with Lore Sander.  :-)

Since it really isn't easy to confuse paper with palm leaf, perhaps the MS
we are seeing on the web is just "something similar" used to illustrate
the article?

Has the Lhasa MS been photographed completely?

Dominik

On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, Jonathan Silk wrote:

> slightly--only slightly!!-- better photos of the VKN ms at:
>
> http://www.asahi.com/culture/update/1214/003.html
>
> According to the information circulated by Kazunobu MATSUDA, "The
> manuscript is complete and consists of 79 palm leaves (6 x 30 cm). Its
> colophon says that this was copied by Chandoka, Chamberlain of the
> King Gopala (750-770) of the Pala dynasty."
>
> However, concensus of scholars who have seen the photos in the web
> site listed above (including Lore Sander), is that the ms dates to
> the 11-12 c (paleographically), and the colophon (if read correctly)
> was likely copied from its source.
>
> This is truly an exciting discovery for Buddhist scholars-- a nice
> belated Hanukha/early Christmas present.
> --
>
> For quicker response these days please copy your reply to kinu at aol.com
>
>
> Jonathan Silk
>
> jonathan.silk at yale.edu
>
> Dept. of Religious Studies
> Box 208287
> Yale University
> New Haven CT 06520-8287
> USA
>
> tel. 203-432-0828
> fax. 203-432-7844
>

--
Wellcome Senior Research Fellow (from January 2002)
Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/