Dear colleagues,
With apologies for the cross-posting to both lists, I am very happy to inform that the Library of Congress is publicizing the digitization of one of the world’s oldest Buddhist manuscripts: what we call the “Gandhara scroll,” a birch bark manuscript dating roughly between the 1st century BCE and 1st century CE. The scroll was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2003, and it is perhaps the most fragile and complicated item ever treated by our conservators. Even in its well-conserved state, the physical scroll is too fragile for public display. Digitization, however, enables the sharing of the scroll with Buddhist communities, scholars, and others around the world.
With regard to content, it is believed that the scroll, which retains about 75-80% of the original text, is an early version of the Bahubuddha Sutra (Many Buddhas Sutra). The scroll features the Buddha’s teaching on thirteen buddhas who came before him, then his birth and enlightenment, and finally the coming of Maitreya. In November 2018, Dr. Richard Salomon (University of Washington) gave a public lecture in the Asian Reading Room on the Library’s Gandhara scroll, and the video of the lecture provides a more detailed and engaging account of its content. See the link to the video in the blog URLs below.
Digitized scroll: https://www.loc.gov/item/2018305008
Catalog record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2018305008
LC 4 Corners blog (longer version)
LC main blog (shorter version)
LC press release on scroll's digitization
Please direct any questions to my LC email account (JLOA@loc.gov). We also aim to add a page for the Gandhara scroll on our new LibGuide: South Asian manuscripts at the Library of Congress.
All the best,
Jon
Jonathan Loar, Ph.D.
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South Asia Reference Librarian
Asian Division, Library of Congress
(202) 707-3417
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