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Scribal Technique and Birch Bark Folio Repair Utilized in the Production of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Dīrghāgama Manuscript by a Scriptorium in Gilgit Around the 8th Century CE

  • 불교학리뷰
  • Abbr : Critical Review for Buddhist Studies
  • 2019, (25), pp.9-45
  • DOI : 10.29213/crbs..25.201904.9
  • Publisher : Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Buddhist Studies
  • Received : March 10, 2019
  • Accepted : April 13, 2019
  • Published : April 30, 2019

Charles DiSimone 1

1Buddhist Digital Resource Center

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article examines aspects of the production of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Dīrghāgama (Collection of Long Discourses) manuscript produced in or around the area of Gilgit in Pakistan that was discovered in last decade of the 20th century. The manuscript was the product of a long copying tradition and the only extant witness was copied by a scriptorium consisting of several scribes. The techniques used by a pair of scribes referred to as Scribe C and Scribe D are discussed demonstrating their unique collaboration to copy this manuscript. Interlinear marks left by these scribes on birch bark folios will be discussed with the hope that in pointing out such marks, which appear to be relatively unique to a particular scribe, we will be able to identify the work of certain scribes across manuscripts. The second portion of the article discusses the phenomenon of repair made to the birch bark folios of the Dīrghāgama manuscript as well as pointing out similar instances of repair in other manuscripts from the Gilgit area. These repairs to manuscripts raise questions concerning the production of birch bark folios and how they were selected and used by Buddhist manuscript traditions in Gilgit in the first millennium of the Common Era.

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