A Buddhist Manuscript at Gilgit
By Nalinaksha Dutt
Summary
Dutt’s article reports on a palm‑leaf manuscript found at Gilgit, containing a Sanskrit Buddhist text. He describes the physical state of the folios, the Gupta‑type script, and the colophon information. The manuscript contains a section of the Māhaprajñāpāramitā Sūtra or a related text, offering insights into Mahāyāna doctrinal development in north‑western India. Dutt provides translations of select passages, highlighting their emphasis on the perfections (pāramitās) and on the Bodhisattva ideal. He compares the linguistic features with those of the Gilgit manuscripts discovered earlier, noting archaic morphological forms and hybrid Sanskrit. The article discusses the significance of the find for understanding the transmission of Buddhist literature along the Silk Road and its impact on Central Asian Buddhism. Dutt emphasises the need for further conservation and study of the Gilgit manuscripts.
Conclusion
Dutt concludes that the Gilgit manuscript is an invaluable link between Indian Mahāyāna sources and their Chinese and Tibetan translations. Its discovery enriches our understanding of Buddhist textual history and underscores Gilgit’s role as a cultural nexus in the early centuries of the first millennium.