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The Spitzer Manuscript
The Spitzer Manuscript is the oldest surviving philosophical manuscript in Buddhist Sanskrit, and possibly the oldest Buddhist Sanskrit manuscript of any type related to Buddhism discovered so far. The manuscript was found in 1906 in the form of a pile of more than 1,000 palm leaf fragments in the Ming-oi, Kizil Caves, China during the third Turfan expedition headed by Albert Grünwedel. It is named after Moritz Spitzer, whose team first studied it in 1927–28. The calibrated age by Carbon-14 technique is 130 CE (80–230 CE). According to Indologist Eli Franco, palaeographical features suggest a date closer to 200–230 CE. The text is written in the Brahmi script (Kushana period) and some early Gupta script. The Spitzer Manuscript was found near the northern branch of the Central Asian Silk Road. It is unique in a number of ways. Unlike numerous Indian manuscripts whose copies survive as early translations in Tibet and China, no such translations of the treatises within the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaisheshika
Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika ( sa, वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy (Vedic systems) from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology. Over time, the Vaiśeṣika system became similar in its philosophical procedures, ethical conclusions and soteriology to the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but retained its difference in epistemology and metaphysics. The epistemology of the Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism, like Buddhism, accepted only two reliable means to knowledge: direct observation and inference. the Vaiśeṣika school and Buddhism both consider their respective scriptures as indisputable and valid means to knowledge, the difference being that the scriptures held to be a valid and reliable source by Vaiśeṣikas were the Vedas. The Vaisheshika school is known for its insights in naturalism.Kak, S. 'Matter and Mind: The Vaisheshika S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weber Manuscript
__NOTOC__ The Weber Manuscript, also called Weber Manuscripts, is a collection of nine, possibly eleven, incomplete ancient Indian treatises written mostly in classical Sanskrit that were found buried within a Buddhist monument in northwestern China in late 19th-century. It is named after the Moravian missionary F. Weber who acquired the set from an Afghani merchant in Ladakh, and then forwarded it to the German Indologist and philologist Rudolf Hoernlé in Calcutta. The manuscripts consist of 76 page-leaves, written in Northwestern Gupta and Central Asian Nagari (Turkestanic Brahmi, slanting Gupta) scripts. They were copied before the end of 7th-century, likely in the 5th-century or the 6th–century.; The original texts that were copied to produce these manuscripts were likely considerably older Indian texts, at least one between 3rd-century BCE and pre-2nd-century CE. The Weber Manuscript is notable for having been written on two types of paper – Central Asian and Nepalese, attes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bower Manuscript
The Bower Manuscript is a collection of seven fragmentary Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. treatises found buried in a Buddhist memorial stupa near Kucha, northwestern China. Written in early Gupta script (late Brahmi script) on birch bark, it is variously dated in 5th to early 6th century.L Sander (1987), ''Origin and date of the Bower Manuscript, a new approach'', in: M Yaldiz and W Lobo (eds.): Investigating the Indian Arts, Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin, pp. 313–323 The Bower manuscript includes the oldest dated fragments of an Indian medical text, the ''Navanitaka''. The Bower manuscript includes fragments of three medical (Ayurveda), two divination, and two incantation (Dharani) treatises. The collection had at least four scribes, of which three were likely Buddhists because the second, the sixth and the seventh treatises open by invoking the Buddha and other Buddhist deities. Two invoke Shiva, Vishnu, Devi and other Hindu deities.A.F. Rudolf Hoernle (1891)Remarks on Birch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. The Library is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The British Library is a major research library, with items in many languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. The Library's collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and items dating as far back as 2000 BC. The library maintains a programme for content acquis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin
This is a list of the state libraries (german: Landesbibliothek) for each of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany. These libraries hold the right for legal deposit for the publications in their respective state. Landesbibliothek Staatsbibliothek The historic National Libraries of the former Kingdoms, now States of Germany (Länder), are called Staatsbibliothek (state libraries). Among the libraries named Staatsbibliothek are:''Bibliotheken mit Pflichtexemplar in Deutschland''. DBI, Berlin 1995 (Aufstellung über alle Pflichtexemplarbibliotheken und die historische Aufteilung der Pflichtexemplare in Deutschland) * the Bavarian State Library (''Bayerische Staatsbibliothek'' or BSB) in Munich, one of the world's largest libraries and the former library of the Kingdom of Bavaria * the Bamberg State Library (''Staatsbibliothek Bamberg''), a library in Bamberg, Bavaria * the Berlin State Library (''Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin''), the largest academic library in the German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Falk (Indologist)
Harry Falk is a retired professor of Indology at the Freie Universität in Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci .... He has also been Director of the Institute of Indian Philology and Art History at the Free University in Berlin. He realized that the astrological Sanskrit-Text Yavanajātaka (79,15) defined the era of the Kushans, i.e. of Kaniṣka I, as ''śaka'' 149, that is AD 227. This he linked to the long-established practice of the “dropped hundreds”, which allowed to include contemporary data from the Chinese annals Hou Hanshu. The start of the Kushan era was so defined in AD 127. In addition it became apparent that the Kushan era was used with dropped hundreds up to the fifth century under Gupta rule in Western India. He is a noted Indologist. Works * '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bajaur Collection
Bajaur District ( ps, باجوړ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, then during restructuring that merged FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it became a district. According to the 2017 census, the population of the district is 1,093,684. It borders Afghanistan's Kunar Province with a 52 km border. The headquarters of the agency administration is located in the town of Khar. Geography Bajaur is about long by broad. It lies at a high elevation to the east of the Kunar Valley of Afghanistan and Pakistan, from which it is separated by a continuous line of rugged frontier hills, forming a barrier that is easily passable at one or two points. The old road from Kabul to Pakistan ran through the barrier before the Khyber Pass was adopted as the main route. Nawagai is the chief town of Bajour; the Khan of Nawagai was previously under British pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manusmriti
The ''Manusmṛiti'' ( sa, मनुस्मृति), also known as the ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitution among the many ' of Hinduism. In ancient India, the sages often wrote their ideas on how society should run in the manuscripts. It is believed that the original form of ''Manusmriti'' was changed as many things written in the manuscript contradict each other. Over fifty manuscripts of the ''Manusmriti'' are now known, but the earliest discovered, most translated and presumed authentic version since the 18th century has been the "Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary". Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is false, and the various manuscripts of ''Manusmriti'' discovered in India are inconsistent with each other, and within themselves, raising concerns of its authenticity, insertions and interpolations made into the text in later times. The metrical text is in Sansk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthashastra
The ''Arthashastra'' ( sa, अर्थशास्त्रम्, ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is traditionally credited as the author of the text.: "References to the work in other Sanskrit literature attribute it variously to , and . The same individual is meant in each case. The '' Pańcatantra'' explicitly identifies Chanakya with ." The latter was a scholar at Takshashila, the teacher and guardian of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Some scholars believe them to be the same person, while a few have questioned this identification.; : "while in his character as author of an ''arthaśāstra'' he is generally referred to by his '' gotra'' name, ;": "T. Burrow... has now shown that Cāṇakya is also a ''gotra'' name, which in conjunction with other evidence makes it clear that we are dealing with distinct persons, the minister Cāṇaky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virata Parva
Virata Parva, also known as the “Book of Virata”, is the fourth of eighteen books of the Indian Epic Mahabharata.van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1978) ''The Mahabharata: Book 4: The Book of the Virata; Book 5: The Book of the Effort''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press Virata Parva traditionally has 4 parts and 72 chapters.Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896)Virata Parva in ''The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa'' (12 Volumes). CalcuttaDutt, M.N. (1896) ''The Mahabharata (Volume 4): Virata Parva''. Calcutta: Elysium Press The critical edition of Virata Parva has 4 parts and 67 chapters. It discusses the 13th year of exile which the Pandavas must spend incognito to avoid another 12 years of exile in the forest. They do so in the court of Virata. They assume a variety of identities. Yudhishthira assumes the identity of game entertainer to the king and calls himself Kanka, Bhima of a cook Ballava, Arjuna teaches dance and music as eunuch Brihannala and dresses as a woman, Nakula tends ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anushasana Parva
Anushasana Parva ( sa, अनुशासन पर्व, IAST: Anuśāsanaparva) or the "Book of Instructions", is the thirteenth of eighteen books of the Indian Epic Mahabharata. It traditionally has 2 parts and 168 chapters.Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896)Anusasana Parva in ''The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa'' (12 Volumes). CalcuttaDutt, M.N. (1903) ''The Mahabharata (Volume 13): Anushasana Parva''. Calcutta: Elysium Press The critical edition has 2 parts and 154 chapters. Sometimes this parva is referred to as the "Book of Precepts". ''Anushasana Parva'' continues the theme of ''Shanti Parva'', a discussion of duties of a ruler, the rule of law, instructions on dharma for those close to the leader. The dialogue is between Yudhishthira, Bhishma and other sages. The book debates the duties, behaviors and habits of individuals, with chapters dedicated to men and to women. Various types of marriages are mentioned and their merits compared. The parva also recites many symbolic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
