Fragments and Missing Pieces: The Puzzle of Editing a Kharoṣṭhī Birch-bark Manuscript
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
- Venue
- TBA
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
The workshop explains the process of editing a birch-bark manuscript using the example of the Mahāyāna sūtra, which was presented in a previous lecture.
Participants will learn more about digital reconstruction, the translation process (finding parallels, filling gaps, living with open questions), working with READ software (e.g., to create an automatically generated glossary), and the possibilities of digital presentation. Exemplary passages will be read to give an impression of the Kharoṣṭhī script, the Gandhari language, and the Buddhist themes covered in this beautiful text.
Attendance
This event is free and open to all, but registration is required.
Sponsor and organiser
The Buddhist Forum series is kindly sponsored by the Khyentse Foundation. It has been organised by the SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies.
About the speaker
Andrea Schlosser is a scholar of Indic Buddhist literature specialising in early Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī manuscripts from Gandhāra and Central Asia. She is the author of Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra (2022) and a member of the long-term project Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra at LMU in Munich.
At present, she is engaged in the editing of two significant birch-bark scrolls, a lengthy Mahāyāna sūtra and an early rājanīti verse text, both of which are part of the Bajaur collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts. Her research interests include Buddhist instructions on meditation and happiness, various aspects of palaeography and typography, manuscriptology and digital editions, as well as Indian art and iconography.
Image Credit: Part of scroll no. 2 of the Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts (BC 2). Reconstruction: Andrea Schlosser.
