PAKISTAN'S GILGIT MANUSCRIPTS

UNESCO : According to UNESCO, the Gilgit manuscripts are the oldest surviving manuscripts which throw light on the evolution of Sanskrit, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mongolian, Manchu and Tibetan.

Buddhism, with roots in Hinduism, spread rapidly under Mauryas especially during the time of Ashoka.

Missionaries were sent to Kashmir under Madhyantika, who resided in Kashmir for 20 years and preached 'Buddhism'. During the time of Asoka, those areas were selected where other religious beliefs had not yet secured a stronghold.

Later Kashmir became a centre of Buddhist philosophical studies as Asoka built monasteries and temples there.

In 1913, Aurej Stein, a renowned archaeologist of the region in his third largest expedition to Central Asia, passed through Darel and Tangirand reported some ''boys watching above Naupur village, about two miles west of Gilgit cantonment -

Who are said to have cleared a piece of timber out on the top of a small stone-covered mound.

Further digging laid out a circular chamber within the ruins of a Buddhist stupa filled with hundreds of small votive stupas and relief plaques common in Central Asia and Tibet''

After further excavations, a great mass of ancient manuscripts was found packed in a wooden box. The site appears to be an ancient ruin which may have been the residence of Buddhist monks.

There were five wooden boxes, the fifth containing the other four, which kept all the manuscripts discovered in Gilgit,....... hence Gilgit manuscripts. 

These manuscripts are the only corpus of Buddhist manuscripts discovered in the subcontinent.

Reportedly, a substantial portion of manuscripts had passed into the hands of unauthorised persons while the Gilgit administration took over the manuscripts and sent them to Srinagar.

The Honor and Serving of this latest Operational Research on History and Manuscripts continues. The World Students Society thanks author Masud Ahmad Khan.