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The Kashmir Timeline

The Gilgit Manuscripts

Some of the oldest surviving manuscripts in South Asia.

Text placard

No freely licensed photograph of this exhibit was found, so it is shown as text.

In 1931 villagers near Gilgit uncovered a stupa holding a large collection of Buddhist texts written on birch bark. The manuscripts preserve Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit and show how Buddhist learning travelled through the Kashmir region.

Facts

  • They are written on birch bark, the same material used for books in Kashmir for centuries afterwards.
  • Most of the collection is now held in the National Archives of India, with other parts in Pakistan and elsewhere.