University of Washington (Seattle, WA 98105-6613)
Richard G. Salomon (Project Director: October 2004 to June 2009)
RZ-50327-05
Collaborative Research
Research Programs
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[Grant products]
Totals (outright + matching):
$140,000 (approved)
$140,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
9/1/2005 – 8/31/2008
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British Library/University of Washington Early Buddhist Manuscript Project
The renewal of funding for the ongoing British Library/University of Washington Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project to study and publish the earliest surviving corpus of Buddhist manuscripts in any language. (36 months)
The British Library/University of Washington Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project was constituted in 1996 in order to study, edit, and publish a unique collection of twenty-nine fragments of Buddhist manuscripts on birch bark scrolls, dating from the first century A.D. These manuscripts, written in the Gandhari language, are both the oldest extant Buddhist manuscripts and the oldest surviving manuscripts in any Indian language. They are destined to have a profound effect on the study of the history of Buddhism in India and the rest of Asia. Since the foundation of the project in 1996 a great deal of additional manuscript material of similar type and importance has come to light, and this material is also being studied by the project. To date, three volumes of studies have been published by the University of Washington Press, and several more are near completion or in progress. The current proposal seeks continued funding for the researchers engaged in studying and publishing this material.
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