Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts of Serindia

Sanskrit manuscripts in the collection of the Serindian fund of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, rare and valuable artifacts, are compelling evidence of the history of the development of Buddhism in Serindia—a historical region of Central Asia where active cultural interactions occurred between the great civilizations of antiquity—India, China, the Middle East. The introduction into scholarly circulation of a large and sufficiently representative number of Sanskrit monuments makes a significant contribution to the development of domestic and world Buddhist studies, helping to define many common issues of source studies in Central Asia. Thanks to the included facsimile copies of Sanskrit manuscripts on palm leaves, birch bark, and wooden tablets discovered in Serindia, one can become acquainted with the very sources of research, recorded in various scripts: Kushan Brahmi, Indian Gupta, early Turkestan Brahmi, and South Turkestan Brahmi.