Research Project, 2012–2032

Die frühbuddhistischen Handschriften aus Gandhāra

Religiöse Literatur an der Schnittstelle von Indien, Zentralasien und China

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A project of the

Academy, since 1759

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Information

In addition to the German Academies' Programme, AGATE also maps research projects and their results from the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences. The keywords shown in the project information section refer to information on the implementation of the project, such as the location of the participating research centers – not to the content of the project. These are listed in the Classification section.

Type
Edition
Project Websites
http://www.gandhara.indologie.uni-muenchen.de
Academy Project Websites
http://badw.de/forschungseinrichtung/forschungsvorhaben.html?tx_badwdb_projects%5Bproject_id%5D=44&tx_badwdb_projects%5Baction%5D=show&tx_badwdb_projects%5Bcontroller%5D=Projects
Running time
2012–2032
Status
Running
Funding
German Academies' Programme
Academy
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Location
Munich Bavaria Germany
Discipline
Ancient History Ancient Cultures History Literary Studies Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology Religious Studies and Jewish Studies Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies

The research project “Die frühbuddhistischen Handschriften aus Gandhāra: religiöse Literatur an der Schnittstelle von Indien, Zentralasien und China” was established in 2012. On the basis of philological and historical methods, it provides new insight into the early history of Buddhism on its way to becoming a world religion. The project studies manuscripts found in the 1990s in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan – the ancient region of Gandhāra. They were composed in Gāndhārī, the Middle Indic local language, and date from between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE. They thus constitute – apart from a small number of stone inscriptions – the oldest original sources for the history of Buddhism and for Indian writing culture. The manuscripts cast special light on the development of Buddhist scholasticism and Mahāyāna Buddhism. In the first centuries of our era, Gandhāra also served as a cultural bridge from India to Central Asia and China, and a famous school of Buddhist art flourished there. These, too, are processes whose understanding is enriched by the new sources. The project prepares text editions of Gāndhārī manuscripts that in turn form the basis for a dictionary and a grammar of Gāndhārī as well as for a history of literature and religion in Gandhāra.

Classification

Research projects in AGATE are classified according to various aspects. The content-related aspects include the assignment of the time period that the project deals with and a geographical categorisation. By selecting one of the following tags, you can search the project database for projects with the selected focus.

Spatial classification
South Asia
Research Objects
Artifacts Images Computers File Data Research Research Results Research Process Interaction Literature Manuscript Metadata Projects Software Language Standards Text Text Bearing Objects VREs

Research Methods

The research methods employed are an essential component of research projects. In the field of research methods, projects can be filtered by their specific research activities and techniques, making it easy to find projects with similar approaches.

Research Activities
Discovering Gathering Recording Transcription Programming Translation Web development Writing Annotating Editing Content Analysis Structural Analysis Stylistic Analysis Visualization Contextualizing Theorizing Archiving Identifying Preservation Collaboration Commenting Communicating Publishing Meta: Community Building Meta: Project Management Meta: Teaching/Learning
Research Techniques
Encoding Photography POS-Tagging > Analysis-Structural Analysis Preservation Metadata > Storage-Preservation Replication > Storage-Preservation Scanning Searching Technology Preservation > Storage-Preservation Versioning > Storage-Preservation Debugging

Partners

Permanent Cooperation Partners
Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection
Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project
Professur für Buddhismusstudien Université Lausanne

Persons

  • Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Hartmann (Project Leader)
  • Dr. Stefan Baums (Office Site Leader)
  • Dr. Gudrun Melzer (Research Associate)
  • Dr. Andrea Schlosser (Research Associate)
  • Elisabeth Steinbrückner M.A. (Research Associate)
  • Stephen White M.Sc. (Technical Associate)
  • Gleb Sharygin (Doctoral Candidate)
  • Tao Pan M.A. (Research Assistant)
  • Britta Schneider M.A. (Research Assistant)
  • Evelyn Kindermann (Office Site)

Contact person for the academies' programme

Sebastian Zwies M.A.

Geschäftsstelle Mainz
Union der deutschen Akademien der Wissenschaften
Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 2
55131 Mainz

Tel: 06131/218 528-17
E-Mail: sebastian.zwies@akademienunion.de