Editing Gilgit (section)

==== Gilgit manuscripts ====
This corpus of manuscripts was discovered in 1931 in Gilgit, containing many Buddhist texts such as four [[sutra]]s from the Buddhist canon, including the famous [[Lotus Sutra]]. The manuscripts were written on [[birch bark]] in the Buddhist form of [[Sanskrit]] in the [[Sharada script]]. They cover a wide range of themes such as [[icon]]ometry, [[Folklore|folk tales]], [[philosophy]], [[medicine]] and several related areas of life and general knowledge.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17935041 |title=BBC News – India: Rare Buddhist manuscript Lotus Sutra released |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=3 May 2012 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>

The Gilgit manuscripts<ref name="Marwah">{{cite web
|author=Gyan Marwah
|work=The South Asian Magazine
|title=Gilgit Manuscript&nbsp;— Piecing Together Fragments of History
|url=http://www.the-south-asian.com/Aug2004/Gilgit_manuscript.htm
|location=Haryana, India|date=August 2004
|access-date=6 February 2014
}}</ref>
are included in the [[UNESCO]] [[Memory of the World]] register.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-3/gilgit-manuscript/|title=Gilgit Manuscript {{!}} United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|website=unesco.org|language=en|access-date=2018-07-31}}</ref> They are among the oldest [[manuscript]]s in the world, and the oldest manuscript collection surviving in Pakistan,<ref name="Marwah" /> having major significance in [[Buddhist Studies|Buddhist studies]] and the evolution of [[Asian literature|Asian]] and [[Sanskrit literature]]. The manuscripts are believed to have been written in the 5th to 6th centuries AD, though more manuscripts were discovered from the succeeding centuries, which were also classified as Gilgit manuscripts.

Many of the original manuscripts from Gilgit can be found in the [[National Archives of India]] and the [[SPS Museum|Pratap Singh Museum]] in [[Srinagar]]. Two manuscripts collected by the orientalist [[Sir Aurel Stein]] are in the [[British Library]] in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://idpuk.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-gilgit-manuscript-at-british-library.html?m=1|title=IDP Blog – International Dunhuang Programme|website=idp.bl.uk/}}</ref> They include a rare paper version of the [[Lotus Sutra]].

As of 6 October 2014, one source claims that the part of the collection deposited at the Sri Pratap Singh Museum in [[Srinagar]] was irrecoverably destroyed during the [[2014 India–Pakistan floods]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-dna-exclusive-kashmir-floods-damage-2000-year-old-buddhist-treasures-2023160 |title=Kashmir floods damage 2000-year-old Buddhist treasures |website=www.dnaindia.com |date=3 October 2014 |access-date=6 October 2014}}</ref>

{{multiple image|perrow=3|total_width=900|caption_align=center
| align    = center
| direction =horizontal
| header=Gilgit manuscripts
| image1   = Buddhas, Gilgit, 627-628 CE.jpg
| image2   = Samghatasutra book cover, Gilgit, 627-628 CE.jpg
| image3   = Samghatasutra page, Gilgit, 627-628 CE.jpg
| footer=Buddhas, devotees with Buddhist deities on the painted cover from Manuscript 3, Saṃghāṭa Sūtra, with a sample page, commissioned by Devaśirikā and Atthocasiṃgha, 627-628 CE. Gilgit.<ref name="H2018">{{cite journal | doi=10.3390/h7040092 | doi-access=free | title=Images of the Crowned Buddha along the Silk Road: Iconography and Ideology | year=2018 | last1=Twist | first1=Rebecca L. | journal=Humanities | volume=7 | issue=4 | page=92 }}</ref><ref name="VH">{{cite web |last1=von Hinüber |first1=Oskar, Professor Emeritus, University of Freiburg |title=Bronzes of the Ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Gilgit |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/video/collections/asian/bronzes-of-ancient-gilgit |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>
}}