64 siglinde dietz
the Monks) were identi ed and published by J. Chung and K. Wille.^88
E. Waldschmidt identi ed another fragment from Murtuq as containing
the Dharmaguptaka version of the Mahparinirv astra (The Discourse
on the Complete Nirva).^89 Dharmaguptaka communities were not
only present on the Southern Silk Road but also in the oasis of Kucha,
perhaps even before the Sarvstivdins began their missions during the
time of Kanika. Though there exists no Indian textual evidence con-
necting the Gndhr language with the early Mahyna, D. Boucher^90
has shown that Dharmaraka’s translation of the Saddharmapu arkastra
(The Discourse on the Lotus of the True Law, T.263), one of the most
important Mhyna texts, might have been prepared on the basis of
a Gndhr Prkrit text. J. Nattier^91 observed that within Central Asia
not a single Buddhist text written in any Central Asian language can
be assigned to a date earlier than the beginning of the sixth century.
She draws the conclusion that the subsequent ourishing of Buddhist
vernacular literature in the eastern parts of Central Asia may have been
in uenced by early Chinese translations of Buddhist texts.
- Documentation of Gndhr Research Material and
Recently Discovered Buddhist Manuscripts
From various manuscript collections that were revealed to the public in
recent years we can now infer which Buddhist schools must have been
present in Gandhra until the seventh century AD.
For a long time the Gndhr Dharmapada (Words of the Dharma),
written in Kharo h script, was the most prominent early Buddhist
manuscript. One third of it was acquired by the French cartographer
and naval of cer Dutreuil de Rhins shortly before he was murdered
in 1893.^92 A second part was purchased by N. F. Petrovskiì, the
Russian Consul-General in Kashgar, and sent to S. F. Oldenburg in
St. Petersburg. The remaining third has never been found. J. Brough^93
(^88) Chung & Wille 1997, p. 47. The school af liation of the Bhik u prtimok astra,
which is published in Wille 1997, pp. 307–314, is in all probability Sarvstivda
(Heirman 2000).
(^89) Sander 1993, pp. 74f.
(^90) Boucher 1998.
(^91) Nattier 1990, pp. 203, 212.
(^92) von Hinüber 1984, p. 99.
(^93) Brough 1962.