68 siglinde dietz
and will be published successively by J. Braarvig. According to the
information “from the local dealers, most of the manuscripts were
found quite recently in Afghanistan by local people taking refuge
from the Taliban forces in caves near the Bamiyan valley, where an
old library may have been situated, or possibly hidden.”^110 This col-
lection^111 contains Sanskrit manuscripts from the Kua period up to
the seventh century. The collection comprises vinaya fragments of the
Mahsghika-Lokottaravdins and M lasarvstivdins, but none of
the Sarvstivdins. In addition, there are stra fragments with parallels in
the Drghgama and Ekottarikgama (Collection of Gradual [ Discourses]),
which cannot be clearly attributed to any de ned school, because we
do not have close correspondences in Chinese translations.^112 Among
the abhidharma fragments only those of the riputrbhidharma (The
Abhidharma of riputra) were identi ed by K. Matsuda. Among the
fragments which cannot be attributed to any known work are abhi-
dharma fragments, early commentary fragments, a Mmsaka fragment
and poetical texts. Among the Mahyna stra fragments we nd an
A ashasrikprajñpramit (Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses) from
the Kua period, fragments of a Saddharmapu a 9 rkastra, Vajracchedik
(Diamond [Stra]), Samdhirjastra (“King of Concentration” Stra), and
of the Larger Sukhvatvyhastra (Stra on the Supernatural Manifestation
of Sukhvat).^113 Research on both language and content of these
fragments has just begun. Its results will be published successively in
the volumes of the series Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection.^114
The presence of the school of the Mahsghika-Lokottaravdins in
Bamiyan is con rmed by Xuanzang.
One of the most spectacular nds of Buddhist manuscripts was
unearthed from two stpas at Naupur near Gilgit in the years 1931
and 1938. This collection contains Hnayna and Mahyna manu-
scripts. A description of the manuscripts contained in this collection
is found in von Hinüber (1979). Among these manuscripts an almost
complete Vinayavastu (Vinaya Matter) of the M lasarvstivdins is found
as well as fragments of an Ekottargama^115 and of the abhidharma works
(^110) Braarvig 2000, p. XIII. It is not sure, however, whether this information provided
by manuscript dealers can be trusted at all.
(^111) Cf. the description in Hartmann 2004, pp. 125ff.
(^112) Hartmann 2004, p. 127.
(^113) Sukhvat is the paradise of the Buddha Amitbha.
(^114) Braarvig 2000; 2002.
(^115) Tripathi 1995.