Birch bark manuscript

Birch bark manuscripts are documents written on pieces of the inner layer of birch bark, which was commonly used for writing before the mass production of paper. Evidence of birch bark for writing goes back many centuries and appears in various cultures. The oldest such manuscripts are the numerous Gandhāran Buddhist texts from approximately the 1st century CE, from what is now Afghanistan. They contain among the earliest known versions of significant Buddhist scriptures, including a Dhammapada, discourses of Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Sutra, Avadanas and Abhidharma texts.

A birch bark manuscript from Kashmir of the Rupavatara, a grammatical textbook based on the Sanskrit grammar of Pāṇini (dated 1663)

Sanskrit birch bark manuscripts written with Brahmi script have been dated to the first few centuries CE. Several early Sanskrit writers, such as Kālidāsa (c. 4th century CE), Sushruta (c. 3rd century CE), and Varāhamihira (6th century CE) mention its use for manuscripts. The bark of Betula utilis (Himalayan Birch) is still used today in India and Nepal for writing sacred mantras. Russian texts discovered in Veliky Novgorod have been dated to approximately the 9th to 15th century CE. Most of those documents are letters written by various people in the Old Novgorod dialect. The Irish language's native writing system Ogham, sometimes called the "tree alphabet", was traditionally attributed to the god Ogma who wrote a proscription on birch to Lugh, warning him; the text of this proscription can be found in the Book of Ballymote. The first letter of Ogham is beith; beithe means "birch".

Gandhāran Buddhist manuscripts

Main article: Gandhāran Buddhist texts

Gandhara birchbark scroll fragments (c. 1st century)

Buddhist manuscripts written in the Gāndhārī language are likely the oldest extant Indic texts, dating to approximately the 1st century CE. They were written on birch bark and stored in clay jars. The British Library acquired them in 1994. They were written in Kharoṣṭhī and were believed to have originated from Afghanistan, because similar birch bark manuscripts had been discovered in eastern Afghanistan.^[1] Since 1994, a similar collection of Gāndhārī texts from the same era, called the Senior collection, has also surfaced.^[2]

The British Library birch bark manuscripts were in the form of scrolls. They were very fragile and had already been damaged. They measured five to nine inches wide, and consisted of twelve- to eighteen-inch long, overlapping rolls that had been glued together to form longer scrolls. A thread sewn through the edges helped to hold them together. The script was written in black ink. The manuscripts were written on both sides of the scrolls, beginning at the top on one side, continuing with the scroll turned over and upside down, so that the text concluded at the top and back of the scroll. The longest intact scroll from the British Library collection is eighty-four inches long.^[1]

The texts were likely compiled by the Dharmaguptaka sect and probably "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in Nagarāhāra", according to Richard Salomon.^[3] The collection includes a variety of known commentaries and sutras, including a Dhammapada, discourses of Shakyamuni Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Sutra, avadānas, and abhidharma texts.^[4]

The condition of the scrolls indicates that they were already in poor condition and fragments by the time they were stored in the clay jars. Scholars concluded that the fragmented scrolls were given a ritual interment, much like Jewish texts stored in a genizah.^[1]

Sanskrit and Brāhmī manuscripts

Sarasvati in Walters museum holding a manuscript

A Kashmiri manuscript on birch bark (c. 17th century)

The bark of Betula utilis (Himalayan Birch) has been used for centuries in India for writing scriptures and texts in various scripts. Its use was especially prevalent in historical Kashmir. Use of bark as paper has been mentioned by early Sanskrit writers such as Kalidasa (c. 4th century CE), Sushruta (c. 3rd century CE), and Varahamihira (6th century CE). In Kashmir, early scholars recounted that all of their books were written on Himalayan birch bark until the 16th century.^[5]

The Bower Manuscript on birch bark (c. 450 CE)

A fragment of a birch bark scroll in Sanskrit, in the Brāhmī script, was part of the British Library Gandhara scroll collection. It is presumed to be from North India, dating to sometime during the first few centuries CE.^[6] Birch bark manuscripts in Brāhmī script were discovered in an ancient Buddhist monastery in Jaulian, near Taxila in the Punjab in Pakistan, and dated to the 5th century CE.^[7]

The Bakhshali manuscript consists of seventy birch bark fragments written in Sanskrit and Prakrit, in the Śāradā script. Based on the language and content, it is estimated to be from the 2nd to 3rd century CE. The text discusses various mathematical techniques.^[8][9]

A large collection of birch bark scrolls were discovered in Afghanistan during the civil war in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, possibly in the Bamiyan Caves. The approximately 3,000 scroll fragments are in Sanskrit or Buddhist Sanskrit, in the Brāhmī script, and date to a period from the 2nd to 8th century CE.^[6]

The Bower Manuscript is one of the oldest Sanskrit texts on birch bark in the Brāhmī script. It includes several texts covering subjects including a medical treatise and proverbs. It was discovered in Kucha (currently in Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang, China), an ancient Buddhist kingdom on the northern Silk Road, and is estimated to be from around 450 CE.^[10]

The Gilgit Manuscripts were Buddhist texts discovered in the Gilgit area of Pakistan in 1931 and include various sutras, including the Lotus Sutra, along with folk tales, medicine, and philosophy. They are dated to approximately the 5th to 6th centuries AD, and were written in Buddhist Sanskrit in the Śāradā script.^[11][12][13]

Manuscripts containing the Devīkavaca text, a hymn praising the goddess Durga, were thought to protect the person who carries them from evil influences like an amulet or charm.^[14] An example of one of these texts in Devanagari script from Nepal is held at Cambridge University Library (MS Add. 1578).

Birch bark is still used in some parts of India and Nepal for writing sacred mantras.^[5][15] This practice was first mentioned c. 8th or 9th century CE, in the Lakshmi Tantra.^[16]

In Indian sculpture, a birch bark manuscript is easily identified by the droop. A palm leaf manuscript is stiff.

Old Slavonic script

Birch-bark letter no. 202^[17] contains spelling lessons and drawings made by a boy named Onfim; based on craftsmanship, experts estimate his age as between 6 and 7 at the time.

On July 26, 1951, during excavations in Novgorod, an expedition led by Artemiy Artsikhovsky discovered the first birch bark manuscripts in Russia in a stratigraphic layer dated to around the year 1400. Since then, more than 1,000 similar documents were discovered in Staraya Russa, Smolensk, Polatsk, Vitebsk, Mstsislaw, Torzhok, Pskov, Tver, Moscow, Ryazan, and Vologda,^[18][19] although Novgorod remains by far the most prolific source of them.^[20] In Ukraine, birch bark documents were found in Zvenyhorod, Volynia;^{[citation needed]} while those from Belarus was unearthed in Vitebsk.^[20]

The contents of the birch bark writings included not only religious writings but also document death of princes, conclusions of peace, dignitary arrivals, folk verses and local proverbs, even casual doodles. While legal related matters include accusations, witnesses and the procedure of evidence, payments and fines, theft, fraud as well as wife-beating. One mundane personal writing reads "Sell the house and come to Smolensk or Kiev; bread is cheap; if you cannot come, write to me about your health.^[20]

Birch-bark letter no. 109, c. 12th century, Veliky Novgorod; photograph

The document №752 stratigraphically dated as 1080–1100 AD is a passionate letter of an abandoned young woman torn in two and thrown away (by her addressee?).

The late discovery of birch documents, as well as their amazing state of preservation, is explained by a deep culture layer in Novgorod (up to eight meters, or 25 feet) and heavy waterlogged clay soil which prevents the access of oxygen. Serious excavations in Novgorod started only in 1932, although some attempts had been made in the 19th century.

Although their existence was mentioned in some old East Slavic manuscripts (along with a mention of Slavs writing upon "white wood" by Ibn al-Nadim),^[21] the discovery of birch bark documents (Russian: берестяна́я гра́мота, berestyanáya grámota, and also grámota in those documents) significantly changed the understanding of the cultural level and language spoken by the East Slavs between the 11th and 15th centuries. Over two hundred styluses have also been found, mostly made of iron, some of bone or bronze.

According to historians Valentin Yanin and Andrey Zaliznyak, most documents are ordinary letters by various people written in what is considered to be a vernacular dialect. The letters are of a personal or business character. A few documents include elaborate obscenities. Very few documents are written in Old Church Slavonic and only one in Old Norse. The school exercises and drawings by a young boy named Onfim have drawn much attention.^[22][23]

Birch-bark letter no. 292, oldest known Finnic language text. (First half of the 13th century)

The document numbered 292 from the Novgorod excavations (unearthed in 1957) is the oldest known document in any Finnic language. It is dated to the beginning of the 13th century. The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in Olonets Karelia, a dialect of the Karelian language. For details and full text, see Birch bark letter no. 292.

Example

Novgorod birch-bark letter №366, about 1360-1380 A.D. Case of trampled wheat, release.

Original text (with added word division):

сь урѧдѣсѧ ѧковь съ гюргьмо и съ харѣтономъ по бьсудьнои грамотѣ цто былъ возѧлъ гюргѣ грамоту в ызьѣжьнои пьшьнѣцѣ а харѣтоно во проторѣхо своѣхъ и возѧ гюрьгѣ за вьсь то рубьль и трѣ грѣвоны и коробью пьшьнѣцѣ а харѣтонъ возѧ дьсѧть локотъ сукона и грѣвону а боль не надобѣ гюрьгю нѣ харѣтону до ѧкова нѣ ѧкову до гюргѧ нѣ до харитона а на то рѧдьцѣ и послусѣ давыдъ лукѣнъ сынъ и сьтьпанъ таишѣнъ

Translation (with explanations in square brackets):

Here, Yakov has settled with Gyurgiy and with Khariton by courtless deed Gyurgiy has gotten [at court] concerning trampled [by horses] wheat and Khariton concerning his loss. Gyurgiy got one rouble [money], three grivnas [money], and basket [measure] of wheat for all that, and Khariton got ten cubits of cloth and one grivna. And Gyurgiy and Khariton have no more concern to Yakov, nor Yakov to Gyurgiy and Khariton. And arrangers and perceivers to that are Davyd, son of Luka, and Stepan Taishin.

Soviet Union

There are birch bark letters written in the 20th century, most notably by victims of the repressions of the Soviet Stalinist regime. People in Soviet forced settlements and GULAG camps in Siberia used strips of birch bark to write letters to their loved ones back home, due to inaccessibility of paper. In 2023 birch bark letters from Siberia Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, applied to include birch bark letters from Siberia (1945-1965) in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" Register.^[24][25]

During World War II, propaganda newspapers and leaflets published by guerilla fighters were sometimes printed on birch bark due to shortage of paper.^[26][27]

See also

• See the Old Novgorod dialect article for samples of some texts
• Onfim – boy from medieval Novgorod, famous for his birch bark drawings
• Bryggen inscriptions, documents of the same age found in Bergen, Norway
• Wiigwaasabak – birch bark scrolls of the Ojibwa people
• Palm-leaf manuscript
• Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing
• Russian archaeology
• List of Russian archaeologists

References

1. Salomon, Richard (April 1, 1997). "A preliminary survey of some early Buddhist manuscripts recently acquired by the British Library". The Journal of the American Oriental Society. 117 (2). American Oriental Society: 353–358. doi:10.2307/605500. JSTOR 605500.^{[permanent dead link]}
2. Richard Salomon; Andrew Glass (2000). A Gāndhārī Version of the Rhinoceros Sūtra: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5B. University of Washington Press. p. xi. ISBN 978-0-295-98035-5. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
3. Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. pg 181
4. Salomon, Richard (1999). Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97769-8.
5. Müller, Friedrich Max (1881). Selected essays on language, mythology and religion, Volume 2. Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 335–336fn.
6. Patrick Olivelle (13 July 2006). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 Bce to 400 Ce. Oxford University Press. pp. 356–7. ISBN 978-0-19-530532-6. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
7. Kurt A. Behrendt (2003). Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. The Buddhist architecture of Gandhāra. Brill. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-90-04-13595-6. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
8. John Newsome Crossley; Anthony Wah-Cheung Lun; Kangshen Shen; Shen Kangsheng (1999). The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Companion and Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-853936-3.
9. "The Bakhshali Manuscript". Treasures of the Bodleian. University of Oxford Bodleian Library. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
10. David Diringer (1953). The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental. Courier Dover Publications. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-486-24243-9. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
11. Gyan Marwah. "Gilgit Manuscript — Piecing Together Fragments of History". The South Asian Magazine. Haryana, India. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
12. "Gilgit Manuscript". Memory of the World Register. UNESCO. Archived from the original on 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
13. "India: Rare Buddhist manuscript Lotus Sutra released". BBC News. 2012-05-03. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
14. "Devīkavaca". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
15. Wheeler, David Martyn (2008). Hortus Revisited: A 21st Birthday Anthology. London: Frances Lincoln. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-7112-2738-5.^{[permanent dead link]}
16. Gupta, Sanjukta (1972). Laksmi Tantra a Pancaratra text; Orientalia Rheno-traiectina; v.15. Brill Archive. p. xxi. ISBN 9004034196.
17. "Древнерусские берестяные грамоты. Грамота №202". Archived from the original on 2015-11-24. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
18. Curta, Florin (2019). Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300) (2 Vols). Boston: BRILL. p. 17. ISBN 978-90-04-39519-0. OCLC 1111434007.
19. В Вологде впервые в истории города найдена берестяная грамота (in Russian). Vologda-Region. 21 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
20. Franklin, Simon (1985). "Literacy and Documentation in Early Medieval Russia". Speculum. 60 (1): 5–7. doi:10.2307/2852132. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 2852132.
21. Wellisch, Hans H. The first Arab bibliography : Fihrist al- ʻulum (PDF). University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science. OCLC 15111521. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-02.
22. • Schaeken, Jos (2012). Stemmen Op Berkenbast: Berichten Uit Middeleeuws Rusland: Dagelijks Leven en Communicatie. Amsterdam UP. pp. 101–105. ISBN 9789087281618.
23. • Yanin, Valentin L. (Feb 1990). "The Archaeology of Novgorod". Scientific American, p. 84. Covers, History, "Kremlin of Novgorod", "Novgorod Museum of History", preservation dynamics, and the production of 'Birch bark documents'. This article contains examples of birch bark documents, styluses, and photographs.
24. Letters on birch bark written by Ukrainian political prisoners from Siberia will be included in the UNESCO heritage list – Ministry of Culture
25. Baltics, Poland, Ukraine submit gulag birch bark letters to UNESCO register
26. "Guerilla press of the Oryol Region during the years of war". Archived from the original on 2017-02-25. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
27. "Гусман "просветил" Фетисова". Российская газета. 7 October 2003.

External links

• Gandhari.org Complete Corpus, Catalog, Bibliography and Dictionary of Gāndhārī texts
• British Library Gandharan Scrolls
• The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project at University of Washington
• University of Chicago Novgorodian Scrolls Archived 2020-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
• (in Russian) 956 Russian birch bark documents with modern translations
• Devīkavaca at Cambridge University Library
• Stemmen op Boombast, monograph by Jos Schaeken on the Novgorod beretsy (free download)