Email this article Tibetan Birchbark Manuscripts in the Serindian Collection of the IOM, RAS: Restoration and Identification
- Authors: Korosteleva K.1, Sizova A.2
-
Affiliations:
- Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences
- Institute for Indology and Tibetan Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
- Issue: Vol 10, No 1 (2024)
- Pages: 29-61
- Section: Original Papers
- Published: 07.07.2024
- URL: https://journals.eco-vector.com/2410-0145/article/view/633140
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.55512/wmo633140
- ID: 633140
Cite item
Full Text
Abstract
The article presents the Tibetan birchbark manuscripts kept in the Serindian collection of the IOM, RAS. The five birchbark manuscripts exhibit common codicological and paleographic characteristics, and the texts within them demonstrate a functional congruence, primarily associated with the rituals of consecration and empowerment. The objective of the conservation efforts was to flatten the birchbark fragments to both identify and preserve the inscribed texts. The fragments were sufficiently moistened in the birch sap as a plasticizer instead of regular water, given that it is a natural substance inherent to birch bark. The birch sap for conservation was hand-harvested from an ecologically pristine area. The soaking process in warm birch sap softened the fragments, and they were also cleansed of surface impurities. Damaged areas of the birchbark fragments were reinforced using Japanese conservation paper. For subsequent use and preservation, the fragments were stored in envelopes made of high-quality Melinex polyester film. Owing to the restoration work, five Tibetan birchbark manuscripts were described and transliterated.
About the authors
Kristina Korosteleva
Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: chrisjolie92@gmail.com
Conservator, Laboratory Serindica
Russian Federation, Institute of Oriental ManuscriptsAlla Sizova
Institute for Indology and Tibetan Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Author for correspondence.
Email: Sizova.Alla@campus.lmu.de
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5303-8449
PhD student
Germany, MunichReferences
- BENTOR, Yael 1994: “Tibetan Relic Classifications”. Tibetan Studies. Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, ed. Per Kvaerne, Fagernes, 1992. Oslo: The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture 1: 16–30.
- BENTOR, Yael 1995: “On the Indian Origins of the Tibetan Practice of Depositing Relics and Dharanis in Stupas and Images”. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2: 248–261.
- BENTOR, Yael 1996: Consecration of Images and Stupas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Leiden; New York; Köln: E.J. Brill.
- BENTOR, Yael 2003: “The Content of Stūpas and Images and the Indo-Tibetan Concept of Relics”. Tibet Journal 28(1–2): 21–48.
- CHIODO, Elisabetta 2000: The Mongolian Manuscripts on Birch Bark from Xarbuxyn Balgas in the Collection of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Part 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
- CONZE, Edward 1975: The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary. Translated by E. Conze. Bolinas: Four Seasons Foundation.
- DBON PO DPAL 2007: “Dam chos rin po che gzungs kyi be’u bum bzhugs” [A small volume of dhāraṇīs of the precious Noble Doctrine]. Dpal ldan stag lung pa’i gsung rnams nor bzhi bang mdzod [The treasury of the four riches from the teachings of the illustrious Taklung masters]. Vol. ja [7]. Khun men: Nor bzhi bstan rgyas tshogs pa: 205–380.
- DORN, Bernhard 1852: Catalogue des manuscrits et xylographes orientaux de la Bibliothèque impériale publique de Saint-Pétersbourg. St. Pétersbourg: Imprimerie de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences.
- DPE BSDUR MA 34 2008: Bka’ ’gyur dpe bsdur ma [A Critical Edition of the Kangyur]. Vol. 34. Pecin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang.
- DPE BSDUR MA 90 2008: Bka’ ’gyur dpe bsdur ma. Vol. 90. Pecin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang.
- DPE BSDUR MA 91 2008: Bka’ ’gyur dpe bsdur ma. Vol. 91. Pecin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang.
- DPE BSDUR MA 93 2008: Bka’ ’gyur dpe bsdur ma. Vol. 93. Pecin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang.
- DPE BSDUR MA 104 2008: Bka’ ’gyur dpe bsdur ma. Vol. 104. Pecin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang.
- KALSANG, Jampa 1969: “Grundsätzliches zur Füllung von mc’od rten”. Zentralasiatische Studien 3: 51–3.
- KELÉNYI, Béla 2008: “ ‘May it Shine Like the Sun and Moon!’: Consecration Texts from a Tibetan stupa”. Ars Decorativa 26: 145–152.
- POPOVA, Irina 2008a: “Russian Expeditions to Central Asia at the Turn of the 20th c.”.
- In: Russian Expeditions to Central Asia at the Turn of the 20th Century. Ed. by Irina F. Popova. St. Petersburg: Slavia: 11–39.
- POPOVA, Irina 2008b: “S.F. Oldenburg’s First Russian Turkestan Expedition (1909–1910)”. In: Russian Expeditions to Central Asia at the Turn of the 20th Century. Ed. by Irina F. Popova. St. Petersburg: Slavia: 148–157.
- POVETKIN V.I. 1996: “Opyt vosstanovlenija Novgorodskih berestjanyh gramot” [Experience in restoring the Novgorod birchbark manuscripts]. Novgorod i Novgorodskaja zemlja [Novgorod and Novgorod Land] 10: 139–147.
- van SCHAIK, Sam 2016: “The Uses of Early Tibetan Printing: Evidence from the Turfan
- Oasis”. Tibetan Printing: Comparison, Continuities, and Change. Leiden; Boston: Brill: 171–191.
- SCHERRER-SCHAUB, Cristina Anna 1994: “Some Dhāraṇī Written on Paper Functioning as Dharmakaya Relics: A Tentative Approach to PT 350”. Tibetan Studies. Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, ed. Per Kvaerne, Fagernes, 1992. Oslo: The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, v. 2: 711–727.
- SCHOTT, Julian 2023: The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya Perfectly Constructed with Complete Knowledge / Translated by Julian Schott. https://read.84000.co/translation/toh601.html (accessed: 01.09.2023).
- SIZOVA, Alla 2020: “Tibetan Manuscript on Birchbark from the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS”. Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines. New Currents on the Neva River: Proceedings of the Fifth International Seminar of Young Tibetologists 55 (Juillet 2020): 462–474.
- TAUBE, Manfred 1980: Die Tibetica der Berliner Turfansammlung. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag (Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients) (Berliner Turfantexte, X).
- VASILYEVA, Olga 2020: Pis’mennye pamiatniki Vostoka v Rossiiskoi nastional’noi biblioteke: Istoriia formirovaniia fonda 1795–1850 [Written Monuments of the East in the National Library of Russia: The history of the collection’s development 1795–1850]. St. Petersburg: National Library of Russia.
Supplementary files
