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50 EASTERN HORIZON | FEATURES

Buddhist art, architecture, and learning. One of the in the voice of the Buddha provides brief biographies
region’s most distinguishing traits is the Hellenistic of 13 Buddhas who were followed by his birth and
style of Buddhist sculpture, which includes Buddha enlightenment, and concludes with a prophecy about
statues with wavy hair, clearly defined facial features the arrival of Buddha Maitreya. The memoirs also
and garments similar to Greco-Roman deities. Several include additional information such as how long each
centuries later, Gandhara also facilitated the diffusion Buddha lived, what social class he was born into,
of Buddhism down the Silk Road from its South Asian how long his teachings lasted, and how each Buddha
homeland to Central Asia and China. anticipated the ultimate emergence of Siddhartha
Gautama as Buddha. Notably, the lifespans of the
The compilation and study of sacred scriptures, which Buddhas diminished over time, from the first Buddha
in Gandhara frequently took the form of birch tree Dipankara to Siddhartha Gautama’s eighty years. The
bark, was essential to the dissemination of Buddhism. concept of numerous Buddhas is prevalent in Buddhist
Gandharan scrolls are often interred in terracotta literature, but the earliest occurrence of this system
jars within a stupa, a domed edifice typically housing described in the Gandhara scroll clarifies its evolution.
Buddhist literature or relics. Only the beginning and
end of the original text are missing from the scroll The potential significance of the new discovery
that has been partly preserved due to the region’s Although the last found fragments from Gandhara
high altitude and dry climate. Given that many other are comparable to the Dead Sea scrolls and the Nag
Gandharan manuscripts known to researchers are more Hammadi manuscripts as they provide actual samples
fragmentary, the scroll’s completeness is notable. As the of the textual corpus of a much earlier phase of
colophon is missing, the exact names of the author and Buddhist tradition than previously known, they are
scribe are unknown. The scroll is written in Gandhari, unlikely to contain anything as radically foreign as
an Indo-Aryan branch of languages derived from their Christian counterparts. The assessment of the
Sanskrit in Kharosthi script. new fragments has not yet uncovered anything that is
at odds with early Buddhist teaching as traditionally
The British Library’s Gandhara scroll has been dubbed understood, and it is unlikely that additional analysis
the Bahubuddha Sutra [The Many Buddhas Sutra]. will provide anything more.
Salomon notes that the probable identification of
this scroll as the Bahubuddha Sutra is based on its The significance of the new collection is on a different,
resemblance to a Sanskrit work of the same name possibly less stunning level. These fragments provide
found in the much longer Mahavastu, or Great Story, a an unprecedented direct glimpse into what appears to
chronicle of Buddha’s previous lifetimes. The discovery have been a monastic collection or library of the school
of an earlier Bahubuddha Sutra attestation in Gandhari of Dharmaguptaka in or around the first half of the
informs about the formative period of Buddhist first century CE, and are by far the earliest examples
literature. This scroll, probably from the first century of this type of Buddhist texts ever discovered. These
BCE, bring us incredibly close to the Buddha’s lifetime are probably the earliest and most coherent Buddhist
during the 5th and 6th centuries BCE. manuscripts known.

More Buddhas than one Providing missing links

The account of Siddhartha Gautama, who attained The new scrolls include local Gandharan folklore
enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, and traditions, which suggests that early Gandharan
India, and became Buddha, is presumably well-known. Buddhism regional centres might have had a more
Before his birth, various Buddhist traditions including distinct and localised character than previously
the earliest Mahayana school of ancient Gandhara, perceived. Specifically, the references in some of the
relate to past Buddhas whose lives span a cosmic new texts to at least two members of the contemporary
understanding of history. This Gandharan scroll told Indo-Scythian ruling houses of the early first century