Research Area 2

The investigation of the visual organization and materiality of the manuscripts will focus on two aspects: paleography and codicology. In order to safely place the new documents in a historical context, it is necessary to fill considerable research gaps concerning these two fields in the context of manuscripts and inscriptions written in Proto-Śāradā. Based on the poor state of editions of inscriptions – i.e. insufficient documentation of images and metadata, and insufficient quality of editions and translations – we aim at a new assessment of the entire epigraphical corpus including re-editions, transcriptions and translations of all Proto-Śāradā inscriptions. This study will explicitly distinguish script types with regard to their spheres of use, the material of the writing surface, and the writing tools. As tentative categories we identified so far: “formal script” for manuscripts of religious contents, “official/monastic script” for royal or institutional inscriptions (on stone and metal), “administrative script” for administrative documents, “cursive script” for graffiti (e.g. along the Karakorum Highway).

Inscriptions written in Proto-Śāradā will serve as basis for the preparation of the paleography. Yet, most of these inscriptions are dated to unknown eras and it is another goal of this project to establish a chronology of eras by the means of contents, such as names of kings, the use of specific features or formula for dating, and the development of the script. Moreover, the comparative paleography will allow the identification of scribes or scribal schools, as well as differences in the scripts used for worldly and religious texts. For a complete insight into the development of the script of the early medieval period, this project will also undertake paleographical studies of selected manuscripts from different collections that stem from the entire geographical area under consideration.

Considering the specific nature of our manuscripts, questions of the manuscript format and the page layout will be of special interest. This implies the relationship between layout and readability, including eventual lectional signs and other symbols. A comparison with other texts, be it administrative or religious, can provide further insight regarding the relevance and interaction of these characteristics. Furthermore, criteria like the size and folding of the individual manuscript, colophons, address lines and margins, but also the identification of the scribe(s) and the display of the writing will be the object of examination. The inscribed bullae of the JZC will be related to so far attested corpora of seals and sealings from the Indian North-West.