Reconstructing what has disappeared: Indian Buddhism in the light of its manuscripts

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Hartmann for a guest lecture on January 16, 2024, in Leipzig. He will be presenting on the topic "Reconstructing What Has Disappeared: Indian Buddhism in the Light of Its Manuscripts."

 

Abstract
Our understanding of the development of Buddhism in India is essentially based on written evidence. In recent decades, inscriptions have increasingly come into the picture; until recently, however, research was mainly based on manuscripts. They span a period of around two thousand years and are written in two different scripts. In India itself, however, only very few manuscripts have survived; many sites are located outside the Indian subcontinent in zones that are climatically more favorable for the preservation of manuscripts. The materials used were initially birch bark, then palm leaves, sometimes leather, and finally paper. The state of preservation and the development of the script can pose considerable challenges when it comes to decipherment.

 

About the Speaker

After studying Indology, Tibetology and Sinology, Jens-Uwe Hartmann received his doctorate in Munich in 1984. He completed his habilitation in Göttingen in 1992. In 1995, he was appointed Professor of Tibetology at Humboldt University in Berlin; in 1999, he became Professor of Indology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In 2001, he was elected to the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He has been retired since 2018.