Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: Creator's Description: This article presents a new paleographic approach to the Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang. By adapting the techniques of forensic handwriting analysis to the Tibetan alphabet, we can identify groups of manuscripts written in the same hand. After introducing this new approach, the present paper applies it to the works of a single scribe, taken as an initial example. Once this particular group of manuscripts has been identified, a range of further insights into this person emerge—his many connections to the kingdom of Khotan, his unique writing style, and his interest in the external ritual practices relating to water and fire offerings, stūpas, rosaries, and the like. This new approach promises to alter significantly our understanding of the Tibetan Dunhuang documents. No longer are we confronted with a mass of undigested material; now we can begin to date and ascribe names to whole swathes of the collection.

Table of Contents:

1. An introduction to the basic practice of forensic handwriting analysis and how it may be applied outside the courtroom.

2. A discussion of how these forensic techniques were adapted to the Tibetan script and how the handwriting of one scribe can be described by a few simple rules.

3. A brief overview of the writing practices and the social milieu of tenth century Dunhuang.

4. A review of further internal evidence indicating that the manuscripts written in the hand identified in part two are all the work of a single person.

Means of availability: online