Birch Bark Manuscript

Birch Bark Manuscript

Birch bark manuscripts are documents written on pieces of the inner layer of birch bark—it was commonly used for writing before the advent of mass production of paper. Evidence of birch bark for writing goes back many centuries and in various cultures.

The oldest dated birch bark manuscripts are numerous Gandhāran Buddhist texts from approximately the 1st century CE, believed to have originated in Afghanistan, likely by the Dharmaguptaka sect. Translations of the texts, mostly from Kharoṣṭhī script, have produced the earliest known versions of significant Buddhist scriptures, including: a Dhammapada, discourses of Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Horn Sutra, Avadanas, and Abhidharma texts. Sanskrit birch bark manuscripts, using Brāhmī script, have been dated to the first few centuries CE. Several early Sanskrit writers, such as Kalidasa (c. 4th century CE), Sushruta (c. 3rd century CE), and Varahamihira (6th century CE) mention the use of birch bark for manuscripts. The bark of Betula utilis (Himalayan Birch) is still used today in India and Nepal for writing sacred mantras.

Russian texts discovered in Novgorod have been dated to approximately the 9th to 15th century CE. Most of those documents are letters written by various people in Old Novgorod dialect.