Contents: Texts and genres

The Bajaur collection contains texts of different literary genres. With the exception of a text on political science (fragment 9, recto) and a private document (fragment 15) all belong to the vast bulk of Buddhist literature. The following table gives a rough survey of the contents. More detailed information can be gained from the descriptions of the single fragments and the article "The Bajaur collection: A new collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts. A preliminary catalogue and survey" by Ingo Strauch (Online version 1.0, PDF, 4,9 MB, August 2007).

1. Canonical texts

    1.1  A Text from the Madhyamāgama
        fragment 1

    1.2 Vinaya (related) texts
    1.2.1 Karmavācanā texts
        fragment 7

    1.2.2 Prātimokṣasūtra fragment
        fragment 13

2. Non-canonical scholastic texts

    2.1 Fragment 9, verso
        fragment 9, verso

    2.2 Group A = fragments 4, 6, 11
        fragment 4, fragment 6, fragment 11

    2.3 Group B = fragments 14, 16 and 18
        fragment 14, fragment 16, fragment 18

3. Miscellaneous Buddhist texts

    3.1 Texts praising the Buddha 
    3.1.1 Four verses praising the Buddha Śākyamuni
        fragment 8

    3.1.2 A text about prāśaṃsyasthānas
        fragment 10

    3.2  A collection of Buddhist verses arranged according to the Arapacana
    alphabet
        fragment 5

4. Rakṣā texts: A rakṣā text containing a spell ascribed to the Nāga king Manasvin
        fragment 3

5. An early Mahāyāna sūtra related to the Akṣobhyavyūha
        fragment 2 

6. A text belonging to a Nīti-/Arthaśāstra tradition
        fragment 9, recto

7.  A private document
        fragment 15