In the past few years important manuscript discoveries have been uncovered in the course of the excavation of the archeological site at the ancient city of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan. This article, the first of a series, examines this new manuscript evidence providing an analysis of seven groups of manuscript fragments found at Mes Aynak consisting of only a part of the total material uncovered at the site. The fragments under the scope of this article are all copied on birch bark folios in the Gilgit/Bamiyan Type I script and date from the 6th-7th centuries of the Common Era. Works identified include witnesses of the Maitreyavyākaraṇa, Bahubuddhāvadāna verses, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, and the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā. Several unidentified fragments are also analyzed. Transliterations are given for all fragments and reconstructions or parallels and translations are supplied for all identified works. It is hypothesized that the bundle containing the Maitreyavyākaraṇa and Bahubuddhāvadāna verses represents the first witness discovered of the heretofore lost Mūlasarvāstivāda Kṣudrakapiṭaka. The Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā fragments discussed are also of great interest, representing the first example of that work discovered within the area of Greater Gandhāra from this period, placing it among the earlier witnesses of this work discovered to date. It also appears to mark an earlier transmission of the work that differs from later, known transmissions.
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ABSTRACT 121 Fragments 1-4: A multiple-text manuscript consisting of the Maitreyavyākaraṇa, Bahubuddhāvadāna verses, and unidentified folios 125 Fragment 1: Maitreyavyākaraṇa 134 Fragment 2: Bahubuddhāvadāna verses 136 Fragment 3: Unidentified Fragment 4: Unidentified 143 Fragments 5-5e: Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra 146 Fragments 6-6b: Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā 153 Fragment 7a-c: Unidentified 169 Sigla 170 Abbreviations 171 Bibliography 172
