Folio 1 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
14
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From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
14
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a single page from an old book: thin black letters on yellow paper, pasted over even older palm leaves. Tiny red and blue dots mark the start of sentences. A quick prayer in black ink runs along the edge. This page was already 400 years old when someone glued the yellow paper over it to keep it from crumbling. The glue job tells us people cared enough to save it, even if they didn’t sign their name. The numbers and letters mix two cultures—India and Nepal—on one fragile sheet. Look up eastern india, bihar, vikramashila monastery to see where the story began.
