Shaping the Stein collection’s Dunhuang corpus (2): the items from Cave 17’s ‘miscellaneous’ bundles

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In a previous blog post , we looked at the instrumental role played by Wang Yuanlu during the selection of the items from the Cave 17. Wang, who directly chose from the small repository what to hand over to Stein for inspection, was very keen to divert his attention from the so-called ‘regular’ bundles, which were composed for the most part of Buddhist sutras in Chinese and Tibetan. During their first ever transaction, which took place between 21 May and 6 June 1907, Wang Yuanlu therefore began by handing over the ‘miscellaneous’ bundles, which he seemed to hold in low estimation. To Stein’s delight, these contained mixed and diverse materials, such as manuscripts in non-Chinese languages, illustrated scrolls, paintings, drawings, ex-votos, textiles, etc. Stein picked out any of the items that jumped at him as being particularly interesting and made sure to put them aside for ‘further examination’, the phrase that he used to refer to their removal in his transaction with Wang. This ...
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Stein as the ‘Buddhist Pausanias’

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When Aurel Stein arrived in Lahore in 1888 it was following several decades of archaeological ‘rediscovery’ of Buddhism in the sub-continent, the sites of the historical Buddha having been identified in part owing to the writings of a seventh-century Chinese monk, Xuanzang.

Xuanzang was instrumental in Stein’s decision to set his archaeological goals further afield, on the ancient Silk Road, and thus contributed to the archaeological rediscovery of the towns and temples through which he had passed over a thousand years earlier. This contribution was not only due to his topographical knowledge—for which Stein dubbed him the ‘Buddhist Pausanias, in reference to the second-century writer of a guide to the sites of ancient Greece—but to the respect in which he was held in China: Stein employed his name shamelessly to plead his case for access to sites with local officials and for this he became Stein’s ‘patron saint’.

I discussed this relationship at a conference on Xuanzang organized by Max Deeg of Cardiff University. Other speakers were Timothy Barrett, Ven. Fayuan, Janice Leoshko, Victor Mair, Tansen Sen, Tokio Takata, Wang Bangwei, Dorothy Wang and Xin Yu. More details on the conference website.

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