The Bakhsh膩l墨 Manuscript: A Response to the Bodleian Library's Radiocarbon Dating
Journal name: History of Science in South Asia
Original article title:
The journal 鈥淗istory of Science in South Asia鈥� (HSSA) publishes high-quality research on the history of science, focusing on South Asia but also welcoming studies on broader cultural influences. It adopts a broad definition of 鈥渟cience鈥� and encourages theoretical discussions and offers open access. Although initially supported by the Sayahna Foundation, it is now aided by the University of Alberta and 脡rudit.
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Kim Plofker
Union College, Schenectady, USA
Clemency Montelle
University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Dominik Wujastyk
University of Alberta
History of Science in South Asia:
(Individual submissions go through peer-review)
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Year: 2017 | Doi: 10.18732/H2XT07
Copyright (license): Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Summary of article contents:
Popular attention has recently been captured by the results of the Bodleian Library's 2017 project of radiocarbon dating portions of the birch-bark fragments constituting what is known as the Bakhsh膩l墨 Manuscript. In this paper, we disagree with the interpretation of the findings announced by the Bodleian team. In particular, we argue that the earliest dated folio of this manuscript is unlikely to be the date of the whole text. Rather, the latest dateable folio is logically the date of the scribal activity. This fits well with past estimates of the date of the Bakhsh膩l墨 Manuscript based on historical, philological and palaeographic arguments.. And we argue that the Bakhsh膩l墨 Manuscript does include written zeros that function as arithmetical operators, i.e., as numbers in their own right, and not merely as place-holders, as asserted by the Bodleian team. Finally, we express regret that the Bodleian Library chose to announce scientific results without peer-review and through a press release to newspapers and a YouTube video.
Other India history Concepts:
Discover the significance of concepts within the article: 鈥�The Bakhshali Manuscript: A Response to the Bodleian Library's Radiocarbon Dating鈥�. Further sources in the context of India history might help you critically compare this page with similair documents:
Sanskrit commentary, Sanskrit text, Historical context, Classical Sanskrit, Radiocarbon Dating, Social context, Second hand, Carbon Dating, Historical knowledge, Ancient Indian text, South Asia, Physical reality, Bodleian library, Social milieu, Place value system, Scribe, Religious communities, Indic culture.
Concepts being referred in other categories, contexts and sources.
Brahmagupta, Birch bark, Indian dialects, Definite conclusion, Hybrid Sanskrit, Seventh century, Physical characteristic.