A portion of the oldest remaining Buddhist documents in the world, the 5th/6th-century Gilgit manuscripts, suffered greatly. Written on birch bark in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit, the writings include Buddhist works “that have helped the evolution of Sanskrit, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Tibetan religio-philosophical literature” (dnaindia.com). The manuscripts cover diverse subjects, from religion, ritual, and philosophy to folk tales and medicine. Other parts of the manuscripts are kept in the National Archives of India in New Delhi, and there are also fragments in the British Museum and the Department of Archaeology in Karachi.

Saleem Beigh, former director of Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), stated that “apart from the manuscripts, other artefacts like Kashmiri shawls, exquisite sculptures and paper mache figures have been destroyed” (The Buddhist Channel). The chief librarian of the SPS Library, Ishrat Majeed, confirmed the damage withThe Kashmir Monitor: “SPS library remained submerged under floodwater for weeks due to which over 20,000 books as per our preliminary reports have got damaged in the library,” he said. One hundred works from the library’s rare book collection published in English, Urdu, and Persian were damaged in the floods as well.

On 9 October, The Times of India reported that a three-member team of experts, led by the director (conservation) of the National Museum, had been sent to Kashmir the previous day, although staff at the library had declared the objects “irretrievable.” Beigh said the team would conduct “initial fumigation” and “assessment.” Failure to limit damage by officials in the area and careless handling of the fragile items had unfortunately led to further degradation of the works. Beigh added that antique shawls were “being dried outside on the pavement with dogs trampling over them.”

“Our response can't be emotional,” said Joyoti Roy, conservationist with the National Museum. “The first step is isolating the damaged object and preventing it from sticking to others. This requires space and specialized man-power.” She said that the less damaged items should be handled first and that the restoration would take years, with every step needing to be documented. “The documentation will help in disaster preparedness,” she stated, and recommended that both museum associations and private institutions be brought in to assist in the work.

The floods in the area have submerged over 2,000 villages (more on the Indian side of the border). Over 49,000 people have been rescued, although thousands are still stranded. The death toll has risen to over 400 in India and Pakistan, and the handling of such disasters has been questioned. According to the IBTimes, Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said, “I understand the anger and frustration but it is not true that nothing is being done, . . . We are doing all we can.”

(http:// buddhistdoor.com)