page_title: Dunhuang manuscripts
section_title: Other textual genres
hierarchical_section_title: Dunhuang manuscripts / Other textual genres
caption_attribution_description: English: Selihah (penitential prayer) leaf, in Hebrew. Discovered in 1908 in the Dunhuang Caves of Gansu Province, China. Now held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (Pelliot hébreu 1)Français&#160;: Prières juives. Selihah (hébreu). Turkestan chinois, IXe siècle. Papier vergé renforcé endommagé comportant des lacunes et des traces de pliures. Dimensions&#160;: 225 x 155 mm. Réglure à la pointe sèche. 18 lignes de texte. Écriture carrée de style persan. Encre noire. Vocalisation suscrite de type babylonien. Cote&#160;: Hébreu 1412. Ancienne cote&#160;: Pelliot hébreu 1.
context_page_description: The Dunhuang manuscripts are a cache of important religious and secular documents discovered in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, in the early 20th century. Dating from late 4th to early 11th centuries, the manuscripts include works ranging from history and mathematics to folk songs and dance. There are also many religious documents, most of which are Buddhist, but other religions including Daoism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism are also represented. The majority of the manuscripts are in Chinese. Other languages represented are Khotanese, Kuchean, Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tangut, Tibetan, Old Uyghur language, Prakrit and Old Turkic. The manuscripts are a major resource for academic studies in a wide variety of fields including history, religious studies, linguistics, and manuscript studies.
context_section_description: Non-Buddhist religious texts
  Taoist texts, including the Hua Hu Jing, and the Xiang'er commentary to the Tao Te Ching
  Jewish Selihot prayers
  Nestorian Christian texts
  Manichaean texts
  Social documents, such as contracts, account books and loan receipts
  Philosophy, notably the Confucian classics, including an ancient edition of Analects commented by Huang Kan (皇侃), and ancient editions of the Shang Shu
  Literature, including Chinese folk songs and Classical poetry
  History, both official and local
  Geography, including the Wang wu tianzhu guo chuan
  Medicine, including treatments for plagues and illnesses. The medical texts include a fragment of Bencaojing jizhu, one of the earliest Chinese pharmacological texts.
  Astronomy, including the Dunhuang star map
  Mathematics
  Divination, including the Irk Bitig
  Dictionaries, including fragments of the Qieyun
  Music scores and dance notations
  Recreational games (the Dunhuang Go Classic)
caption: Selihah (penitential prayer) leaf written in Hebrew. 8th or 9th century.
exif: {}