Re: Recent discoveries of Pali MS from Afghanistan

(1) Yes, yes, in the main, Gandhari --but I hope there are at least a
few passing quotations in Pali to be found therein.

(2) Speaking of which: it would be interesting to know precisely how
much Pali (perhaps counted syllable for syllable) showed up in Tufan,
a.k.a. Turpan.  The Tokaroi seemed interested in incompetent
transliterations of Theravada sources once-in-a-while --and, of
course, where there are Manicheans, there are fragments of other
literary traditions preserved as well.

(3) If you want to know what preserved all that birch-bark, the answer
is: the same thing that destroyed Turfan.  Desertification.

Litre by litre, much of the now-inhabited world is headed for the same fate.

When I look at Turfan, I see not the past, but the future!

E.M.