Siberian scientists deciphered Genghis Khan's guidance manuscript

Scientists have deciphered one of the most ancient manuscripts in the Old Mongolian, deposited in the archives of the National Museum of the Altai Republic. The ancient manuscript was translated in Goethe University Frankfurt under the guidance of Irina Nevskaya, Senior Research Associate of the Philology Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This manuscript deposited in the Museum of Gorny Altai is just one of the manuscript copies of the widely known ancient Mongolian sutra named The Key of Mind, partly attributed to Genghis Khan. According to the National Regional Museum's website, this piece featuring wise sermons to the future generations, has been used for childrearing to cultivate moral and behaviour standards.

Saint-Petersburg branch of the Institute of the Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, alone stores over twenty manuscripts of this work in old Mongolian as well as in Oirat (old Kalmyck), while the National Library of Mongolia in Ulaan-Baator stores eight manuscripts of this sutra in old Mongolian, two of which date back to the 18th or 19th centuries, with the others being younger. The manuscript kept in Altai is thought to be one of the most ancient as it dates back to the first half of the 18th century.

In ancient times this piece used to be handed down and it was widely known to the entire Mongolian population. According to the scientists, this is probably the reason why it has been copied so many times and as a consequence, amended.

The manuscript kept in Altai is essentially only fragments of the sutra with many pages of it lost. It opens with four pages that do not belong to the sutra text itself. The first page is the classic Mongolian alphabet, which is literally named The Thirty White Letters. The second page contains the old Mongolian alphabet, the third and the fourth are outlines for writing exercises.

Additionally the scientists have come to the conclusion that three different people have compiled the text, with one of them being a teacher or a highly skilled calligraphy artist, the researchers believe. It has been written with bamboo sticks and a brush using the classic Mongolian script from top downward and lines going horizontally across from left to right.

Siberian scientists deciphered Genghis Khan's guidance manuscript

Source: info.sibnet.ru