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AI-Assisted Decipherment of 8th-Century 'Sharada Script' Manuscripts Unveils Lost Sanskrit Treatises on Alpine Ethnobotany

📅 April 8, 2026 📰 Heritage Science Quarterly
AI-Assisted Decipherment of 8th-Century 'Sharada Script' Manuscripts Unveils Lost Sanskrit Treatises on Alpine Ethnobotany

Using advanced neural networks specifically trained on Kashmiri epigraphy, researchers have successfully deciphered a series of 8th-century Sharada script fragments discovered in high-altitude caves. As reported in Heritage Science Quarterly, the texts constitute a lost Sanskrit treatise on alpine ethnobotany, detailing over 200 species of medicinal plants found only in the trans-Himalayan zones.

The manuscript provides detailed protocols for the extraction of bioactive compounds for treating pulmonary conditions at high altitudes. This discovery suggests a highly systematic and empirical approach to pharmacology in early medieval India, featuring botanical classifications that predate modern taxonomic systems by nearly a thousand years.

Original source: Heritage Science Quarterly