Sogdian documents from Khotan, II: letters and miscellaneous fragments.
| Author | Bo, Bi |
| Position | Critical essay |
INTRODUCTION
In the first part of this study (Bi and Sims-Williams 2010) we published four Sogdian economic documents from the Khotan area that were acquired, together with manuscripts in Chinese, Khotanese, and Tibetan, by the Museum of Renmin University of China, Beijing, in the spring of 2010. The documents edited in the present article, which completes the publication of this collection of Sogdian manuscripts, comprise one nearly complete letter (no. 5), five fragments of letters (nos. 6-10), and some tiny scraps of which too little is preserved for the contents to be clearly identified (nos. 11-13). (1) Unfortunately the findspots of the documents in this collection are not recorded, but, as argued in our previous article, it seems likely that they derive from sites in the Khotan region, such as Mazar Tagh, Dandan Uiliq, and Old Domoko, where the presence of Sogdians is already attested in around the eighth to ninth centuries. (2) As for their date, the only specific indication we have is a fragmentary Chinese date formula on the reverse of one of the documents (no. 12), which seems to indicate a date towards the end of the eighth century (see discussion below). In this connection it is worth noting that most dated Chinese documents in the Renmin University collection are dated in the eras of Dali, Jianzhong, and Zhenyuan, i.e., the second half of the eighth century, the last stage of the Tang empire's control of Khotan.
The letters in the Renmin University collection are in general rather poorly preserved and written in a type of cursive script that is often highly ambiguous. Luckily, we know quite a large number of Sogdian letters from other collections, some of them well preserved and clearly written, and these provide comparative material that makes it possible to interpret at least the more formulaic parts of the new letters. When it comes to the substance of the letters, however, this material gives us little help, with the result that the readings and interpretations offered below are in many cases hypothetical.
Following the edition of documents nos. 5-13, the present article contains an inventory giving the catalogue numbers and dimensions of all thirteen documents.
THE TEXTS
No. 5 (Fig. 1-3) Catalogue No.: GXW 0114. An almost complete sheet of paper bearing thirty-two lines of writing on one side only, with a large hole in the center. 1 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 2 'nwty msy'tr pryw 'xsnkw p'scyk xyp[??]'wnt (a) 3 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 4 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 5 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 6 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 7 ZY MN m'xw py[??]'r ''ycw 'ntwxch ZYL' prm'y xwrt 8 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 9 'ysk (f) wytk kwn'y skwn w'nkw kt txsyc[??]ntk mn' 10 prm'rz "st rty 'z-w MN 'sm'xw L' m'ck' xwz-'m L' 11 ksymn (g) p'rZY xwty pr mn' (h) ps'ycyk p's'y 'k[??]ry 'z-w 12 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 13 L' kw twrkst' s'r rty L' twpytstn s'r rty tw' 14 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 15 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 16 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 17 "ycw 'sty rty prm'rz 'yt'k 'krty 'zw kw prw'n s'r xrtym 18 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 19 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 20 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 21 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 22 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 23 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 24 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 25 'sm'xw L' w[??]'y '('...r) kys' ... 'w L' xcy .... tym 'z-w 26 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 27 kwn'wtys w'nkw kt txsyc[??]ntk '(nsps)t (s) ZY 'zw 'z-c't 28 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 29 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 30 'nxwy tys prwy[??]u py[??]'r kt mn' w'xr ZY
A letter and respectful message to the noble lord, (my) great hope, (2) greater than every hope, the dear, excellent, revered master (3-4) Anyan. From his well-wisher (and) friend, who is without service (and) who has not arrived at service, (his) insignificant servant Takhsichvande, (5) a respectful message and much homage (to your) honor. If you are well, (6) we rejoice. We too, by God's help, are well up to the present day. (7) Please don't worry on our account.
(8-9) But you were ... unjust insofar as you were accusing(?) me, (your) insignificant servant, (saying): "Takhsich-vande (10) has taken my profits(?)." I do not ask for capital from you, nor "merchandise]?), but you yourself have cast upon me (what there is) to be cast. Now I (12) have been broken and have suffered harm. But I did not go to Sogd, (13) nor to Turkestan, nor to Tibet. (As for) your 14goods, wherever I brought (your) profits(?), the major (part of) your goods (15) has gone(?) out of (my?) hands, both (to) Khumdan and to (the) Uygur(s), also (to) Turkestan, (16-17) also to Sogd, and a profit(?) was not made (for you)(?). Whatever goods there are with me, a profit(?) was taken (for you)(?). I went to Parwan (18) and I sent a letter to you. I sent the letter from Parwan. 19(I) here, a broken [man], have sent le[tter after lett]er(?), and your honor (20) [has] not(?) [done] likewise]?)! With Wisak-fam and Remghan (21) ... evil(?) ... you were ... so that (22) Wisak-fam ... me ... [Wisak]-fam(?) was giving ..., and I (23) refused to take (it), and [he was] irritated and angry ... (24) he noticed your intention that you should do your own work. (25) (In that case) you would have nothing! ... decreased]?) ... is not ... I am still (26-27) alive, [and] it would have been proper that you should treat me(?) well, (saying): "Takhsich-vande has exerted himself]?) so that I should be well, 28and however much capital [he needs]]?) I will give (it to him)." But Wisak-fam (29) came here and said to me: "I was glad that (30) it entered (my?) mind, because he abandoned me and ... my(?) honor; I cut out]?) Anyan (31) because he did not notice]?) my many years love (for him), and now (32) he has not gone to you at all." [May you be] informed of all my news ...
Commentary
Line 1. Another letter beginning with the phrase [??]ykh ZY ptskw 'nh "a letter and respectful message" is no. 7 below. The phrase also occurs in the first lines (though not as the first words) of L44 (3) and probably of no. 8 below.
Lines 1-2. ZY [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] RBch 'nwth MN wyspn'c 'nwty msy'tr pryw 'xsnkw p'scyk xyp[??]'wnt "to the noble lord, (my) great hope, greater than every hope, the dear, excellent, revered master." Most of these honorific phrases are well attested in the address formulae of letters such as those from Mt. Mug, (4) though p'scyk 'revered, honorable' seems to be a new variant in place of the synonymous [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], which occur frequently in Manichaean letters. (5) It is interesting to note that the ideogram ZY = 't 'and' is here misused for the preposition't 'to' (represented in the oldest Sogdian letters by the ideogram 'D).
Line 3-4. The phrase naming the sender is inset as a sign of humility, a feature that is attested in many Sogdian letters and has been attributed to Chinese influence. (6) Conversely, as a sign of respect, the name of the addressee is placed at the very beginning of a new line, in the otherwise blank space to the right of the phrase naming the sender, the end of the preceding line being left blank to make this possible. This feature seems also to be attested in nos. 6 and 7 below; variants of the same layout can be seen in no. 8 and in L44, (7) in both of which the end of line 4 is left blank, the name of the addressee (with the postposition s r 'to') stands alone on line 5, and the phrase naming the sender begins on line 6 (inset in the case of L44; this cannot be verified in the case of no. 8 below, which has a lacuna at the critical point).
Assuming that it is to be read 'ny'n rather than 'zy'n, the name of the addressee may consist of the Chinese family name An given to families which had originally come from Bukhara and attested elsewhere in Sogdian in the spelling "n, (8) and the Sogdian personal name y'n. (9) However, a purely Chinese or purely Sogdian name cannot easily be excluded. The sender, Takhsich-vande, bears a well-known Sogdian name, attested in the "Ancient Letters" and the Upper Indus inscriptions in the spelling txs'yc[??]ntk. (10) Both names occur again further on in this letter, 'ny'n in line 30, txsyc[??]ntk in lines 9 and 27.
MN [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "from his well-wisher (and) friend, who is without service (and) who has not arrived at service, (his) insignificant servant." These self-deprecatory phrases referring to the sender have close parallels in Bezeklik Letters A (lines 26-29) and B (lines 18-23). (11) Similar wording can be restored in Otani 2314 and L118. (12) The form [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is presumably abl. sg. of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], as the word for 'well-wisher, friend' is spelled in Bezeklik Letter B, line 20. The f. form [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is...
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