THT 127
| Known as: | THT 127; B 127; Bleistiftnummer 2769 |
|---|---|
| Cite this page as: | Adrian Musitz (translation). "THT 127". In A Comprehensive Edition of Tocharian Manuscripts (CEToM). Created and maintained by Melanie Malzahn, Martin Braun, Hannes A. Fellner, and Bernhard Koller. https://cetom.univie.ac.at/?m-tht127 (accessed 17 Jan. 2026). |
Edition | |
| Editor: | Adrian Musitz (translation) |
Provenience | |
| Main find spot: | Kizil Ming-öy |
| Specific find spot: | Rothkuppelraum |
| Expedition code: | T III MQ 49 (on the fragment), T III MQR 22 (on the frame) |
| Collection: | Berlin Turfan Collection |
Language and Script | |
| Language: | TB |
| Linguistic stage: | archaic |
| Script: | classical |
Text contents | |
| Title of the work: | Rājavṛtti |
| Text genre: | Literary |
| Text subgenre: | Kāvya |
| Verse/Prose: | verse |
| Meter: | 4343 (4x) |
Object | |
| Manuscript: | THT 117-132 |
| Material: | ink on paper |
| Form: | Poṭhī |
| Number of lines: | 7 |
Images
Images from idp.bl.uk by courtesy of the International Dunhuang Project, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Orientabteilung.
Transliteration
| a1 | /// [r]ts· ya [lñ]· – – – – ·k· [ka] rts· kra mpā lñe • ī me ka rts· pa ṣṣa lñe a mā· ka rts· kra m·· |
|---|---|
| a2 | /// sa lñe a knā· [sa]· [ñ]· ·[ra] mpā lñe • ka rtse te ma¯ ¯nnt we ṣlo na toṃ wä nta rwa śa kṣu kto • ī kaṃ |
| a3 | /// mñe rū psa pkā rsa • ce wsa pwī ke wro ccu wlo kau ṣe ntai ra ya kṣe ntsa 20 5 kā la tne śco wä nta |
| a4 | /// s̝s̝aṃ • e pe we s̝s̝aṃ po sta ṅka teṃ yā ta lle yā mtsi ste • yne śwä ntre ne a ñma ntse ñya tse nta |
| a5 | /// pau to tra lye lya ko rsa tso pa nne 20 6 tsu wai śma nne mā kā ccaṃ wä ntre ne stai tu ka stra • cpī wä |
| a6 | /// ka¯ ¯śc • na ka lñe sa kā ccaṃ cpī ka llā lñe sa a mi śke • pa llā ta rne i ne śne ā laṃ nā ki we s̝a nne |
| a7 | /// [l](·)[ā] [ta] rne sa na naṃ • ai śa mñe cpi [ma] lla st[ra] [w]ai pe cce sa mā kā ccaṃ • snai tsa ñ·e [sa] [ka] – – – |
| b1 | /// ·[ts]· ·[p]· skwa ssu su m· p· [ka] ll[o] ys· – lsko • – – t· ṣo [tru] [na] ke ttā ka· cai c[ai] – – – – – – |
| b2 | /// [n]ts[a] wi ks̝a lle • we ña wä lo wai me ne mā skune ne sau ke ka mu • mā cä mpau ci klau tka stsi wro cce rṣ· k· |
| b3 | /// wñā ne wai me ne i kaṃ pkā rsa wä nta rwa • mai yyā ce mpa ai rṣai tsñe au ki ne stsi wai me ne |
| b4 | /// yū ka lñe cpi wai me ne • a lyi ya tse ne sa lñe wai me ne sa¯ ¯k ka llā tsi 30 e ṅklyau s̝a |
| b5 | /// ntse wai me ne • ko ylya mā ñya yu lyai ñña wai me nā ñu ka llā tsi • we ta ne yaṃ snai ye pe |
| b6 | /// ·[k]· pre teṃ¯ ¯ts pa [kw]ā [r]e [w]ai [m]e ne sklo kwi kā tsi 30-1 o stmeṃ ltu kuse snai wī na ṣa mā ññe cpi wai me ne |
| b7 | /// [yai] [c]pi e ṅ[w]i – – – – – (–) [sn]ai ce pi wai me ne tse śau lśai tsi • snai ma ktau ññe e ntse sse wai me |
Transcription
Translation
| a1 | ... doing good... stopping... well..., observing the mind well, stopping arrogance well, ... stopping ignorance: |
|---|---|
| a2 | This is good. |
| a2 | Thus are to be named the seventeen things. |
| a2+ | Know you the twenty four signs on the human form. |
| a3 | You will bring things to him, great king, in the whole place (?), killer by yakṣas (?)... |
| a4 | ... says... |
| a4 | ... or says: |
| a4 | Finally that is able to be done. |
| a4+ | Through the dangers of a wish for a manifest thing.... |
| a5 | ... honors... |
| a5 | Strikes him with his sight (?) |
| a5 | If he meets him, he is not glad |
| a5 | and he hides the thing in secret. |
| a5+ | Of this (matter)... to another... |
| a6 | He is happy about reproaching him, dejected by his gain. |
| a6 | He praises him publicly, |
| a6 | otherwise he reproaches him. |
| a7 | ... praises his enemies... |
| a7 | He denies his wisdom. |
| a7 | He is not happy about (his) wealth. |
| a7+ | Joyous about (his) poverty... |
| b1 | ... "he would indeed happily obtain..." |
| b1 | This is (his) thought. |
| b1 | Whoever has the signs, every one of them... |
| b1+ | ... is to be avoided... |
| b2 | The king said: |
| b2 | I have come upon a difficult obstacle. |
| b2 | I cannot turn you into a great sage... |
| b3 | ... said to him: |
| b3 | Know the twenty difficult things: |
| b3 | Impetuosity is difficult to augment with a powerful one (?) |
| b4 | ... conquering him is difficult. |
| b4 | It is difficult to achieve a different state of existence (?) and achieve happiness. |
| b4+ | ... unheard... is difficult... |
| b5 | It is difficult to find a diligent (?) and clever maid and to find peace. |
| b5+ | If (?) one goes to war without a weapon... |
| b6 | It is difficult to remove doubt: "Worship of Pretas is bad!" (?) |
| b6 | Whoever becomes a monk without pleasure, monkhood is difficult for him. |
| b7 | ... of the man. |
| b7 | ... it is difficult for a poor person to live life. |
| b7 | It is difficult (to be) greedy without refuge (?)... |
Other
| a5 | If he meets him, he is not glad and he hides the thing in secret. (Peyrot 2013b: 700) |
|---|---|
| a6+ | Er lobt ihn vor Augen, anderswo [aber] spricht er Tadel über ihn ..., er lobt seine Feinde, sein Wissen leugnet er ab [und] freut sich nicht über [seinen] Besitz. (Schmidt 1974: 441-2) |
Commentary
Remarks
| On IDP, recto and verso are reversed. |
Linguistic commentary
| n2 | eṅwi for eṅkwi. |
|---|
Philological commentary
| n1 | Judging from THT 127 b5 (mapi , mārsat te), mapicould also mean "not", in our case: "... may he not happily obtain..." |
|---|
Alternative linguistic/paleographic classifications
| Peyrot 2008 | A2 |
| Tamai 2011 | C1 |
| Tamai 2011 | C14 |
References
Online access
Edition
Sieg and Siegling 1953: 60-61
Translations
Carling 2000: a7 (17); Hackstein 1995: a7 (316), b6 (134); Peyrot 2013b: a5 (700); Schmidt 1974: a6 a7 (441f), a6 a7 (441-2); Thomas 1952: a4 (37); Thomas 1954: b2 (722), b3 (744), b4 (742), b4 (743), b5 (744), b6 (712), b6 (744), b7 (744); Thomas 1957: b2 (249), b6 (268); Thomas 1960a: a6 (201), a7 (201); Thomas 1993: a6 (191)
Bibliography
Carling, Gerd. 2000. Die Funktionen der lokalen Kasus im Tocharischen. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.
Hackstein, Olav. 1995. Untersuchungen zu den sigmatischen Präsensstammbildungen des Tocharischen. HS Erg.-Heft 38. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
“The International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online.” n.d. http://idp.bl.uk.
Peyrot, Michaël. 2008. Variation and change in Tocharian B. Vol. 15. Leiden Studies in Indo-European. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.
Peyrot, Michaël. 2013b. The Tocharian subjunctive. A study in syntax and verbal stem formation. Vol. 8. Brill’s Studies in Indo-European Languages & Linguistics. Leiden/Boston: Brill.
Schmidt, Klaus T. 1974. “Die Gebrauchsweisen des Mediums im Tocharischen.” PhD, Universität Göttingen.
Sieg, Emil, and Wilhelm Siegling. 1953. Tocharische Sprachreste. Sprache B, Heft 2. Fragmente Nr. 71-633. Edited by Werner Thomas. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Tamai, Tatsushi. 2011. Paläographische Untersuchungen zum B-Tocharischen. Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 138. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen.
Thomas, Werner. 1952. Die tocharischen Verbaladjektive auf -l. Deutsche Akad. der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Institut für Orientforschung 9. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
Thomas, Werner. 1954. “Die Infinitive im Tocharischen.” In Asiatica. Festschrift Friedrich Weller. Zum 65. Geburtstag, gewidmet von seinen Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern, edited by Johannes Schubert and Ulrich Schneider, 701–64. Leipzig: Harrassowitz.
Thomas, Werner. 1957. Der Gebrauch der Vergangenheitstempora im Tocharischen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Thomas, Werner. 1960a. “Zur Verwendung des tocharischen Verbalsubstantivs auf -r im Perlativ.” In Indogermanica. Festschrift für Wolfgang Krause zum 65. Geburtstage am 18. September 1960, 194–203.
Thomas, Werner. 1993. Parallele Texte im Tocharischen und ihre Bewertung. Vol. 5. SbWGF, XXX. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Gippert, Jost, Katharina Kupfer, Christiane Schaefer, and Tatsushi Tamai. n.d. “Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien (TITUS): Tocharian Manuscripts from the Berlin Turfan Collection.” http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/tocharic/thtframe.htm.
