THT 239
| Known as: | THT 239; B 239; Bleistiftnummer 2688 |
|---|---|
| Cite this page as: | Adrian Musitz (translation). "THT 239". 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-tht239 (accessed 08 Mar. 2026). |
Edition | |
| Editor: | Adrian Musitz (translation) |
Provenience | |
| Main find spot: | Kizil Ming-öy |
| Specific find spot: | Rothkuppelraum |
| Expedition code: | T III MQR 34 (on the frame), T III MQ 49 (on the fragment) |
| Collection: | Berlin Turfan Collection |
Language and Script | |
| Language: | TB |
| Linguistic stage: | classical |
| Script: | classical |
Text contents | |
| Text genre: | Literary |
| Text subgenre: | Buddhastotra |
| Verse/Prose: | verse |
Object | |
| 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 | /// nte ṣṣai ytā ri ne e kw[a] l· cc· w· ·ks̝a· ts· /// |
|---|---|
| a2 | /// [ka] rā śne se yi mī sa śa wā re tri ko ṣke ss· : t[a]¯ ¯ṅw /// |
| a3 | /// ṣ[l]e meṃ ṣa ñā¯ ¯ñm ṣa lā tai ke ścyeṃ¯ ¯ts śwā [ts]· – ce smā /// |
| a4 | /// [ai] śa mñe ci po śā rsa l[y]ka śke tre kte /// |
| a5 | /// ṣṣ[e] we sa¯ ¯ñ ṣa rmtsa ri ntsa tai tne kke la sta /// |
| a6 | /// skw[ä] ntsi nta kca cä rkā cmā ka ruṃ pa l·o /// |
| a7 | /// wa se ni¯ ¯k wä rpau ste ñä śwa /// |
| b1 | /// y[i] śka ne mo ko wśka se ni¯ ¯k /// |
| b2 | /// śau lka ryā tai tai nai sa¯ ¯ñ mā¯ ¯s̝ mau k· st· /// |
| b3 | /// [ne] ka ryo rta ntaṃ¯ ¯ts lā tka tsi ke ktse¯ ¯ñ wsā /// |
| b4 | /// lya kā sta kā lpo ṣa ñā¯ ¯[ñ]m myā s[t]a /// |
| b5 | /// 10 3 k·¯ ¯stä te ki sa a lā ṣmoṃ śā m[ñ]e ·ai ṣṣ· lya /// |
| b6 | /// ṣ·¯ ¯ñ ke ktse ñmeṃ : sti yai so kne ka rū nt· ma kte ma /// |
| b7 | /// au n[w]a ra ñ[c]e 10 [4] k[l]·i ye ·e /// |
Transcription
| a1 | /// nteṣṣai ytārine ekwal(a)cc(e) w(ar)kṣä(l)ts(a) /// |
|---|---|
| a2 | /// karāśne seyi mīsa śawāre trikoṣ kess(a) : taṅw /// |
| a3 | /// ṣlemeṃ ṣañ āñm ṣalātai keścyeṃts śwāts(i) – ce smā /// |
| a4 | /// aiśamñe ci po śārsa lykaśke trekte /// |
| a5 | /// ṣṣe wesäñ ṣarmtsa rintsatai tne-k kelasta /// |
| a6 | /// skwäntsi nta kca cärkā-c mā karuṃ pal(sk)o /// |
| a7 | /// wa senik wärpau ste ñäś wa /// |
| b1 | /// yiśkane mokowśka senik /// |
| b2 | /// śaul käryātai tainaisäñ mā ṣ mauk(ā)st(a) /// |
| b3 | /// ne käryortantäṃts lātkatsi kektseñ wsā /// |
| b4 | /// lyakāsta kālpo ṣañ āñm myāsta /// |
| b5 | /// 10-3 k(e)st tekisa alāṣmoṃ śāmñe (ś)aiṣṣ(e) lya /// |
| b6 | /// ṣ(a)ñ kektseñmeṃ : stiyai sokne karūnt(sa) mäkte ma /// |
| b7 | /// aunw arañce 10-4 kl(y)iye ·e /// |
Translation
| a1 | ... on the way of... through indefatigable power... |
|---|---|
| a1+ | ... in the woods, they ate the flesh of the son, confused by hunger... love... |
| a2+ | ... you threw yourself off a mountain for the hungry (tigers) to eat...n1 |
| a3+ | ... your knowledge... figured out everything, small and big... |
| a4+ | ... you gave up... for our sake. |
| a5 | You endured... |
| a5+ | ... dismissed you to be happy... |
| a6 | ... not... compassionate mind... |
| a6+ | ... has recieved under his care... |
| a7 | ... I ... |
| a7+ | ... a monkey... under care... |
| b1+ | ... you bought the life of those two... |
| b2 | And you did not cease... |
| b2+ | ... for the merchants... to cut off the body... |
| b3+ | ... you saw... |
| b4+ | ... for one kalpa, you hurt yourself... |
| b5 | The human world, afflicted by hunger and disease... |
| b5+ | ... from (your) own body, stiyai sokne... through compassion... as... |
| b6+ | ... heart... is hit. |
| b7 | ... woman... |
Other
| a3 | vom Berge stürztest du dich {selbst} herab, den Hungrigen (zum) Fraße (Schmidt 1974: 311, 316) |
|---|---|
| b2 | ... das Leben erkauftest du diesen beiden. (Schmidt 1974: 458) |
| b4 | Ein Kalpa [lang] hast du das eigene Selbst geschädigt. (Schmidt 1974: 312) |
Commentary
Parallel texts
| THT 3597 |
Remarks
| On IDP, recto and verso are reversed. |
Philological commentary
| n1 | This passage likely references the Mahāsattva Jātaka, in which the Buddha sacrifices himself to a starving lioness and its cubs by throwing himself off a mountain. Cf. THT 338 |
|---|
References
Online access
Edition
Sieg and Siegling 1953: 141-142
Translations
Carling 2000: a1 (95), a2 (112); Hackstein 1995: b2 (313); Peyrot 2010a: a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 (151-154); Schmidt 1974: a3 (311, 316), b2 (458), b4 (312); Thomas 1954: b3 (725); Thomas 1957: a7 (287), b6 (236); Thomas 1979b: a5 (19); Thomas 1997: a4 (84)
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. 2010a. “Notes on the Buddhastotra fragment THT3597 in Tocharian B.” Studies on the Inner Asian Languages 25: 143–69. http://hdl.handle.net/11094/26139.
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.
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. 1979b. Formale Besonderheiten in metrischen Texten des Tocharischen: Zur Verteilung von B tane/tne “hier” und B ñake/ñke “jetzt”. Abhandlungen d. Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 15. Mainz: Verlag d. Akad. d. Wissenschaften und d. Literatur.
Thomas, Werner. 1997. Interpretationsprobleme im Tocharischen. Unflektiertes A puk, B po “ganz, all, jeder”. Vol. 3. SbWGF, XXXV. 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.
