THT 297.a
| Known as: | THT 297.a; B 297; B 297 Frgm. 1 |
|---|---|
| Cite this page as: | Adrian Musitz (translation). "THT 297.a". 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-tht297a (accessed 19 Jun. 2025). |
Edition | |
| Editor: | Adrian Musitz (translation) |
Provenience | |
| Main find spot: | Toyuk |
| Expedition code: | T II T 1 |
| Collection: | Berlin Turfan Collection |
Language and Script | |
| Language: | TB |
| Linguistic stage: | late |
| Script: | classical |
Text contents | |
| Text genre: | Literary |
| Text subgenre: | Kāvya |
| Verse/Prose: | verse |
Object | |
| Manuscript: | THT 297 |
| Material: | ink on paper |
| Form: | Poṭhī |
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 | /// [l]y· ·k· s· [ṣ]k[s]· i ndr· nta kā tka ss·¯ ¯ś || |
|---|---|
| a2 | – – – – tr· ce pi ā ke sa twe saṃ [c]i te ñe mṣ· [t]· |
| a3 | – lśk· [p]· [r]y· r· ṣṣ[ai] sle me ntsa wa nto¯ ¯ś wa ṇe lya kā s[ta] |
| a4 | ti ṣyeṃ po yśi· : ma ntaṃ tā pa si ma rsa sta pa lā t[ai] ne ṣu |
| a5 | ko mtsa ṣe me ślo ktsa ñu ka lpa ṣṣe la lye ye ta k[ā] – |
| b1 | i te wi nā skau cau tsi ro mñe 1 || ā yo rṣṣe pā ra |
| b2 | mi¯ ¯t pyu tka ssi ai yma su po yśi sai mwa sta • a ra |
| b3 | ·i mi ñi m[tsa] ke na ntse sa swe ṣa yta ta ṅkwa ññe¯ ¯t wno lmeṃ • |
| b4 | – – – – ta lñe ṣa ñi¯ ¯m lā ntso sa sū wt[ā] sta brā hma ṇe¯ ¯nt |
| b5 | /// s· me¯ ¯r [ś]· le nai [tta] ṣṣa sta wi nā s·e |
Transcription
| a1 | /// ly· ·k· s· ṣk s· indr(i)nta kātkäss(i)ś ॥ |
|---|---|
| a2 | – – – – tr(i)cepi ākesa twe saṃcite ñem ṣ· t· |
| a3 | (kā)lśk(e) p(a)ry(a)r(i)ṣṣai slementsa wantoś waṇe lyakāsta |
| a4 | tiṣyeṃ poyśi(ṃ) : mantaṃtā pasi marsasta palātaine ṣu |
| a5 | komtsa ṣeme śloktsa ñu kalpaṣṣe lalyeye takā(ś) |
| b1 | ite wināskau cau tsiromñe 1 ॥ āyorṣṣe pāra¬ |
| b2 | mit pyutkässi aiymasu poyśi saim wasta • ara |
| b3 | (ṇ)imi ñimtsa kenantse saswe ṣayt{†ä} täṅkwaññet wnolmeṃ • |
| b4 | – – – – talñe ṣañim lāntso sasū wtāsta brāhmaṇent |
| b5 | /// s(u)mer-ś(a)le naittaṣṣasta winās·e |
Translation
| a1 | ... to gladden the senses... |
|---|---|
| a2+ | ... in the end of the third... you (were) a boy named Saṃcite. |
| a3+ | You saw the Buddha Tiṣya in the woods, wrapped in miraculous flames. |
| a4 | You never forgot to observe (good behavior). |
| a4+ | You praised him for seven days. |
| a5+ | In one verse was your effort of nine kalpas fulfilled (?). |
| b1 | I honor the power. |
| b1+ | The virtue of gift-giving you were wishful to accomplish, oh Omniscient, oh Shelter and Refuge, Araṇemi by name, you were lord of the earth |
| b3 | [and] loved the beings. |
| b4 | (great [was your] abi)lity: your own name [= yourself], the queen [and your] children you surrendered to the Brahmins |
| b5 | You tore down mount Sumer... ... honor... |
Other
| b1+ | Die Vollkommenheit im Geben zustande zu bringen wünschend, warst du, o Allwissender, o Schutz [und] Zuflucht, Herr der Erde mit Namen Araṇemi; du liebtest die Wesen. (Schmidt 1974: 144) |
|---|---|
| b4 | dich selbst, die Königin [und] [deine] Söhne gabst du den Brahmanen [hin]. (Schmidt 1974: 311, 312) |
Commentary
Philological commentary
| The translation follows Schmidt 2001: 300. | |
This fragment and THT 296 obviously belong together. Note the confusion between ś and ṣ in this document: wantośinstead of wantoṣin a3, śaleinstead of ṣalein b5. All in all, this and THT 296 seem to be philologically deviant. |
Remarks
| In one frame with THT 297.b and THT 297.c. The leaf is in portrait, not landscape format. However, just as with a poṭhī leaf, it is to be flipped horizontally, not vertically as with Old Uyghur or European style books. On IDP, recto and verso are reversed. |
Alternative linguistic/paleographic classifications
| Peyrot 2008 | L |
| Tamai 2011 | C1 |
| Tamai 2011 | C14 |
References
Online access
Edition
Sieg and Siegling 1953: 188-189
Translations
Meunier 2013: b2 b3 (173); Schmidt 1974: b1 b2 b3 (144), b4 (311, 312)
Bibliography
“The International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online.” n.d. http://idp.bl.uk.
Meunier, Fanny. 2013. “Typologie des locutions en yām- du tokharien.” Tocharian and Indo-European Studies 14: 123–85.
Peyrot, Michaël. 2008. Variation and change in Tocharian B. Vol. 15. Leiden Studies in Indo-European. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.
Schmidt, Klaus T. 1974. “Die Gebrauchsweisen des Mediums im Tocharischen.” PhD, Universität Göttingen.
Schmidt, Klaus T. 2001. “Die westtocharische Version des Araṇemi-Jātakas in deutscher Übersetzung.” In De Dunhuang à Istanbul. Hommage à James Russell Hamilton, edited by Louis Bazin and Peter Zieme, 299–327. Silk Road Studies 5. Turnhout: Brepols.
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.
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.
