YQ I.5

Known as:	YQ I.5; YQ 1.17
Cite this page as:	"YQ I.5". 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-yqi5 (accessed 08 Dec. 2025).
Provenience
Main find spot:	Qigexing
Collection:	Xinjiang Museum (Ürümchi)
Language and Script
Language:	TA
Script:	classical
Text contents
Title of the work:	Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka
Passage:	Act 1.5
Text genre:	Literary
Text subgenre:	Drama
Verse/Prose:	prose; verse
Meter:	5555 (1x), 444343 (1x), 55 (1x), 4443 (1x); 665 (4x)
Object
Manuscript:	Yanqi
Material:	ink on paper
Form:	Poṭhī
Number of lines:	8

Images

Transliteration

a1	/// ka lka¯ ¯m ymā¯ ¯r bā dha riṃ brā mna
a2	/// ·g· k· tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ to¯ ¯s̝ u pā dhyā ywa ṣtu tsa lpi
a3	/// ·[ra]· ka [ṣ]p· ṣtu klyo¯ ¯m śla ma na rkā¯ ¯s ṣñi ā wā sa¯ ¯cä na ṣpa
a4	/// – ṣw[e] wñu ra s̝la¯ ¯cä śla wa rtsi klyo mme tra¯ ¯k \|\| tma¯ ¯s̝ ni rdha ne
a5	/// ·[u] [ra]¯ ¯s̝ tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ hai tā a śśi ta¯ ¯s̝ e¯ ¯l e se¯ ¯ñcä \|\| tma¯ ¯s̝ o ṅkaṃ pa lko ra
a6	/// ṣku¯ ¯cä tra ṅka¯ ¯t^• \|\| ni rdha ne tra ṅka s̝sa mne ta¯ ¯s̝ \|\| o ṅktra ṅka ṣku¯ ¯s \|\| ni rdha ne tra
a7	/// – hai tā lo kuciṃ na¯ ¯s̝t a śśi ta lke māṃ ñe o kā¯ ¯k tra ṅktsi mā ka rsnā¯ ¯t \|\| ni rdha ne
a8	/// [dh]ya de śa [ṣ]i tā¯ ¯t sne pa rnä kka¯ ¯ts na¯ ¯s̝t kuya lte \|\| sa ma kko re naṃ \|\| ṣa kka tstsa śśi tu
b1	/// ·[ā] swo ne ka klyu ṣu na¯ ¯s̝t mā tu ṅkna śśi me tra knaṃ ta myo tṣaṃ mā ka kmu ṣe¯ ¯t : śä
b2	/// ka kmu¯ ¯s̝ lkā tsi klyo ma¯ ¯nt me tra kaṃ : 1 \|\| ni rdha ne tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ ku sne bā dha ri brā
b3	/// ·[ā] hai tā lo ṣo kyo nu ca¯ ¯m ype ṣiṃ kā rā śaṃ ā nā ntā pā śo¯ ¯l śā wā¯ ¯s̝t
b4	/// sa¯ ¯s̝t • na śśi nu pa rno re śkā ku cne tu ca¯ ¯s̝ ype yaṃ ye¯ ¯t tā ne klyo mme
b5	/// l[ke] mā ññe la me • ku sne sa¯ ¯m tmaṃ pyā ka¯ ¯s̝ lkā ta rsa mca ṣta
b6	/// [ma] ka t·a naṃ wa ṣtu ne¯ ¯ñcä pu kta ṣta lke mā ññe sa¯ ¯s \|\| va ñśa
b7	/// – ni ṣpa ltu e ṣā¯ ¯r sne eṃ¯ ¯ts e ṣā¯ ¯r puki¯ ¯s e ṣā¯ ¯r
b8	/// r·o lo ā rta lke sa¯ ¯m : 1 \|\| ta myo tṣaṃ e

Transcription

a1	n1 /// kalkam ymār bādhariṃ brāmna¬
a2	¬(c) /// (paiṅ)g(i)k(e) träṅkäṣ toṣ upādhyāy waṣtu tsälpi¬
a3	¬(ñc) /// (t)rä(ṅ)käṣ p(i)ṣ tu klyom śla manarkās ṣñi āwāsac näṣ pa¬
a4	¬(rmā)n2 /// (tä)ṣ wewñuräṣ läc śla wartsi klyom metrak ॥ tmäṣ nirdhane
a5	/// (kakm)uräṣ träṅkäṣ hai tā aśśi täṣ el eseñc ॥ tmäṣ oṅkaṃ pälkorä¬
a6	¬(ṣ) /// (träṅkä)ṣ kuc träṅkät ॥ nirdhane träṅkäṣ sämne täṣ ॥ oṅk träṅkäṣ kus ॥ nirdhane trä¬
a7	¬(ṅkäṣ)n3 n4 /// – hai tālo k_uciṃ naṣt aśśi talke māṃñe okāk träṅktsi mā kärsnāt ॥ nirdhane
a8	n5 n6 /// (ma)dhyadeśaṣi tāt sne parnäkk ats naṣt k_uyalte ॥ samakkorenaṃ ॥

1a	ṣakkatsts aśśi tu ; b1n7 15σ /// (:)
1b	(mā) (k)āswone ; kaklyuṣu naṣt ; mā tuṅk naś-śi ; metraknaṃ ; tämyo tṣaṃ mā ; kakmu ṣet :
1c	śä° b29σ
1d	/// 6σ kakmuṣ ; lkātsi klyomänt ; metrakäṃ : 1 ॥

*	nirdhane träṅkäṣ kus ne bādhari brā¬
b3	¬(maṃ)n8 /// ·ā hai tālo ṣokyo nu cam ypeṣiṃ kārāśaṃ ānāntāpā śol śāwāṣt
b4	/// säṣt • naś-śi nu parnore śkā kuc ne tu caṣ ypeyaṃ yet tā ne klyom me¬
b5	¬(trak) /// (ta)lke māññe lame • kus ne säm tmaṃ pyākäṣ lkātär säm caṣ ta¬
b6	¬(lke)n9 n10 /// (tā)mäk{†ä} t(k)anaṃ waṣtu neñc puk täṣ talke māññe säs ॥ vañśa¬
b7	¬(vātraṃ)n10 (॥)

1a	17σ /// –
1b	niṣpaltu eṣār ; sne eṃts eṣār ; p_ukis eṣār ; b8n11 5σ
1c	17σ ///
1d	10σ (ā)r(ś)o ; lo ār talke säm : 1 ॥

*	tämyo tṣaṃ e¬
*	¬(l)

Translation

a1+	... I will go quickly to Bādhari the Brahmin
a2	... (Paiṅgi)ka says:
a2+	The houses of the teacher - may they be freed (?)
a3	... says:
a3	You, noble one, go with the disciples to your own place;
a3+	I, on my part
a4	... Having said that, the noble Metrak left with his entourage.
a4+	\|\| Then Nirdhana ... says:
a5	Hello! Where is it that they give alms?
a5+	\|\| Then, seeing a man...
a6	... What are you saying?
a6	\|\| Nirdhana says:
a6	This may be him.
a6	\|\| The man says:
a6	Who? \|\|
a6+	Nirdhana says:
a7	... Hello, you miserable one! Are you perhaps the sacrificial assistant?
a7	Don’t you know how to talk?
a7+	\|\| Nirdhana
a8	... if you are from the Madhyadeśa, you will indeed be without glory.
a8	Why that?
a8	\|\| In the Samakkore [tune] \|\|
a8+	Surely you
b1	... You have (not) heard of his virtue.
b1	You have no love for Metrak.
b1	Therefore you did not come here ...
b2	... having come to see the noble Metrak.
b2	Nirdhana says:
b2+	Whoever (to) Bādhari the Brahmin
b3+	... Hello, miserable one! You have lived in the forest of this land a life of endless misery
b4	... you ...
b4+	But for you there is still splendor since you went to that country where the noble Metrak
b5	... sacrificial assistant ... the place.
b5+	Whoever sees the pillar here, he ... the sacrifice
b6	... on that very ground are the homes.
b6	All that this sacrificial assistant
b6+	\|\| In the Vañśa(vātra) [tune] \|\|
b7	... properties they gave,
b7	they gave alms without greed,
b7	they gave to everyone
b8	... today the sacrifice came to an end.
b8	Then here the gift ...
b2	1. \|\|
b8	1. \|\|

Other

a1	I will quickly go to Bādhari the Brahmin. (41) (Peyrot 2013b: 623)
a7	Hey, miserable one! You must really be an idiot, [as] you do not even know [how] to say “sacrifical site”! (Peyrot 2013b: 281)
a8	If you are from Madhyadeśa, you will indeed be without glory. (41) (Peyrot 2013b: 251)
a8+	Certainly you must … ; you have (not) heard of [his] virtue, [and] you have no love for Maitreya, so that is not why you have come here. (cf 41) (Peyrot 2013b: 280)

Commentary

Linguistic commentary

*	The commentary is adapted from Ji et al. 1998: 42.
n3	kuciṃ is possibly in some way associated with kus.
n5	Since TA parno means “glorious”, one should associate parnäkk probably with paräṃ “glory”.
n8	On kārāś, see TEB II: 90: “cf. khotan. kāraśśa “Schlinggewächs”, “Wald”.” ānāntāp-ā is a new form, probably perlative singular. It looks like a loanword from Skt.: ananta+tapa- or anantava(t).

Parallel texts

*	MaitrHami 1, 11

Remarks

*	This fragment contains part of the first act of the Maitreyasamitināṭaka; an Uy. parallel is MaitrHami I, 11a (end)-11b (end). See also Pinault 1999: 193-4.
*	The translation and the following commentary are basically adapted from Ji et al. 1998: 42.

Philological commentary

n1	Owing to the lack of Uyghur equivalent, this paragraph is not quite clear.
n2	Nirdhane: cf. Skt. nirdhana- means “having no money”. In the Chinese version (Xian yu jing), he is called Lao-du-cha = Raudrākṣa. Vide Ji et al. 1998: 7-13.
n4	aśśi talke māṃñe okāk träṅktsi mā kärsnāt: Carling et al. 2009: 100 has “do you perhaps not even know how to say «sacrificial assistant»?”; Peyrot 2011: 38, quoting this as “do you perhaps not even know how to say «sacrificial place»?”, would place aśśi with the preceding clause, to give “you must be an idiot, [as] you do not even know [how] to say «sacrificial site»!” (with ref. to Schmidt 1999, Pinault 2002).
n6	samakkorenaṃ: stanza of 20 (5/5/5/5) + 22 (8/7/7) + 10 (5/5) + 15 (8/7) syllables.
n7	Owing to the lack of an Uyghur parallel version, the meaning of the following paragraph is not quite clear.
n9	talke māññe säs: cf. line a7: talke māññe okāk.
n10	vañśavātraṃ: name of a tune, so to be restored, cf. vaṃśavātraṃ A 148: b2, A 187: a3; stanza of 4 x 17 (5/7/5) syllables.
n11	(ā)r(ś)o: cf. Schmidt 1999b: 282.

References

Edition

Ji et al. 1998

Translations

Peyrot 2013b: a1 (623), a7 (281), a8 (251), a8 b1 (280)

Bibliography

Carling et al. 2009

Carling, Gerd, Georges-Jean Pinault, and Werner Winter. 2009. A dictionary and thesaurus of Tocharian A. Volume 1: Letters a-j. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Ji et al. 1998

Ji, Xianlin, Werner Winter, and Georges-Jean Pinault. 1998. Fragments of the Tocharian A Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka of the Xinjiang Museum, China. Transliterated, translated and annotated by Ji Xianlin in collaboration with Werner Winter, Georges-Jean Pinault. TLSM 113. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.

Peyrot 2011

Peyrot, Michaël. 2011. “Review of: A Dictionary and Thesaurus of Tocharian A. Volume 1: letters a-j.” Kratylos 56: 30–50.

Peyrot 2013b

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.

Pinault 1999

Pinault, Georges-Jean. 1999. “Restitution du Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka en tokharien A: Bilan provisoire et recherches complémentaires sur l’acte XXVI.” Tocharian and Indo-European Studies 8: 189–240.

Pinault 2002

Pinault, Georges-Jean. 2002. “Tokh. B kucaññe, A kuciṃ et skr. tokharika.” Indo-Iranian Journal 45: 311–45.

Schmidt 1999

Schmidt, Klaus T. 1999. “Tocharisch A k͡ᵤciṃ ‘aus Kučā stammend, kučisch’.” Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 59: 107–13.

Schmidt 1999b

Schmidt, Klaus T. 1999b. “Review of: Fragments of the Tocharian A Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka of the Xinjiang Museum, China.” Tocharian and Indo-European Studies 8: 277–85.

TEB II

Thomas, Werner, and Wolfgang Krause. 1964. Tocharisches Elementarbuch, Band II. Texte und Glossar. Heidelberg: Winter.