YQ III.1

Known as:	YQ III.1; YQ 1.21
Cite this page as:	"YQ III.1". 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-yqiii1 (accessed 12 Jul. 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 3.1
Text genre:	Literary
Text subgenre:	Drama
Verse/Prose:	prose; verse
Meter:	543 (4x); 4343 (4x)
Object
Manuscript:	Yanqi
Material:	ink on paper
Form:	Poṭhī
Number of lines:	8

Images

Transliteration

a1	/// ma tra ṅka ṣśā kke ṣi lā¯ ¯ts ma hā pra jā pa ti gau ta mi lywā
a2	/// ·tu ri ya¯ ¯cä śma lna¯ ¯s̝ pru tko ṣṣo ki śā kki ñśā kki ṣi nā syo
a3	/// ·[s]· ke ka lpe • sa snya gro dha rā msa ṅkrā mā a śśi tā pa¯ ¯rk ma hā nā
a4	/// ·[k]· ñc[ā]¯ ¯ñä wyā ra swi nā se¯ ¯ñcä a cle pa lko ra s̝tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ mu kti kā \|\|
a5	/// tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ ptā ñka¯ ¯t ka ṣyā pśä mlu ne pra ka ssi yä¯ ¯m ku pre a śśi lo
a6	/// [ni] tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ śā kke ṣi lāṃ tse ma hā pra jā pa ti gau ta mi¯ ¯s śā waṃ ske ya
a7	/// ta kta myo tā pa¯ ¯rk ska ma tpra ka s̝ta rku pre a śśi ptā ñka tka ṣṣi lo ku mnä
a8	/// [wā] saṃ klyo miṃ śā ki ṣi lāṃ¯ ¯ts gau ta mi : a mo ka ntwaṃ nu wā paṃ tsu ne pukaṃ ka
b1	/// [ma] ntpa tnu ta mpa pyu tkā¯ ¯t : 1 \|\| pa ṭṭī ni tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ ku pre ne wā pa lyi
b2	/// ā la kyā ma¯ ¯s \|\| pa ṭṭi nī tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ \|\| a ptsa ra da rśnaṃ \|\| ma ccā¯ ¯k ṣñi
b3	/// pyā ṣtṣā ma lke yo pa kku¯ ¯nt ma ccā ksā ma ta¯ ¯m : ma ccā kpe wa tma ccā ka¯ ¯k
b4	/// ka¯ ¯k wā pa tka na kwā kma tsaṃ : 1 \|\| wā skā¯ ¯ñcä tra ṅka¯ ¯s̝ yne śñu¯ ¯k ptā ñka
b5	/// (·)[m]ā vi pa śyi ptā ñkte sunu¯ ¯m pyā pyo śwā tsi yo ktsi yo ka lyme yā spā
b6	/// ñka tka ṣyā¯ ¯p tsku nteṃ mā ca rtā¯ ¯k • ska ma¯ ¯t śä ks̝a kpi puka lye śo mi
b7	/// [ṣu] rmtā pa¯ ¯rk śā kke ṣi lā¯ ¯ts ma ccā kka¯ ¯r ka ppā ssā ryā • ma ccā
b8	/// [k]ṣā śā kki śśi pa lka ṣmā e rkā tu ne pa lkā¯ ¯r klyo miṃ ttā

Transcription

a1	n1 /// (sā)m{†ä} träṅkäṣ śākkeṣi lāts mahāprajāpati gautami lywā¬
a2	(-ñi) /// (kapilavās)tu riyac śmäl naṣ prutkoṣṣ oki śākkiñ śākkiṣināsyo
a3	/// (s)s(i) ke kälpe • säs nyagrodharām saṅkrāmā aśśi tāpärk mahānā¬
a4	(me)n2 n3 /// (wās)k(ā)ñcāñ wyāräs wināseñc acle pälkoräṣ träṅkäṣ muktikā ॥
a5	n4 /// träṅkäṣ ptāñkät käṣyāp śämlune prakässi yäm kupre aśśi lo
a6	/// (paṭṭī)ni träṅkäṣ śākkeṣi lāṃtse mahāprajāpati gautamis śāwaṃ skeya¬
a7	(syo) /// (papyu)täk tämyo tāpärk skamat prakäṣtär kupre aśśi ptāñkät käṣṣi lo kumnä¬
a8	(ṣ)n5 n6 n7 /// (॥)

1a	(k_ule)wāsaṃ klyomiṃ ; śākiṣi lāṃts ; gautami :
1b	amokäntwaṃ nu ; wāpäṃtsune ; p_ukaṃ käb1(rpi) (:)
1c	12σ
1d	5σ /// ; mänt pat nu täm ; papyutkāt : 1 ॥

*	paṭṭīni träṅkäṣ kupre ne wāpalyi
b2	n8 /// ālak yāmäs ॥ paṭṭinī träṅkäṣ ॥ aptsaradarśnaṃ ॥

1a	mäccāk ṣñi b3 11σ
1b	2σ /// pyāṣtṣā ; malkeyo ; pakkunt mäccāk ; sāmat-äm :
1c	mäccāk pewat ; mäccākäk ; b4n9 7σ
1d	4σ /// ; (mäccā)käk ; wāpat kanak ; wākmatsäṃ : 1 ॥

*	wāskāñc träṅkäṣ yneś ñuk ptāñkä¬
b5	(t) (käṣṣinäṣ) /// (par)mā vipaśyi ptāñkte s_unum pyāpyo śwātsi yoktsiyo kälymeyā spā¬
b6	(nte) /// (ptā)ñkät käṣyāp tskunteṃ mācar tāk • skamat śäk ṣäk pi p_ukälye śomi¬
b7	(ne) /// (kus) ṣurm tāpärk śākkeṣi lāts mäccāk kar kappās sāryā • mäccā¬
b8	(k)n10 (kar) /// kṣā śākkiśśi pälkäṣ mā erkātune pälkār klyomiṃ ttā

Translation

a1	... that (girl) says:
a1+	The queen of the Śākyas Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī has sent (me) (to ask when the Buddha-god the teacher) will come (from the city of Śrāvastī) to the city of Kapilavastu.
a2+	The Śākya men are, as it were, crowded by Śākya women, ...
a3+	... I have got the opportunity (to ask) whether at the Nyagrodhārāma monastery, he, Mahānāman (by name), (might) now ...
a4	... the lay-women worship the Vihāras. Having seen ..., Muktikā says:
a4+	\|\| (Paṭṭinī) says:
a5+	I come here to ask about the coming of the Buddha-god the teacher, when he (is about to come).
a6	(Paṭṭi)nī says:
a6+	With great efforts on the part of the Śākya queen Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī, (a cloth) has come into existence.
a7+	Therefore she now keeps asking when the Buddha-god, the teacher is about to arrive.
a8	The Śākya queen Gautamī, ... noblest among women,
a8+	among the skills however weaving is the lowiest of all.
b1	1 \|\|
b1	Why then did she care to do that? Paṭṭinī says:
b1+	If it was only a matter of weaving ...,
b2	(Muktikā says:) Besides this, (what) did she do? Paṭṭinī says: \|\| In the Aptsaradarśaṃ [tune] \|\|
b2+	She herself with her own (hands), ...
b3	she made (them) grow with boiled milk, she herself gathered them; she herself did the carding,
b3+	and she herself indeed ...
b4	1 \|\|
b4	... she (herself) indeed wove the excellent cotton sheet. The lay-woman says:
b4+	Very clearly, (from) the Buddha-god (the teacher), I, ...
b5+	formerly (she [Gautamī] worshipped) the Buddha Vipaśyin with perfumed ﬂower, with food and drink, properly [and] piously.
b6	... she became the foster mother of Buddha-god the teacher.
b6+	Always ... (was) of a sixteen years old girl.
b7	What (is) the reason now that the queen of the Śākyas herself planted the cotton,
b7+	[and] herself ...
b8	it shines among ... of the Śākyas, it is not despicable. Look, noble one ...

Other

b7	What is the reason now that the queen of the Śākyas has sown the cotton just by herself? (cf 147) (Peyrot 2013b: 284)

Commentary

Parallel texts

*	MaitrHami 3, 1-2

Philological commentary

*	This fragment contains part of the third act of the Maitreyasamitināṭaka; an Uy. parallel is MaitrHami III, 1a4-2a1. See also Pinault 1999: 196-7.
*	The translation and the following commentary are adapted from Ji et al. 1998: 148.
n1	The agreement between the Tocharian and the Uyghur text in the ﬁrst lines is not very close.
n3	In the Uyghur text, the name of the lay-woman (upāsikā-) is not given until MaitrHami 3, 4 a12.
n4	The girl Paṭṭinī is now speaking. Starting from here, the agreement between the Tocharian and the Uyghur text (MaitrHami 3, 1 a15ff.) is closer.
n6	kulewāsaṃ is the first word of a stanza of the type 4 x 12 (5/7) syllables.
n7	p_ukaṃ: reading corrected after Schmidt 1999b: 281.
n8	aptsaradarśnaṃ: a stanza of 4 x 14 (7/7) syllables.

Remarks

*	The commentary is adapted from Ji et al. 1998: 148.

Linguistic commentary

n2	acle is a new form of uncertain meaning.
n5	The form corresponding to TB wapāttsa should be TA. wāpats, the abstract of which would be wāptsune. Therefore, wāpäṃtsune must be derived from wāpaṃts*, which may be the term for female weaver.
n9	Uyghur upasanč (in the corresponding line and elsewhere) shows a partial resanskritization of a TA wāskāñc, corresponding to Skt. upāsikā- ‘lay-woman’.
n10	The reading ttā appears to be preferable to ntā: the onset tt- remains unexplained.

References

Edition

Ji et al. 1998

Translations

Peyrot 2012a: a6 (203); Peyrot 2013b: a7 (233, 282), b7 (284)

Bibliography

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 2012a

Peyrot, Michaël. 2012a. “The Tocharian A match of the Tocharian B obl.sg. -ai.” Tocharian and Indo-European Studies 13: 181–220.

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.

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.