The Tumshuq Karmavācanā

Abstract

In the Journal Asiatique for 1941–2 my friend the late Professor Sten Konow published an article entitled Une nouvelle forme aberrante de khotanais. This new type of Iranian is contained in the document P 410 brought back by the late Paul Pelliot from Tumšq, a ruined site near the modern Maralbashi.For the study of the history of this region all the materials, unfortunately often fragmentary, which the various expeditions have recovered for us have proved and are still proving of great importance. The present Tumšuq fragment is a notable addition to this material.Sten Konow gave with his study a facsimile of the MS. fragment, a transliteration (in which he had enjoyed the assistance of J. Filliozat) and a tentative translation, together with a glossary of the words according to his readings. Six years later he turned again to the document and in the Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap 14 (1947), pp. 156 ff., he published a second study of the document. It is a pleasure to recognize the merit of these pioneer studies, but neither could be considered as providing a clear interpretation. In one point, the reading of ai, the incorrect at is kept in the second study, although in the glossary to the first study J. Filliozat had pointed out that the sign was properly au.The document is vitally important for Iranian dialectical studies. Hence a new treatment is well justified. The recognition that the document contains a type of Buddhist ordination service changed the whole problem of its interpretation.