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Supplementary notes on third-century Shan-shan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

John Brough
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Extract

Some years ago, I published in this Bulletin an article, one of the main purposes of which was to propose a hypothesis concerning the dating of the Kharoṣṭhī documents discovered by Sir Aurel Stein at the ancient sites in Chinese Turkistan, the so-called ‘Niya’ site (Cabta), and Lou-Ian (Kroraina). At almost the same time, Professor Enoki Kazuo independently published an article which, while covering a much wider historical period, nevertheless dealt also with a certain number of topics included in my own article; and it was gratifying to find that on most of these points we had reached similar conclusions. More recently, Dr. Michael Loewe published an article which was largely a critique of certain points in my own, for which purpose he drew upon the evidence of the Chinese histories. I bow to Dr. Loewe's superior knowledge of these sources and of the Chinese language; and it would be presumptuous of me to attempt to assess or criticize his article as a whole. Nevertheless, I venture to continue to disagree with him on a number of points, on which I maintain my original views, or have modified them but slightly.

Type
Articles and Notes and Communications
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , February 1970 , pp. 39 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1970

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References

1 ‘Comments on third-century Shan-shan and the history of Buddhism’, BSOAS, xxvm, 3, 1965, 582–612Google Scholar.

2 ‘The location of the capital of Lou-Ian and the date of Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions’, Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko, No. 22, 1963, 125–71.Google Scholar(In spite of the date on the title-page, the article in question did not appear until 1966.)

3 ‘Chinese relations with Central Asia, 260–90’, BSOAS, xxxii, 1, 1969, 91–103Google Scholar.

4 Throughout the present article, page-numhers in brackets, unless it is explicitly stated otherwise, refer to the relevant pages of the articles named in n. 1–3 above.

5 In Ancient Khotan, i, 538.

6 ibid., II, plates cv, cxiv.

7 Takada Tadakane (Tadachika?) , Chōyō , sixth (revised) edition, Tokyo, 1963: tu, pp. 830 ff.; chün pp. 825 ff. In this dictionary, there are 74 examples of ancient forms of tu, and 19 examples of chün; and I think that any reader who cares to consult the dictionary in question, or any similar dictionary, will find that I have not chosen my samples with any bias in favour of my own reading of the disputed character on the seal. Not all of the characters in this dictionary are noted as being from ancient seals, but I have taken my examples only from those ascribed by Takada to yin ‘seals’. Virtually identical seal-characters are given by Lo Fu-i , Han-yin wen-tzu cheng , 6, 20a.

8 On the identification of the title camkura as a loan-word from Chinese, chiang-chiln (Middle Chinese tsḽaḽη-kḽηuәn), see my article‘Nugae indo-sericae’, W. B. Henning memorial volume, London, 1970Google Scholar.

9 In a footnote, Dr. Loewe (p. 100) remarks, ‘It is possible that the inscription will bear an interpretation as a list of names and titles of several officials rather than as that of a single one’. This is in fact what I had suggested (p. 601), but unfortunately this mode of expression is capable of giving to the reader the impression that Dr. Loewe is here contradicting what I had written. However, I have now slightly modified my opinion in the light of further information, as shown below, and there is now good reason for concluding that, while several kings were involved, all the titles in question were granted to each.

10 Liu-sha chui-chien pu-i k‘ao-shih , fols. la-3b; afterwards reprinted in a collection of Wang's articles, Kuan-t‘ang chi-lin book xvii, ‘A post-script to Chin tablets discovered in the old town north of Niya’, .

11 The last character is not visible in the published photograph, but is added by Chavannes without comment, and it is possible that he was able to discern it on the original. In any case it is the most appropriate word to complete the sentence.

12 Ancient Khotan, I, 537.