The Weber manuscripts : another collection of ancient manuscripts from Central Asia / [A.F. Rudolf Hoernle].

  • Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf (August Friedrich Rudolf), 1841-1918
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Weber manuscripts : another collection of ancient manuscripts from Central Asia / [A.F. Rudolf Hoernle]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Tibetan tradition with regard to the “ Wartu ” characters is rather uncertain. In the paper, above referred to, Babu S. C. Das says, that the “Wartu” characters were introduced into Tibet by Sambliota (or Thon-mi, the son of Anu) from Magadha in North-Eastern India, about 630-650 A. D. Since then he has been re-examinino- the tradi- O tions of Tibet on this point, and he now informs me that the “ Wartu ” characters were rather introduced from the North-Western extremity of India, namely from Kashmir, called in Tibetan Klia-che. He has supplied me with the following passage from the Bn-ston Chos byun (fl. 138) : “ He (i. e., King Srong Tsan Gampo, 630 A. D.) ascended the throne at the age of 18. He brought the border chieftains under subjection. He made presents to them, (and) read letters (sent by them). Before that (time) there was no written language in Tibet. He sent Thon-mi, son of Anu, with sixteen attendants to learn the letters. He learnt from Pandit Deva-vid Simlia the S'abda Vidya. He designed 30 letters, adapting them to the Tibetan language. He based the four fundamental vowels, called Alt, (i e., i, e, o, u) on a. In form these letters (vowels and consonants; resembled the characters of Klia- che. This was done at the fort of Maru in Lhassa. He wrote eight grammatical works on the orthography and syntax of the Tibetan Grammar.” The Babu also informs me, that in later days the country of Liyul or Khoten was included in the general name of Khaclie ; and further that the letters which were brought from India, through Nepal, were the so-called Lantsha (see Plate VIII in Journal, vol. LVII), introduced in the reign of Thisroh Deu-tsan. Here the following points may be noted: In the first place, the 34 original letters of Tibet (i. e., 29 consonants and 5 vowels) elabo¬ rated by Sambliota, are shown on Plate II (a) in Babu S. Ch. Das’ paper. They are the so-called TJ-clian or “ headed ” characters. It will be noticed that among them “the four fundamental vowels ” are certainly adaptations of the form of the vowel a. This, so far, bears out the tradition above quoted from the Bustan. But, for the rest, the letters show no particular resemblance to the “Wartu” or “ Khaclie ” characters, any more than to any other Indian system of writing (e. g., the Gupta or Lantsha.) Possibly this may be put down to the fact, that Sambliota may have modified the shapes of the letters he adopted; or it may be due to subsequent alterations, the table not showing the exact shape the letters received at the hands of Sambliota, but such as they assumed in the course of time. But, secondly, it is noteworthy that the letter y in Sambliota’s alphabet shows the ancient tri-dentate shape of that letter. In the table of “ Wartu ” characters, on the other hand, that letter shows its 6