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China and Tibet as Referred to in the Old Turkish Inscriptions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Wolfgang-Ekkehard Scharlipp
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The Old Turkish inscriptions that were written roughly between the beginning of the eighth and the middle of the ninth century A.D. and represent the first testimonies of a Turkish language, include important information about contacts of the ruling Türks and later the Uighurs, who were also Turkish-speaking, with other peoples inside and outside of their el, i.e., their steppe empire. This information is partly explicit, when, for example, we read about a delegation being sent to the other side, and partly implicit, by which we mean outside influences that we can trace in the texts in different ways.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 43 , Issue 171 , September 1995 , pp. 45 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

Notes

1. In order to avoid confusion, here is a brief comment on the following names: According to a recent convention the word "Türk" is used as the designation for the first two empires which the Turkish dynasties had governed in Central Asia from 552-740. The term "Turks" is usually used for the Turks of Turkey and other Turkish peoples who lived outside and later than the Türk empire.

2. Among the voluminous literature about these texts we recommend T. Tekin, Grammar of Orkhon Turkic, Bloomington, 1968.

3. D.D. Vasilyev, Korpus Tyurkskih runičeskih pamyatnikov baseyna Yeniseya, Leningrad, 1983.

4. See the inscription of Köl Tegin, Northern side, line 13: "In order to establish the memorial, to make sculptures and paintings and to prepare the inscription stele, General Chang, the nephew of the Chinese emperor came [to the funeral of Köl Tegin]." See also the discussion about this topic in Jisl, L., "Vorbericht über die archäologische Erforschung des Kül-Tegin-Denkmals durch die tschechoslowakisch-mongolische Expedition des Jahres 1958," in UAJb 32 (1960), pp. 65-77.

5. See, e.g., the inscription of Köl Tegin, South side, lines 5-6, we read: "They [the Chinese] give gold, silver and silk in big amounts [to other peoples]. The speech of the Chinese people has always been sweet and the goods [presents?] of the Chinese people have always been soft. In this way, by deceiving with their sweet words and soft goods they make, the remote people come closer. After these people have settled close to them, they [the Chinese] play their bad games with them [?]." On the other hand, we know from Chinese sources-among many other documents - that at least some of the Türks tried to copy even the Chinese way of clothing, which, by the way, the Chinese emperor denied them.

6. See L Bazin, "Eine Inschrift vom oberen Jenissei: als Quelle zur Geschichte Zentralasiens" in Materialia Turcica II, (1976), pp. 1-11.

7. There is a long discussion about the origin of the mordern word "Tibet." See for example L. Bazin, "L'origine du nom Tibet," in Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, 26 (1991), pp. 9-28. In my opinion the facts concerning the Tibetan language have not been sufficiently considered, and I do not regard the discussion as closed.

8. Already in the Tibetan loan words in the classical Uighur Buddhist texts (13./14. centuries) the initial /s/ of Tibetan words does not appear in Uighur script. The exact pronunciation of Tibetan words by the early Turks in Central Asia has still to be studied. The modern pronunciation /tö pö/ is not to be found in töpüt.

9. The Chinese sources are rich in information about this practice between the Chinese and other courts. In the Köl Tegin Inscription (Eastern side, line 20) we also learn about this practice among different Turkish tribal federations, like in this case the Türks and the Kirghizes.

10. It is not before the time of the Uighur kingdoms in what is now Kansu and Xinjiang (ca 850 - ca 1370) that we can speak of a real Turkish-Tibetan cultural contact. The lamaist texts that have been translated from Tibetan into Turkish are rather limited in number but very elaborate in style and terminology.