Kizil Caves standing Buddha. Often attributed in the past to the 7th century AD,[1] but now carbon dated to AD 245-340.[2] Tocharian B inscription reading:
Se pañäkte saṅketavattse ṣarsa papaiykau "This Buddha was painted by the hand of Sanketava".[3][4][5][6]
Script type
Abugida
Time period
8th century
Languages
Tocharian languages
Related scripts
Parent systems
Egyptian
Proto-Sinaitic
Phoenician
Aramaic
Brahmi
Tocharian script
Sister systems
Gupta, Tamil-Brahmi, Bhattiprolu, Sinhala
The theorised Semitic origins of the Brahmi script are not universally agreed upon.
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Brahmic scripts
The Brahmi script and its descendants
Northern Brahmic
Gupta
Sharada
Landa
Gurmukhi
Khojki
Khudabadi
Multani
Mahajani
Takri
Dogri
Siddham
Nagari
Devanagari
Gujarati
Modi
Nandinagari
Kaithi
Sylheti Nagri
Gaudi
Bengali–Assamese
Bengali
Assamese
Tirhuta
Odia
Nepalese
Bhujimol
Ranjana
Soyombo
Pracalit
Tibetan
Meitei
Lepcha
Limbu
Khema
Phagspa
Zanabazar square
Marchen
Marchung
Pungs-chen
Pungs-chung
Drusha
Kalinga
Bhaiksuki
Tocharian
Southern Brahmic
Tamil-Brahmi
Pallava
Tamil
Grantha
Malayalam
Tigalari
Dhives Akuru
Saurashtra
Khmer
Khom Thai
Proto-Tai script?
Sukhothai
Thai
Fakkham
Thai Noi
Lao
Tai Viet
Dai Don
Lai Tay
Lai Pao
Cham
Kawi
Balinese
Batak
Buda
Javanese
Old Sundanese
Sundanese
Lontara
Makasar
Ulu scripts
Incung
Lampung
Lembak
Ogan
Pasemah
Rejang
Serawai
Baybayin
Buhid
Hanunoo
Tagbanwa
Kulitan
Mon–Burmese
Burmese
Chakma
S'gaw Karen
Shan
Tanchangya
Lik-Tai scripts
Ahom
Khamti
Tai Le
Modern Mon
Tai Tham
New Tai Lue
Pyu
Vatteluttu
Kolezhuthu
Malayanma
Sinhala
Bhattiprolu
Kadamba
Telugu-Kannada
Kannada
Goykanadi
Telugu
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The Tocharian script,[7] also known as Central Asian slanting Gupta script or North Turkestan Brāhmī,[8] is an abugida which uses a system of diacritical marks to associate vowels with consonant symbols. Part of the Brahmic scripts, it is a version of the Indian Brahmi script. It is used to write the Central Asian Indo-European Tocharian languages, mostly from the 8th century (with a few earlier ones, probably as early as AD 300)[9] that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin. Samples of the language have been discovered at sites in Kucha and Karasahr, including many mural inscriptions. Mistakenly identifying the speakers of this language with the Tokharoi people of Tokharistan (the Bactria of the Greeks), early authors called these languages "Tocharian". This naming has remained, although the names Agnean and Kuchean have been proposed as a replacement.[10][11]
Tocharian A and B are not mutually intelligible. Properly speaking, based on the tentative interpretation of twqry as related to Tokharoi, only Tocharian A may be referred to as Tocharian, while Tocharian B could be called Kuchean (its native name may have been kuśiññe), but since their grammars are usually treated together in scholarly works, the terms A and B have proven useful. A common Proto-Tocharian language must precede the attested languages by several centuries, probably dating to the 1st millennium BC. Given the small geographical range of and the lack of secular texts in Tocharian A, it might alternatively have been a liturgical language, the relationship between the two being similar to that between Classical Chinese and Mandarin. However, the lack of a secular corpus in Tocharian A is by no means definite, due to the fragmentary preservation of Tocharian texts in general.
^Härtel, Herbert; Yaldiz, Marianne; Kunst (Germany), Museum für Indische; N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York (1982). Along the Ancient Silk Routes: Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums : an Exhibition Lent by the Museum Für Indische Kunst, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-87099-300-8.
^Waugh (Historian, University of Washington), Daniel C. "MIA Berlin: Turfan Collection: Kizil". depts.washington.edu.
^Härtel, Herbert; Yaldiz, Marianne; Kunst (Germany), Museum für Indische; N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York (1982). Along the Ancient Silk Routes: Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums : an Exhibition Lent by the Museum Für Indische Kunst, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-87099-300-8.
^Le Coq, Albert von. Die Buddhistische Spätantike in Mittelasien : vol.5. p. 10.
^Earliest paintings from Kizil Caves with Tocharian inscriptions, now carbon dated to AD 245-340, see Waugh (Historian, University of Washington), Daniel C. "MIA Berlin: Turfan Collection: Kizil". depts.washington.edu.
^Namba Walter, Mariko (October 1998). "Tokharian Buddhism in Kucha: Buddhism of Indo-European Centum Speakers in Chinese Turkestan before the 10th Century C.E." (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. 85: 2-4.
^Diringer, David (1948). Alphabet A Key To The History Of Mankind. pp. 347–348.
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