Pelliot tibétain 1092
A personal petition letter from Meng Phug-wen — a Chinese-named official writing in Old Tibetan under the administrative forms of the Tibetan Empire. The letter is addressed to four officials with Chinese-derived names (Shi-shug, Shug-shug-gnyis, 'I-neng, Shim-shim) and requests three things: that a donkey be sent early, that grain from the harvest (up to fifteen khal of barley) be disbursed, and that provisions — new if available, old if not — be forwarded. At the end, the petitioner adds that he himself is not ill (despite the formulaic health inquiry that opens the letter) and wishes to travel to Sha-cur as soon as the donkey arrives.
The petition is a window into the everyday logistics of Chinese officials serving under Tibetan imperial administration at Dunhuang — the grind of provisioning, transport, and grain allocation. The verso bears an inverted address: "Meng Phug-wen's petition letter," suggesting the scroll was folded with the address on the outside for delivery.
Pelliot tibétain 1092. 9 lines (recto) + 1 line (verso). Transcription from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. This is the first English translation.
Before the officials Shi-shug and Shug-shug-gnyis and 'I-neng and Shim-shim, and others:
Phug-wen's petition.
In all directions — are you well or unwell? If in this petition letter I petition regarding illness, [I request that relief be] granted.
Cin-shi-shi's donkey was sent to Sha-cur, and the servants were dispatched. Now I petition that the donkey be dispatched early.
Moreover, this year's grain harvest amounts to fifteen khal of barley, gathered at the assembly. From that, I petition that a suitable portion be taken.
As for my own expenses and provisions — if I obtain new supplies, good. If I do not obtain new supplies, I petition that old provisions be sent.
I myself — having finished writing this petition — am not unwell. As soon as the donkey comes here, I wish to go immediately to Sha-cur.
[verso, inverted:] Meng Phug-wen's petition letter.
Colophon
Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. This is the first freely available English translation of Pelliot tibétain 1092.
The document is a personal petition letter from an official named Meng Phug-wen (孟福文 or similar — a Chinese name rendered in Tibetan script). The manuscript is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and was recovered from the sealed library cave (Cave 17) at the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China.
The petition follows the conventions of Old Tibetan official correspondence: an opening health inquiry (thugs bde 'am myi bde, "are you well or unwell?"), a series of requests, and a closing note. The health inquiry appears to be purely formulaic — the petitioner goes out of his way to clarify at the end that he is not actually ill (myI bde ba ma mchis, "there is no illness"). This formula-then-correction is a charming feature of the document: the bureaucratic template demands an inquiry about health, but the writer's actual concern is donkeys and barley.
The four addressees all bear Chinese-derived names (Shi-shug, Shug-shug-gnyis, 'I-neng, Shim-shim), as does the petitioner. The place name Sha-cur appears twice as the destination for both the donkey and the petitioner himself. The fifteen khal of barley from the harvest (lo thog) suggests an agricultural official involved in grain distribution — a common role for Chinese administrators under Tibetan rule at Dunhuang.
The verso bears the address line inverted, indicating the scroll was folded or rolled with the address visible on the outside — a standard practice for letter delivery.
Several passages are damaged or unclear, marked with [---]. The overall sense of the petition is complete: send me the donkey, give me grain, forward my provisions, I'm fine, I need to travel. The mundane specificity is the document's value — this is Silk Road life at the human scale.
The Old Tibetan transliteration was obtained from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The translation was produced independently from the Old Tibetan source text. Any errors of interpretation are the translator's own.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Pelliot tibétain 1092
Old Tibetan source text from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
(r1) $ /:/ shi shug dang shug shug gnyis dang ^I neng dang shim shim las bstsogs pa'i zha sngar /
(r2) ### phug wen gyi mchid gsol ba'b+'
(r3) pyogsu phyogs su thugs bde 'aM myi bde / / snyun mchid yi ge las snyun gsol zhing mchIs na' / / 'drul [---] stsald
(r4) [bar] [-]i [---] gnang / / cIn shi shis bong bu sha cur 'byerte pyin ma dag brdzangs bar bgyis nI' / / da
(r5) ltar 'drul snga ba la bong bu brdzangs du gsol / / do cig 'dI 'i lo thog kyang gsang khal bco
(r6) lnga tshun chad tsham 'dus te / / de las tshugs tshod du bzhe su gsol / / bdag gi 'don tsa dang sbying po
(r7) gsar pa zhig thob na' / / legs gsar pa ma thob na sbying po rnying pa brdzangs du gsol / / bdag kyang
(r8) sug yig gsol pa tsham na' / / myI bde ba ma mchis / / bdag kyang bong bu 'dIr phyin ma thag
(r9) sha cur tsheg cIg mchi' bar 'tshal / /
(v1) (inverted) $ / / meng phug wen gyi sgyo yig
Source Colophon
Old Tibetan text from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. URL: archives?p=Pt_1092. The OTDO provides transliterations of the Pelliot tibétain collection held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. The manuscript was recovered from the sealed library cave (Cave 17) at the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. Dated approximately 9th century CE.
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