Pelliot tibétain 1088 (Document 2)
A grain loan contract from the Dunhuang cave library, written in Old Tibetan on a scroll now held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. In seven lines, a borrower named Sag Dge-bstan of God-sar district takes an advance loan of four khal of barley from Cang Lha-legs of Stong-sar district, promising repayment by the end of the first spring month. The penalty for late repayment is punitive: the debt doubles. If the borrower cannot pay and is seized through legal process, no word of complaint may be spoken.
The contract preserves the credit system of the Tibetan Empire at the village level — inter-district barley lending in a pre-monetary agricultural economy where grain was currency. The penalty clause (one becomes two) is the ancient world's universal answer to default risk. The document is damaged in several places but the legal structure is complete.
Pelliot tibétain 1088, second document. 7 lines. Transcription from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. This is the first English translation.
In the first spring month of the Rabbit Year:
Four khal of barley belonging to Cang Lha-legs of the Stong-sar district [---]. Sag Dge-bstan of the God-sar district requests this as an advance loan. The time for repayment is this same occasion [---].
Until the first month is ended, not a single bre measure of barley shall go unpaid — at the appointed time, Lha-legs shall receive full payment at the gate.
If at that time he does not pay, or if he seeks some excuse, the debt shall be converted at two for one — the actual doubling [and] all that follows. Even if he is seized according to legal procedure, not a single word of legal complaint shall there be.
Should Dge-bstan be burdened by authority and not be present, or should he come to harm — this sealed bond states that, as inscribed above, he shall request and pay according to these terms.
Colophon
Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. This is the first freely available English translation of Pelliot tibétain 1088 (document 2).
The document is a grain loan contract dated to the first spring month of a Rabbit Year during the Tibetan imperial period. It is the second document on the manuscript designated Pelliot tibétain 1088. 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 two district names — Stong-sar ("New Thousand") and God-sar ("New God" or "New Summit") — are Tibetan administrative districts in the Dunhuang region. The borrower's name Sag Dge-bstan and the lender's name Cang Lha-legs are both Tibetan names, suggesting this is an intra-Tibetan transaction (unlike PT 1095, the Ox Sale, which records a cross-ethnic 'A-zha-to-Chinese transaction).
The penalty clause — "converted at two for one" (gchig la gnyis su bsgyur) — is a 100% penalty rate for late repayment. This is consistent with other Old Tibetan loan documents from Dunhuang and with ancient Mesopotamian and Chinese lending practices. The "no complaint" clause (zhal ce tshig chig kyang myi mchis) waives the borrower's right to dispute seizure of his property — effectively making the lender's claim self-executing.
The document has several damaged passages marked with [---]. The broad legal structure is clear despite the gaps. The phrase "sgor 'bul" ("pay at the gate") likely refers to the district or granary gate — the designated place of formal repayment.
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. Reference was made to Takeuchi Tsuguhito's studies of Old Tibetan contracts for legal terminology. 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 1088 (Document 2)
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.
(1) /:/ yos bu lo'i dpyid sla ra ba 'i ngo la / stong sar gyi sde / cang lha legs gyi gro khal bzhi [---]
(2) god sar gyi sde / sag dge bstan gyis snga g.yar du 'tshalte / slar 'bul ba'i dus ni lan 'di [---]
(3) [sla] ra ba ma gum tshun cad gro [bre] phul gang yang myI chad pa [dus] gchig [du] lha legs gyis sgor ['bul]
(4) [ba]r bgyis / dus der ma phul lam gya gyu zhig 'tshal na gchig la gnyis su bsgyur te / dngos sgyur [dang]
(5) [bca]s par nas si gyi ris thang rtsIs zhing r[i]ng lugsu phrog na yang zhal ce tshig chig kyang myI mchis par
(6) [b]gyis / brgya la dge bstan rje blas gis bsgal te gzhi la ma mchis [sam pa]n pun du gyur na dam rgya 'di gong na
(7) rmos pa bzhin mchid gyi[s] 'tshal zhing 'bul bar bgyis pa'i [---] [len] /
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_1088_2. 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 (Rabbit Year of the Tibetan sexagenary cycle).
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