Pelliot tibétain 1095
A complete contract of sale for one ox, written in Old Tibetan and sealed with six round vermilion seal impressions. The seller, Zing Nu-ku-spong, is from the 'A-zha Ma-ga-do-cin district — the 'A-zha (Tuyuhun) were a people of the northeast Tibetan plateau absorbed into the Tibetan Empire. The buyer, Wang Gvang-hing, bears a Chinese surname. The witnesses include both Tibetan officials and Chinese-named persons. The document preserves a remarkably sophisticated legal structure: a physical description of the ox (black coat, rough horns, piebald underbelly), a warranty clause protecting the buyer if a prior owner claims the animal, a named guarantor (the seller's younger brother), a penalty clause for anyone who tries to reverse the sale, and the formal affixing of seals by both parties and witnesses.
Dated to a Rabbit Year (likely 811, 823, or 835 CE, given the Tibetan imperial dating system), the contract is a Silk Road legal document at the household level — not imperial diplomacy but the everyday commerce of a multicultural borderland where Tibetan law governed transactions between 'A-zha herders and Chinese merchants.
Pelliot tibétain 1095. 13 lines. Transcription from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. This is the first English translation.
In the middle winter month of the Rabbit Year:
From Zing Nu-ku-spong of the 'A-zha Ma-ga-do-cin district, Wang Gvang-hing buys one ox. As for its hair markings and horn configuration:
One black ox with rough horns and piebald underbelly is bought.
If later someone seizes this ox by recognition, or whatever quarrel or litigation may arise — Nu-ku-spong's word shall answer for it. Should a quarrel arise and this ox be lost through recognition, an ox of equivalent size and condition, or the price of two ba smad, shall be sought — including any increase — and immediately returned to Gvang-hing.
If Nu-ku-spong is not present, then as stated in the sworn agreement above, the guarantor alone — his younger brother, Zing Sha-cu-skyes — shall fulfill the terms.
As witnesses: Minister Lha-bzang Lha-ston, and Wang Hing-tse, and 'An Heng-tse, and Cang Zhun-zhun, and others.
Their witness seals, and the ox-owner's and guarantor's handprint seals, were affixed.
The sale having been conducted thus — if either party should seek to reverse the trade, whichever party initiates it shall immediately pay four khal of barley to the other, as additionally sworn.
[six round vermilion seals]
Colophon
Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. This is the first freely available English translation of Pelliot tibétain 1095.
The document is a contract of sale for one ox, dated to the middle winter month of a Rabbit Year during the Tibetan imperial period. 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 seller's name, Zing Nu-ku-spong, is from the 'A-zha (Tuyuhun) population — an ethnically distinct people of the Qinghai region who were conquered by the Tibetan Empire in the 7th century. The district name "Ma-ga-do-cin" may be a Tibetan transcription of a Chinese place name. The buyer's surname "Wang" (王) and the witness names "Wang Hing-tse," "'An Heng-tse," and "Cang Zhun-zhun" are all Chinese or Chinese-derived, while "Minister Lha-bzang Lha-ston" is a Tibetan official name. The document thus records a cross-ethnic commercial transaction under Tibetan imperial law — an 'A-zha herder selling an ox to a Chinese buyer, witnessed by both Tibetan and Chinese officials, using Tibetan legal forms.
The warranty clause (ngo bzung, "seizure by recognition") protects the buyer against the possibility that the ox was stolen or already belonged to someone else. If a prior owner appears and proves their claim, the seller must replace the ox with one of equal quality or pay two ba smad (a unit of value, possibly a silver measure). The guarantor clause names the seller's younger brother as surety — standard Tibetan legal practice where a kinsman underwrites the transaction. The anti-reversal clause (four khal of barley penalty for either party who tries to undo the sale) prevents buyer's remorse and seller's remorse alike.
The six round vermilion seals at the bottom of the manuscript are the physical validation of the agreement — pressed by the parties and witnesses. Vermilion seal impressions are the Tibetan imperial equivalent of signatures.
The Old Tibetan transliteration was obtained from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The translation was produced independently from the Old Tibetan source text. Reference was made to Takeuchi Tsuguhito's published 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 1095
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 dgun sla 'brIng po'i ngo la / / 'a zha ma ga do cin gyI sde zIng nu ku spong
(2) las / wang gvang hIng gIs glang gcIg mjal pa'I spu rtags dang ru tshugs la / /
(3) glang nag po la ru tsog / brang zhol bkra ba gcIg mjal the / / glang 'dI la slad gyis la la
(4) zhig gIs ngo bzung ngam / zhal mcu gces phras cI byung yang rung ste / nu ku spong mcId kyis
(5) 'tsal / / brgya la zhal mcu zhig byung ste / glang 'dI ngo shor par gyurd na yang / glang
(6) 'dI tsham phod pa lus gyI tshod / na'I 'dra gcig gam / rIn du ba smad gnyis 'tsal
(7) pa'I phel rgyud tshun chad / 'phral du slar gvang hing la 'bul bar bgyis / / nu ku spong
(8) ma mchis na / / dam tshigs gong nas smos pa bzhIn / khas len kho na'i nu bo /
(9) zing sha cu skyes mcId gyIs 'tshal bar bgyis pa'I dphang la / / blon lha bzang
(10) lha ston dang / wang hing tse dang / ^an heng tse dang / cang zhun zhun la stsogs pa'I dpang
(11) rgya dang / glang bdag dang khas len gyi sug rgyas bthab pha / / mjal tshong 'dI ltar
(12) bgyis pa'I 'og du / tshong lo ba zhig mchis na / gang sngar lo bas / myI lo ba la nas khal bzhI 'phral
(13) du stsald par yang / yal dam bgyis so / / (six round vermilion seals)
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_1095. 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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