PT 2204c — A Dunhuang Administrative Document
An Old Tibetan administrative report from the Dunhuang caves (Pelliot tibétain 2204, pièce C), documenting the confiscation and redistribution of grain provisions seized from rebels during the Tibetan Empire's governance of the Sha-cu (Dunhuang) region. Minister Rma-bzher writes to the officials of Gstsang-'bogs, accounting for the distribution of confiscated barley, wheat, and millet to officials, messengers, herders, newly arrived subjects, and ritual practitioners — a detailed ledger spanning from the Mouse Year through the Ox Year.
The manuscript, a single sheet now held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, is damaged at both left and right edges, with text missing from the beginning and end of most lines. A round vermilion seal and eight slash-marks authenticate the document at line 21, with supplementary allocations added after the seal — evidence that the record was a living administrative instrument, amended as new claims were verified.
This is the first English translation. Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
By Minister Rma-bzher.
To the officials of Gstsang-'bogs — the administrator Ring-lugs, Minister Dge-bzang, the Inspector of Gstsang, and [...] and others — this communication is sent.
From the provisions confiscated from the rebels: whatever the subordinates require, let it be done. [...]
[...] As for Zho-nu, Lha'i-rgyan, and So Dpal-ldan — for these three, there was nothing whatsoever to confiscate. From Do Brtan-kong: barley and [...] up to twenty-five and a half khal. And from the storehouse at Grol-thang: wheat, barley, and millet — up to eighty-[...] khal. [...]
[...] In actual provisions, there are eight persons receiving major and minor rations. From the Mouse Year, last winter month onward, and [...] until the first spring month — seven months. For eight persons at half-rations, calculated: twenty-eight khal. At Glo-ba-nye-[...]:
[...] The three subordinates — from the Ox Year, first spring month onward, and [...] until [...] — wages for two persons [...]. Four disbursements totaled: five and a half khal and six bre. At Glo-ba-nye-stong, Klu-'dus [...]:
[...] Six rations calculated: two khal and one bre. The Minister-Uncle's messenger, Dru-gu Rgyal-po, went to [...].
[...] At Nyang: the headman and his servants went to the post. For the work up to Shul-thang: two khal and five bre distributed. [...]
[...] At Do Brtan-kong there are five persons receiving rations. The seven summer months' wages at half-rations, the total [...]: eight. Additionally, one khal — by order of Gag-ngang-'tshul — which was owed to Brtan-kong himself, was also granted. [...]
[...] To Lda-phar La-brtsan, Ldang-nga Gsas-kor, and Sin-pha 'Do — these three: a sixth-ration each, totaled [...]:
[...] Eight granted. Legs-sgra Zla-brtsan went to Sha-cu as messenger — one donkey furnished from his own resources. His wages [...].
[...] In the first spring month, at the time of performing the soul-offering for Mo-drus: to Ba-dan, Lha-sgra, Lha-lung, and others [...]:
[...] Two. The subjects of Lung-'bangs at I-cu: those newly arrived — wages for the persons [...]:
[...] Eight women from Dbus-ba are present. At a third-ration each, totaled: two khal and [...] bre. To six persons including [...]: two khal advanced as loan. And [...] to be submitted [...].
[...] Seek the best quality. To She'u Lha-sbyin and three others: one khal each — four khal. [...] Below Do-gzig: one khal. All of these added back together: seventy khal shall be allocated.
(Sealed with one round vermilion seal and eight slash-marks.)
After the allocation: during the last winter month's supplement, [...] Khang-khong Legs went as messenger — his lodging provisions and the distant [...]:
[...] Five khal of butter. To distribute at [...]. The Minister-Uncle's official seal having been affixed: ten khal granted [...].
[...] The horse-herder Cang Stag-tshe: from the Mouse Year, last winter month onward, and from the Ox Year, spring [...] until [...] — for three summer months at eighth-rations, calculated: one khal and four bre. The donkey-herder Kvag-[...]:
[...] And one: for three months' wages at five bre per month, calculated: fifteen bre. [...]
[...] Totaled: eight and a half khal and nine bre. These shall be allocated and distributed. Hereafter, at the time of accounting: whoever [...] — the surplus shall be granted.
Colophon
PT 2204c (Pelliot tibétain 2204, pièce C). Old Tibetan administrative confiscation report from the Dunhuang cave library. Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, April 2026. First English translation.
The source text was accessed from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) database, maintained by the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The transliteration follows OTDO's conventions, which preserve archaic Old Tibetan orthography.
Previous scholarship: Lalou (1939–1961, III: 218) catalogued the manuscript with a preliminary transliteration. Wang Yao and Chen Jian (1988: 190–191 in Chinese, 386–389 in Tibetan) published an improved transliteration and a Chinese translation. The present English translation was derived independently from the OTDO transliteration. Wang and Chen's Chinese translation was not consulted.
On the text: This is a 28-line administrative report from the Tibetan Imperial period, documenting the confiscation and redistribution of grain provisions seized from rebels (glo ba rings pa, literally "those of distant hearts") in the Sha-cu (Dunhuang) region. Minister Rma-bzher (blon rma bzher) writes to the officials of Gstsang-'bogs, accounting for distributions of barley, wheat, millet, and butter to officials, messengers, horse-herders, donkey-herders, women, newly arrived subjects from I-cu, and ritual practitioners. The document spans from the Mouse Year through the Ox Year and was authenticated with a round vermilion seal, with supplementary allocations added after the seal.
On the structure: The document falls into three parts: the preamble (lines 1–3), the main inventory sealed at line 21, and a post-seal addendum (lines 22–28) recording supplementary distributions authorized after the initial accounting was authenticated. This layered structure suggests the document was a living administrative instrument.
Damage and lacunae: The manuscript is a single sheet with text missing at both left and right edges. Nearly every line has lacunae, indicated by [...] in the translation. Uncertain readings are noted in the translation notes below. Despite the damage, the administrative structure and most grain measurements survive intact.
Translation notes:
- khal — a unit of dry grain measurement in the Tibetan system, approximately 14 kg or one donkey-load. Retained untranslated throughout.
- bre — a smaller dry grain measure, a subdivision of khal. Retained untranslated.
- glo ba rings pa — literally "those of distant lungs/hearts." The standard Old Tibetan administrative term for rebels or insurgents. The metaphor figures rebellion as a condition of the heart being far from loyalty.
- zhang she — rendered "Minister-Uncle." In the Tibetan Empire, zhang (maternal uncle) was a high ministerial title, as the queen's family held great power. The exact reading of "she" is uncertain; it may be a name element or title component.
- Ring-lugs (line 2) — uncertain whether this is a personal name or a title meaning "senior administrator" (literally "long custom/order"). Rendered as a name with the ambiguity noted.
- gza' (lines 6, 12) — rendered "persons receiving rations." The precise administrative meaning is uncertain; it may derive from gza' ba (to eat/consume), indicating persons to be fed from official stores. "Gza' che bra" (line 6) appears to mean "major and minor rations" — adults and dependents.
- thang — a ration unit indicating level of grain allocation. Phyed thang = half-ration, gsum thang = third-ration, drug thang = sixth-ration, brgyad thang = eighth-ration.
- sku bla (line 16) — a soul-offering or life-force ritual, pre-Buddhist in origin. Its appearance in a bureaucratic grain inventory illustrates the integration of pre-Buddhist ritual practices into Tibetan Imperial governance.
- Sha-cu — Dunhuang (沙州, Shazhou), the Chinese name for the oasis city rendered in Tibetan.
- I-cu (line 17) — possibly Yizhou (益州), a Chinese prefecture. The newly arrived subjects from I-cu suggest population movement under imperial administration.
- bo bcin (line 13) — uncertain. Tentatively rendered "by order of," but the exact administrative term is unclear. May refer to a written authorization or legal order.
- mar (line 23) — butter, a staple commodity alongside grain in Tibetan imperial rations.
This is a Good Works Translation. The English is independently derived from the Old Tibetan source text. The OTDO transliteration was the primary source. No prior English translation exists for comparison.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: PT 2204c
Old Tibetan transliteration from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) corpus, directed by Yoshiro Imaeda. Based on Pelliot tibétain 2204 pièce C, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. Variant readings from OTDO's tooltip annotations are shown in parentheses.
(1) / / blon rma bzher gis /
(2) ### / gstsang 'bogs gi rIng lugs blon dge bzang dang / gstsang spyan dang [---]
(3) [---] [la stso?]gs pa la spring ngo / / glo ba rings pa'I gstsang blar bzhes pa'I nang nas / / bu smad gi rnams chis kyang bgyi '[tshal] [---]
(4) [---] zho nu dang / lha'i rgyan dang / so dpal ldan gsuM la nI blar [r-] [-e] [-]u[-] yang ma mchis / / do brtan kong la ni nas dang
(5) [---] tshun chad khal nyi shu rtsa phyed (phye = phyed) dang lnga byung ba dang / grol thang gi sngum pa nas / gro nas khre tshun chad khal brgyad cu rtsa [---]
(6) [---] [-g] [-]yu[-] [ba (/ca)] / dngos la gza' che bra [b?]rgyad mchis te (mchiste = mchis te) / / byi ba lo'i dgun sla tha chungs tshes phan chad dang / gla[-] [---]
(7) [---] [-n] sla ra ba tshes tshun chad zla ba bdun la / / myi brgyad phyed thang du brtsis na / / khal nyi shu rtsa brgyad / / glo ba nye st[e] [lha-] [---]
(8) [---] smad gsum glang gi lo'i dpyid sla ra ba phan chad dang sto[-] [---] [-]o[-] [---] tsh[u?]n chad brgyags sk[y]es pa gnyis [---]
(9) [---] ched ni bzhi th[e]ng du stsald pa bsdoms na / / khal phyed (phye = phyed) dang lnga dang br[e] drug / / glo ba nye tong klu 'dus dgu[-] [---]
(10) [---] 'tshal brgyags drug thang du brtsis na / / khal gnyis bre do / / zhang she'I / / pho nya dru gu rgyal po sar mchi[s?] [---]
(11) [---] nyang myi dpon g.yog gzhi la mchis pa da[ng] / / shu[l?] thang tshun chad kyi bya na rin khal gnyis bre lnga dbog [---]
(12) [---] / do brtan kong la gza' lnga mchis ste / / dgung sla bdun gi brgyags phyed thang du [stsal]d pa bsdoms [na?] [---]
(13) [---] brgyad / gag ngang 'tshul gi bo bcin khal gcig brtan kong dngos la chags pa yang stsald[-]
(14) [---] [lda phar] la brtsan dang / ldang nga gsas ko[r?] dang / sin pha 'do gsuM la drug thang re re stsa[l]d pa bsdom[s] [---]
(15) [---] brgyad stsald pa dang / / legs sgra zla brtsan sha cur pho nyar mchi ba bong bu gcig rang rkyen du sbyar pa'I gla[-] [---]
(16) [---] [-n] sla ra ba'i ngo la mo drus gi sku bla gsol ba'i tshe / / ba dan lha sgra lha lung la stsogs pa la [---]
(17) [---] gnyis / / lung 'bangs ^i cur rnams m[chi?]s ste gsa[r?] du mchis pa'I brgyags skyes pa [---]
(18) [---] dbus ba bud med brgyad mchis pa gcig la gsuM thang du stsald pa bsdoms na (bsdomsna = bsdoms na) / khal gnyis bre [---]
(19) [---] [-]g skyes la stsogs pa myi drug la snga g.yar khal gnyis stsol la / / sto[-] [-]r 'bul ba [---]
(20) [---] kyang bzang du 'tshol chig / / she'u lha sbyin la stsogs pa myi bzhI la khal re re ste khal bzhI' [d-] [---]
(21) [---] do gzig la smad la khal (kh+l = khal) gcig / 'di rnams sphyir bsdoms na (bsdomsna = bsdoms na) khal bdun cu phog shig / / (1 round vermilion seal and 8 slashes)
(22) [---] phog pa'i rjes la / / dgun sla tha chungs gi 'dzud [-]es khang khong legs pho nya'i sdod pu dang / rings [---]
(23) [---] [tsha?]l mar khal lnga / 'bog ske ga la / / zhang she'i / / phyag rgyas gtad de khal bcu stsald pa'i mju[-] [---]
(24) [---] [-g (/ga)] / chibs rdzi cang stag tshe la / byi ba lo'i dgun sla tha b[chung?]s tshes phan chad dang / glang gi lo'i dpyid [---]
(25) [---] [g]naM stong tshun chad dgung sla gsuM la brgyad thang du grtsis pa khal gcig bre bzhi / bong rdzi kvag so[g] [---]
(26) [---] [-m (/ma)] dang gcig ste / zla ba gsuM gi brgyags zla ba gcig la bre lnga lnga stsald pa brtsis na bre bcho l[ng]a [---]
(27) [---] [bsdo?]ms na khal phyed (phye = phyed) dang brgyad dang / bre dgu 'di rnams phog ste stsold la / / slad kyis rtsis gi tsh[e] su [---]
(28) [-r] god stsald to / /
Source Colophon
Old Tibetan transliteration from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), https://otdo.aa-ken.jp/archives?p=Pt_2204c, maintained by the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The OTDO transliteration preserves archaic Old Tibetan orthography. Variant readings indicated by OTDO's tooltip annotations are shown in parentheses. The original manuscript is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France as part of the Pelliot tibétain collection. Manuscript photographs available via Gallica (BnF): ark:/12148/btv1b83056399.
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