Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

3.1
Xwarzβanak, Pandkasak…, Sawβaγdak, βewarsawak, Wax(u)smari; these are slaves
of the wife (of the house owner) – Razmβewarak, Pitanak; slaves of children – Kak,
Farnaβγawak; slaves of a son of a concubine – first present Δarteγanak…’. ‘First
present’ means ‘present for the first time in a census or listed for the first time’.
Other Ancient Khorezmian inscriptions are very short: legends on coins,
inscriptions on clay fragments of vessels. The inscriptions from the 7th–8th
centuries AD from Tok-Kala are of special interest: they are executed in black ink
on the lids and walls of ossuaries. The inscriptions were made vertically in one or
several lines and contain, as V. Livshits established, proper names and dates with an
indication of days and years from the Ancient Khorezmian era which began in mid-
1st century AD. Another group of Khorezmian inscriptions from the 7th and 8th
centuries AD has been identified on silver vessels found in the region of the Kama
river, on a trade route used for transporting furs. These inscriptions contain dates:
day, month, year, as well as the name of the owner, and indications of weight.
At the beginning of the 8th century, Qutaiba ibn Muslim’s campaign against
Khorezm caused enormous damage to ancient Khorezmian written documents. As
al-Biruni writes, whole libraries were destroyed on his orders. However, according
to V. Livshits, although ancient Central Asian scripts were beginning to be replaced
by Arabic, and despite the subsequent widespread use of Arabic, the Khorezmian
alphabet continued to be used here in the early 11th century.
In southern Central Asia, predominantly in northern Bactria/Tokharistan, in
ancient and early medieval times, in addition to local writing systems, the Indian
writing systems of Kharoshthi and Brahmi were also in use. They were the heritage
of the Buddhist community or sangha and of the Indian colonies that emerged in
southern Central Asia as a result of trade and the introduction of Buddhism into
the region.
The study of these writing systems began in the late 1930s when a fragment
of a stone slab with a partially preserved inscription, identified by M. Masson as
Kharoshthi, was found at the Old Termez site.
Subsequent years of research at Karatepa and then at Fayaztepa in Old Termez
revealed a significant number of Indian inscriptions on fragments and complete
vessels, as well as graffiti and dipinti (painted) inscriptions. Inscriptions on pottery
made in several alphabets were also found here, which included Brahmi-Bactrian,
Brahmi-Bactrian-Kharoshthi and Brahmi-Kharoshthi. Finds of Indian inscriptions
outside Old Termez are quite rare and have consisted mainly of inscriptions from
Kushan times on clay fragments from the Dalverzin hoard. Manuscripts on birch bark
in Brahmi from Old Merv and Zangtepa, and a rock inscription in Kharoshthi found
in the eastern Pamirs date from the early medieval period. There have also been (as
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