Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .5
H. Reichelt, who first published the letters in 1931, along with detailed descriptions
and transliterations. The French scholars R. Gauthiot, P. Pelliot and F. Rosenberg
also made significant contributions to the study of the letters.
Pelliot, in particular, highlighted that one of the letters contained information
about the destruction of the Chinese capital Luoyang by nomads, which took place
on three occasions, in AD 190, 311 and 535, as historical evidence indicates. Walter
Henning undertook a detailed, comparative analysis of the contents of the letters
and historical data. He came to the conclusion that the letters had been written in
AD 312–313, and that one of them reflected events known of from other textual
sources related to the capture of the Chinese capital Luoyang by Huns. Henning’s
dating has been widely accepted in academic circles, although the Hungarian scholar
J. Harmatta recently attempted to prove that the Sogdian letters were written in
196 ad, while the Japanese researcher A. Fujieda believes they date from the 6th
century AD. A more recent close examination of the letters conducted by Frantz
Grenet and Nicholas Sims-Williams, taking into account archaeological, historical
and numismatic evidence, has corroborated Henning’s dating.
Some of these letters were written by natives of Samarkand and were destined for
their city. One was written in Kucha, two in Dunhuang, the rest probably in Luoyang.
The large Sogdian settlements with trading stations were all situated along the route
of the Silk Road south of the Great Wall of China.
The letters also mention other Chinese cities where Sogdian merchants and
their families lived: Jincheng, Chanban (Khumdan), among others. The commercial
operations carried out in these places by Sogdian merchants were subsidised by
wealthy Samarkand merchants, who provided credit and managed negotiations.
The content of the letters is diverse. In particular, they mention various peoples who
lived in the oases of Xinjiang: Indians, Huns, Chinese and Sogdians; they give names
of people, mostly Iranian, and the names of cities and settlements. They tell of the
dramatic events related to invasions by nomads and of trade transactions involving the
sale of silk, fabrics, pepper and perfumes, the purchase and sale of silver. Important
details about the Sogdians are included, such as in the second letter, which mentions
a hundred noble men from Samarkand who came to live in Dunhuang.
The letters also contain Indian terms related to trade, such as words for caravan
or price. The second letter, in particular, has come to be known as ‘Nanai-vandak’s
Report’ in academic circles, and provides fascinating details on the phonology,
morphology and syntax of the Sogdian language. The author of the letter, a Sogdian
called Nanai-vandak, which means slave, or servant, to the goddess Nana, addressed
it to Nanai-thvar, the head of the merchants in Samarkand. It contains a detailed
account of the life of Sogdian settlers and the hardships they endured through the
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