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Abstract A large number of unearthed documents show that the Gandharan language and the Kharo??hī script were commonly used in the Shan-shan Kingdom in the southeast of Tarim Basin from the 2nd to the 5th century AD. Since Kharo??hī was one of the official scripts of the Kushan Dynasty, some scholars have proposed that the Kushans ever ruled the Tarim Basin. However, upon careful examination of literatures, unearthed documents and cultural relics, it can be proved that such views contradict historical facts. The Shan-shan Kingdom adopted the Gandharan and Kharo??hī as its administrative language and script, not due to the coercion from the Kushan Dynasty, but as a temporary measure taken by the kingdom in the special period at the end of the Han Dynasty.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the Tarim Basin was first brought under the rule of dynasties in the Central Plains. The Han Dynasty set up a series of officials and institutions such as Protector-general of the Western Regions, Chief Official of the Western Regions, and Wu and Chi colonels to effectively govern the Western Regions. For these Northwest territories are vast and sparsely populated, the operation of administrations relies on official documents. Before the governance of the Han Dynasty, there were no scripts in the oasis kingdoms. Chinese characters were introduced to the Western Regions by Han Dynasty officials and soldiers, becoming the first script used in the regions, which had a profound impact on the local society. The wooden slips with Chinese characters unearthed from places such as Loulan and Niya are solid evidence that Chinese script was prevalent in the Western Regions. The oasis kingdoms established specialised clerical agencies and officials such as translators and clerks. Since the number of local natives who mastered Chinese characters was limited, the staff in the agencies were mainly Han people. These clerical agencies played an indispensable role in the domestic affairs, diplomacy, and daily lives of the local nobles in the oasis kingdoms. Firstly, they were the basis for maintaining the documental communication of the local administration systems. Secondly, most of the daily correspondence between local nobles required help from the scribes. Moreover, when envoys from the countries west of the Pamir Mountains passed through the oasis kingdoms in the Tarim Basin, they usually needed the assistance of these clerical agencies to write credentials submitted to the Han Dynasty.
The long-term governance of the Western Regions by the Han Dynasty enabled the oasis kingdoms to adapt to the documental society. However, the Han officers and soldiers withdrew to the Central Plains at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and personnel exchanges between the Central Plains and the Western Regions were cut off due to the Liangzhou Rebellion. The clerical agencies of the oasis kingdoms lacked scribes who were proficient in Chinese characters, resulting in a serious writing crisis. This situation put the normal operation of administration, economy, and daily life of the oasis kingdoms in a predicament. They need to find new scripts to replace the role that Chinese characters once played in the local documental society. The Shan-shan Kingdom has a long and narrow territory. Furthermore, it is the easternmost kingdom in the Tarim Basin and is most affected by the Central Plains. Therefore, its administrative operation has the strongest demand for scripts. During the Han and Jin dynasties, Shan-shan was a gathering place for Kushan merchants and Buddhists, and there were lots of Kushan people who spoke Gandharan language and used Kharo??hī script within its territory. In order to ensure the normal operation of the documental society, the rulers of Shan-shan took the initiative to recruit those Kushans as scribes in the clerical agencies. Those Kushans neither possessed advanced cultural literacy nor mastered in grammar, hence they were unable to create a new script adapted to the Shan-shan dialect in a short time. Therefore, the rulers of Shan-shan had to set the Gandharan language as their official language while the Kharo??hī as offical script.
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Published: 31 August 2024
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