Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social) Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
The Phags-pa script was particularly well-suited for writing Sanskrit. This is the Phags-pa transcription of the Dharani of the Tathagata Heart (Tathāgata-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī)
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
And this is the Phags-pa transcription of the Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown (Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī)
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
They were respectively carved on the west and east inner walls of the Yuan dynasty archway (which originally supported three white stupa-shaped pagodas), now known as the Cloud Platform, at Juyong Pass, 50km northwest of the centre of Beijing (my photos from 2011)
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
Constructed between 1342 and 1345, at the command of the last Yuan emperor, Toghon Temür (Emperor Huizong, r. 1333–1368), each of the inner walls of the arch were engraved with Buddhist iconography and texts in six scripts: Lanydza (for Sanskrit), Tibetan Phags-pa, Old Uyghur, Tangut, and Chinese
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
These are early-to-mid 20th-century rubbings of the inscriptions, showing Lanydza and Tibetan running horizontally along the top, Phags-pa and Old Uyghur in vertical columns running left-to-right on the left side, and Chinese and Tangut in vertical columns running right-to-left on the right side
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This layout matches the layout of the inscriptions of the Buddhist mantra Oṃ maṇi padme hūm̐ in six scripts on the Stele of Sulaiman, erected at the Mogao Caves in 1348, with Lanydza and Tibetan on the top, Old Uyghur and Phags-pa on the left, and Chinese and Tangut on the right
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This is one of four early 14th-century Christian gravestones from Quanzhou (the great port city of the Mongolian empire, known to Marco Polo as Zayton) which have a main inscription engraved in Chinese language using the Phags-pa script.
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
The above stone is inscribed ꡖꡟꡃ ꡚꡦ ꡗꡃ ꡚꡞ ꡏꡟ ꡈꡓ ꞏung shė yang shi mu taw = Wengshe Yang-shi mudao "Tomb memorial of Yang Wengshe", and has a Chinese date inscription on either side reading 延祐甲寅良月吉日 "In the cyclical year jiayin of the Yanyou period (1314), on a good month and an auspicious day".
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This stone is inscribed ꡁꡗ ꡚꡋ ꡆꡦꡟ ꡗꡠꡋ ꡁꡡ ꡒꡜꡞ ꡝꡧꡞꡋ ꡏꡟ khay shan jėu yen kho dzhi 'win mu "Tomb of Zhu Yanke [styled] Ziyun of Kaishan", dated 至大四年辛亥仲秋朔日謹題 "In the cyclical year xinhai in the fourth year of the Zhida period (1311), respectfully inscribed on the first day of the second autumn month".
![Gravestone with a cross at the top, a main inscription in the middle consisting of two columns of Chinese text in Phags-pa script meaning "Tomb of Zhu Yanke [styled] Ziyun of Kaishan", and a date corresponding to 1311 in small Chinese characters on either side of the main inscription.](Images/bafkreiekpjzij5gfkqe5w7pytnghq3ipfdtrhbof52tldgyl25ys2vvmjq.jpg "Gravestone with a cross at the top, a main inscription in the middle consisting of two columns of Chinese text in Phags-pa script meaning \"Tomb of Zhu Yanke [styled] Ziyun of Kaishan\", and a date corresponding to 1311 in small Chinese characters on either side of the main inscription.")
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This stone is inscribed ꡗꡞ ꡂꡟꡃ ꡙꡞꡓ ꡚꡞ ꡏꡟ ꡆꡞ yi gung liw shi mu ji = Yigong Liu-shi muzhi "Tomb memorial of Liu Yigong", with a lateral date inscription 旹歲甲子仲春吉日 "In the cyclical year jiazi (1324), on an auspicious day of the second spring month".
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This stone has the simplest inscription, with a four-syllable Phags-pa inscription reading ꡗꡠ ꡚꡞ ꡏꡟ ꡆꡞ ye shi mu ji = Ye-shu muzhi "Tomb memorial of Madam Ye", and no date inscription.
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
I took these photos using my very first digital camera in January 2005 at the Quanzhou Museum of Maritime History (海外交通史博物館) where the stones are kept (see www.babelstone.co.uk/BabelDiary/2... for details).
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
These gravestones are normally associated with the Church of the East (so-called Nestorian church), but I believe they were for Chinese converts of the Franciscan bishopric of Zayton, which was established in 1308, under Bishops Gerard (1308–1313), Peregrine (1313–1318), and Andrew (1322–1332)
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This is a replica at the museum of a gravestone with a Latin inscription which which was found in Quanzhou, and is supposed to be for Andrew of Perugia, 3rd Bishop of Zayton (1322–1332), but honestly it is difficult to read anything beyond the first word.
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
C. J. Fordyce (1954) read the inscription as ☩ Hic (in PFS) sepultus est | Andreas Perusinus (de- | votus ep. Cayton ....... | .......ordinis (fratrum | min.) .................. | ... (Jesus Christi) Apostolus | ............................ | ........(in mense) ....... | m(cccxx)xii ☩
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
But Herbert Franke (1966) noted: "It must be Christian because the inscription begins with the sign of the Cross, but the attempt to read it as Latin and to regard it as the tomb inscription for Andrew of Perugia, the third suffragan bishop of Zayton — modern Ch'uan-chou — does not seem convincing."
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
Phags-pa script was mainly used for Mongolian and Chinese, but this 14th-century Phags-pa inscription on the north corridor wall to Cave 217 at the Mogao Caves reads ꡏꡦꡋ ꡎꡟ ꡗꡦꡋ ꡢ ꡗꡦ mėn bu yėn qa yė meaning "I, Buyan-Qaya" in the Uyghur language (Buyan-Qaya is a Buddhist name meaning Rock of Merit).
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
From a nearby inscription in Old Uyghur script we learn that Buyan-Qaya was a Buddhist pilgrim who had come from Suzhou 肅州 (modern Jiuquan in Gansu) three years previously. For more information see Dai Matsui's "Remarks on Buyan-Qaya, a Uighur Buddhist Pilgrim to Dunhuang" www.academia.edu/38650396/
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
The above images are from Paul Pelliot's "Les grottes de Touen-Houang" vol.6 (1924) Plates CCCLXVI and CCCLXVII (dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VI...), and show details of the Old Uyghur inscriptions that are no longer visible.
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
This image from the Digital Dunhuang website (www.e-dunhuang.com/cave/10.0001...) shows that the Phags-pa inscription on the right remains intact, but much of the adjacent Uyghur inscription has since been lost, and the Uyghur inscription on the left has been overwritten by some Tibetan writing.
Andrew West 魏安 (@babelstone.bsky.social)
A small fragment of a Mongolian text printed using the Phags-pa script, recovered from the Northern Area of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang between 1988 and 1995.
The middle column reads ꡖꡞꡘ ꡂꡦ ꡋꡞ ꞏir gė ni = Mongolian ᠢᠷᠭᠡᠨ ᠢ irgen-i 'people' (acc.)
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