A fragment from altun yaruq sudur in the huang wenbi collection at the national museum of china

Abstract

The Chinese archaeologist Huang Wenbi (黃文弼) succeeded in obtaining highly valuable Old Uyghur documents during several expeditions to East Turkestan (Xinjiang). A significant part of the Old Uyghur manuscripts in the National Museum of China is based on the collection Huang Wenbi obtained during his expeditions to East Turkestan from 1928 to 1930. In 1954, he published an archaeological report in which he made black and white photographs of many of these fragments relating to Turfan. The article deals with a fragment from the collection of Huang Wenbi that relates to the Altun Yaruq Sudur. It belongs to the part 4 of the Tägzinč (卷 juan) II. While the recto of the fragment is present in the St. Petersburg manuscript of the Sūtra, the verso of the fragment corresponds to the missing 47th leaf (ikinti yeti älig) in the St. Petersburg manuscript today. Therefore, it can be said that the verso completes the missing section in the St. Petersburg manuscript.

Keywords

• old uyghur
• altun yaruq sudur
• huang wenbi