A MIDDLE INDO-ARYAN INSCRIPTION FROM CHINA

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" A MIDDLE INDO-ARYAN INSCRIPTION FROM CHINA "
Mark A. Whaley

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	811651
Doc. No	:	LA99325
Main Entry	:	Mark A. Whaley
Title & Author	:	A MIDDLE INDO-ARYAN INSCRIPTION FROM CHINA [Article]\ Mark A. Whaley
Title of Periodical	:	Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Date	:	2009
Volume/ Issue Number	:	62-4
Page No	:	413--460
Abstract	:	The work comprises a presentation of a decipherment of an inscription on ancient lead objects found in China's Wei River Valley, and the Han dynastic histories that preserve their memory. To reach his decipherment the author provides a substantial assembly of lexical material — much of it heretofore unpublished and absent from dictionaries — including Indo-European, Sanskrit, Indo-Aryan, and Chinese languages. Augmenting the philological material is a meaningful observation of Brāhmī forms and Chinese graphs also missing from standard works. The author observes the implications of his decipherment for the study of the interaction between Indian and Chinese cultures in antiquity, as well as for the history of the early proselytisation of the Buddhist faith and philosophy outside of India. All of it results in a contribution that should be of serious interest to Indologists and Sinologists alike.