Tocharians

File:Ladies of Miran.png

Fragment of a painting depicting two Tocharian ladies, found in the Silk Road oasis town of Miran.

File:QizilDonors.jpg

Depiction of Tocharians on a mural.

Tocharian B Love Poem B-496. Translation in Krause and Thomas 1960–64:2.72 and Pinault 2008:32 II.

File:Tocharian languages-ABC.png

Tocharian languages - A, B, C in the Tarim Basin. Tarim oasis towns are given as listed in the Book of Han (c. 2nd century BC.) Areas of the squares are proportional to population.

The Tocharians (Traditional Chinese: 吐火羅人) were an ancient people who lived in the Tarim Basin. The Tocharians spoke an Indo-European language called the Tocharian. The region they lived in is closer to the East Asia than any other Indo-European-speaking regions.

Tocharians Media

• Royal family, Cave 17, Kizil (family detail, retouched).jpg

  Royal family, Cave 17, Kizil (family detail, retouched)

• Figure of nobility, Cave 17, Kizil.jpg

  Figure of Tocharian nobility, Cave 17, Kizil Caves, circa 500 AD

• Se pañäkte saṅketavattse ṣarsa papaiykau.jpg

  The Tocharian script is very similar to the Indian Brahmi script from the Kushan period, with only slight variations in calligraphy. Tocharian language inscription: Se pañäkte saṅketavattse ṣarsa papaiykau "This Buddha was painted by the hand of Sanketava", on a painting carbon dated to 245-340 AD.

• Maya Cave 224, Tocharian Prince mourning the Buddha

• Chemurchek statue Khukh uzuuriin dugui I - 1.png

  Chemurchek statue, Khukh uzuuriin dugui I - 1. Bulgan, Khovd, Mongolia

• Larger Tarim oasis states (1st century BC).svg

  Major oasis states of the ancient Tarim Basin

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  Tocharian kneeling devotees circa 300 AD, in the paintings of the Cave of the Hippocampi (Cave 118), Kizil Caves.

• Cave 123 complete with sides.jpg

  The Buddhist Cave with the Ring-Bearing Doves (Cave 123) at the Kizil Caves near Kucha, built circa 430-530 AD.

• Cave of the Painters (detail of the Monks).jpg

  Monks from the Cave of the Painters circa 500 AD, Kizil Caves.

Related pages

• Sogdia
• Scythia
• Turkestan
• Macedonia
• Central Asia
• Hephthalites
• Indo-Iranian peoples
• Indo-Iranian languages

Other websites

• Tocharian alphabet
• Modern studies are developing a Tocharian dictionary
• Mark Dickens, 'Everything you always wanted to know about Tocharian' Archived 2003-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Mysterious Mummies of China Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine by Nova on Google Video