National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

There remain discrepancies among the sources even with these explanations, and
the question of Yü-ni and I-hsün can not be regarded as definitely solved.
There is very little doubt, however, that I-hsün of the T'ang annals is identical
with Miran. The name was at that time applied to Miran instead of a part of the
Charkhliq oasis, which then had the name Shih-ch'eng.
Other T'ang names of Miran is Ch'i-t'un-ch'eng (City of seven military colonies)
or simply T'un-ch'eng. On the Tibetan records found by Stein the place is called
Nob-chun or Little Nob.
As I believe in the identification of Yü-ni with Charkhliq, and also want tentative-
ly to locate I-hsün there, I rob Miran of its position as the one time capital of Shan-
shan.

*

In September 1928 I paid a short visit to Miran in order to get an ocular impres-
sion of the ruins already excavated by Stein. Unfortunately I did not take his pub-
lications with me on the 1928 expedition. The traces of his excavations were still
easily seen. The very small rooms in the fortress, which served the Tibetan garri-
son as quarters, had been cleared from refuse by Stein. Some drift sand had accum-
ulated on the floors, but not to any great extent, considering the period of fourteen
years that had elapsed.
Tokhta Akhun of Miran, formerly residing at Abdal,¹ and the faithful servant
both of Hedin and Stein, accompanied me, and he presented me with a bead of gilt
glass, Pl. 38: 5, and a small wooden slip with Tibetan writings, Pl. 38: 2. These ob-
jects he had found in the fortress of Miran after Stein's departure. This small Ti-
betan record is unfortunately fragmentary and the reading of it is therefore difficult.
I am indebted to Mr. W. A. Unkrig for the following suggestions. It begins with a
pir-ka i. e. "trial stroke". The two first words are p o s s i b l y bso mgon (the
guardian of the resting place), then follows a vertical stroke and probably a gya do
(breast plate or shield) and a pa or ma?. The final signs can not be read. This frag-
mentary reading gives no proper sense.
From the ground around the fortress we picked up some pottery fragments
among which a sherd of a small vessel with part of a Tibetan inscription is of some
interest, Pl. 37: 7. Its fragmentary condition does not allow of any definite inter-
pretation. It also starts with a pir-ka. The first letter is a ca or tsa; the three follow-
ing characters are too fragmentary to be read. The fifth is certainly a ka, and the
last one a ro. For this reading I am also indebted to the kind efforts of Mr. W. A.
Unkrig.
When Tokhta Akhun learned of my intention not to undertake any further
excavations in the ruins, as this would scarcely have been worth while on ground so
thoroughly examined by Stein, he told me about a burial place a little to the north.