Tsuguhito Takeuchi
Tsuguhito Takeuchi is Professor of Linguistics at Kobe City
University of Foreign Studies. His research field is the linguistic
analysis of Old Tibetan documents from Central Asia. He is the
author of Old Tibetan Manuscripts from East
Turkestan in the Stein Collection of the British
Library and he is currently cataloguing the Tibetan woodslips
in the Stein Collection.
His chosen item is IOL Tib N 1103 (M.Tagh.002) in the Stein Collection of
the British Library, a Tibetan woodslip unearthed from Mazār Tāgh by
Aurel Stein.
Tsuguhito Takeuchi writes:
This is a particular type of tally stick. One side is painted
red with several short and long notches cut into it. A wedge is
cut away at the bottom right. On the left side is written a
place name, ending with rtse ‘mountain peak.’ This is a
place for ri-zug or hill-stationing of watchmen, a unit of
four men, consisting of Tibetan soldiers and Khotanese cooks.
They were sent from the Mazār Tāgh fort to hill stations in the
desert. When they set out, they brought the cut-out wedge as a
tally to receive provisions (barley) later from a courier who
carried this master woodslip bearing the name of the
hill-station. At the time of receiving provisions, both short
and long notched served for identification: the short notches
represented the amount of grain, while the long ones served for
matching-up.
Although each ri-zug slip appears to
contain scarce information, closer examinations reveal how they
actually functioned. They attest the sophisticated logistic
system of the Tibetan military administration, a key for
understanding how a small number of Tibetans controlled the vast
colonial empire.
These slips together with paper documents
also vividly indicate the harshness of the lives of local
peoples. How were they recruited and sent to stations? They tell
of the escape and execution of Khotanese, etc. Seemingly humble
finds yield much information!
Link to original post on IDP blog.