The Formal Kharosthi Script From The Northern Tarim Basin In Northwest China May Write An Iranian Language

Building on collaborative work with Stefan Baums, Ching Chao-jung, Hannes Fellner and Georges-Jean Pinault during a workshop at Leiden University in September 2019, tentative readings are presented from a manuscript folio (T II T 48) from the Northern Tarim Basin in Northwest China written in the thus far undeciphered Formal Kharosthi script. Unlike earlier scholarly proposals, the language of this folio cannot be Tocharian, nor can it be Sanskrit or Middle Indic (Gandhari). Instead, it is proposed that the folio is written in an Iranian language of the Khotanese-Tumsuqese type. Several readings are proposed, but a full transcription, let alone a full translation, is not possible at this point, and the results must consequently remain provisional.