BACTRIAN: DISPUTE SETTLEMENT

MS 4580
MS Short Title BACTRIAN: DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
Text SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTE BETWEEN KHAY AND KHATUL THE SONS OF PABAG AND THEIR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS AS ONE PARTY, AND MEYAM AND ZHULAD THE SONS OF PIY AND THEIR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS AS THE OTHER PARTY, ALL SERVANTS OF YAN GOZGAN KING OF GAR AND INHABITANTS OF LIZAG, CONCERNING A DEBT DISPUTED WITH NOSPIL, INHABITANT OF SAMINGAN: SO NOW I, KHAY, AND I, KHATUL, AND MY CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS HAVE RECEIVED THE FINE IN FULL FROM YOU, MEYAM, AND FROM YOU, ZHULAD, AND FROM THE NOSPIL FAMILY, SO THAT FROM NOW UNTIL ETERNITY WE, KHAY AND KHATUL AND OUR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS, HAVE NO DISPUTE AT ALL WITH MEYAM OR ZHULAD OR THEIR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS, NEITHER CONCERNING MATTERS RELATING TO SLAVES, NOR CONCERNING THE FINE, NOR CONCERNING THE DEBT, NOR CONCERNING SMALL MATTERS, NOR CONCERNING GREAT MATTERS; AND WE SHALL NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISPUTE WITH YOU, NEITHER CONCERNING MATTERS RELATING TO SLAVES, NOR CONCERNING THE NOSPIL FAMILY'S FINE, NOR CONCERNING ANY OTHER DEBT. SO, IF WE SHOULD DISPUTE ANYTHING WITH YOU, OUR CLAIM AND ARGUMENT SHALL NOT BE VALID IN COURT; WE ALSO SHALL PAY A FINE TO THE JUDICIAL TREASURY OF 500 DIRHAMS OF KING KAWAD, AND WE SHALL PAY 500 DIRHAMS TO YOU, MEYAM, AND TO YOUR BROTHERS AND CHILDREN. AFTER THE FINE, MAY THIS SEALED DOCUMENT BE AUTHORITATIVE. DATED YEAR 500 MONTH PUSIG, DAY MIHR, IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GOD WAKHSH KING OF GODS, RAHUL THE LEADER OF THE PEOPLE OF LIZAG, WIYUS THE CLERK OF THE WORKS(?) OF WULAKH, YAKAN THE TUDUN, BABAY, SALAK, AND THE ASSEMBLED INHABITANTS OF LIZAG
Description MS in Bactrian on vellum, Guzgan area, Afghanistan, 732, 1 f., 28x19 cm, 31 long lines in Bactrian cursive documentary script, 6 signatures on reverse, 4 of originally 6 clay seals, with the motifs: a Greek capital upsilon, 3 fingernail impressions, a swastika, and a standing figure.
Context MSS 4580-4581 are from the same archive of 8 documents covering a period of 60 years.
Provenance 1. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary More than a hundred Bactrian documents, written in cursive script on leather, cloth or wood have been discovered in the last decade of the 20th c. Before that our corpus of Bactrian was effectively limited to a single inscription from Surkh Kotal and the short legends on coins and seals. Almost all other texts were either illegible, incomprehensible, or both.
Mentioned Académie de Inscriptions & Belles-lettres, Comptes rendus des séances de l'année 2002. Nicholas Sims-Williams: Nouveaux documents Bactriens du Guzgan.
Place of origin Afghanistan
Dates 732 AD