Tocharians

The Tocharians were an ancient people of the Tarim Basin in Central Asia, known chiefly through texts in two extinct Indo-European languages, Tocharian A and Tocharian B.

Tocharian languages: An extinct branch of Indo-European comprising Tocharian A and Tocharian B, recorded in manuscripts from the Tarim Basin. These languages provide the clearest evidence for the people’s identity and history.
Proto-Tocharian: The reconstructed ancestor of the Tocharian languages, spoken before their attested division into Tocharian A and B. Its reconstruction helps trace the linguistic ancestry behind the Tarim Basin texts.
Buddhism in the Tarim Basin: The spread and practice of Buddhist traditions among the oasis societies of the Tarim Basin. Many Tocharian manuscripts survive because Buddhist communities copied and used them.
Maitreyasamitinataka: A Buddhist drama about the future Buddha Maitreya, preserved in Tocharian A and other Central Asian versions. Its Tocharian text reveals literary production beyond short religious or administrative documents.
Tocharian homeland problem: The unresolved question of where Proto-Tocharian was spoken before Tocharian languages appear in the Tarim Basin. The attested texts are far east of many proposed Indo-European homelands.
Tarim Basin: An arid Central Asian basin ringed by mountains and containing the Taklamakan Desert and oasis settlements. The basin’s oases were the setting for the communities associated with Tocharian texts.
Tocharian migration: The proposed movement of ancestral Tocharian-speaking populations into or across Central Asia, reconstructed from linguistic and archaeological evidence. The languages’ eastern location raises questions about how their speakers reached the Tarim Basin.
Silk Road: A network of land and sea routes that connected East Asia, Central Asia, and regions farther west through trade and exchange. Tarim Basin communities occupied oasis routes linking eastern and western Eurasia.
Tocharian B Maitreyasamitinataka: A Tocharian B version of the Buddhist Maitreya drama, preserved among Central Asian manuscript fragments. It offers a concrete example of Tocharian B literary and religious writing.
Tocharian ethnonym problem: The uncertainty over whether the ancient label “Tocharian” correctly names the people who spoke Tocharian languages. The modern linguistic name may not match the communities’ own identities or ancient labels.

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