14 Dr. Hoernle —Antiquities from Central Asia. [Extra No. I, 
in the official Indian language and Indian-Kharoatln characters. This 
explains the use of the latter amongst a Turk! population, such as 
that of Kliotan must have been. They were the language and script 
of the Uighur Government, having originally been adopted in India, and 
surviving in Kliotan after the Indian portion of the kingdom had been 
lost. Similarly the use of the Indian-Uighur types of the bare horse 
and the Bactrian camel were continued. These types are found on 
the coins of Maues, Azes, and their successors ; 13 and indeed, they 
rather point to Turkestan as their home-land. 
That a species of Indian script was current in Khotan, is w r ell 
known from Chinese writers. The case is not quite so clear with respect 
to the language of the country. Hiuen Tsiang (about 645 A.D.) relates 
that “ the written characters and the mode of forming their sentences 
resemble the Indian model; the forms of the letters differ somewhat; 
the differences, however, are slight. The spoken language also differs 
from that of other countries.” 14 Another account says that “ they have 
chronicles, and their characters, as well as their laws and their litera¬ 
ture, are imitated from those of the Hindus, with some slight altera¬ 
tions. This imitation has diminished their barbarism, and modified 
their manners and their language which (latter) differs from that of 
other people.” 16 These statements clearly indicate that the Uighur 
population of Khotan, originally totally unlettered and uncultured, 
derived the whole of their ancient culture from India; and this fact well 
agrees with, and is well explained by, the ancient extension of Uighur 
rule over North-Western India. At the same time, it is not probable 
that the Chinese statements about the written characters refer to the 
Indian-Kharostlii script. They rather indicate a modified form of Indian- 
Bi ahmi. The Kharostlii, as seen on the Indo-Chinese coins, does not 
merely “ resemble the Indian model,” but is identical with that once 
current in North-Western India and Eastern Afghanistan. Hiuen 
Tsiang was a Buddhist monk, and on his travels he resided in Buddhist 
monasteries, and came in contact almost exclusively with Buddhist 
culture. The Indian-Brahml was the home-script and the peculiar script 
of Buddhism, and was carried by them wherever they went. It went 
13 See British Mns. Cat., pp. 72, 89, 96, 112. On their coins, as well as on the 
Indo-Chinese coins, the horse is standing or walking, and is turned to the right. The 
horse occurs also on the coins of other kings (Enthydemus, Heliocles, Menander, etc.), 
but it is turned to the left, or is prancing. So also the camel is found on Menander’s 
coins, but it is turned to the left, while on the Indo-Chinese coins it stands to the 
right. 
1* See Beal’s Buddhist Records of the Western World, Yol. II, p. 309. 
*6 See Abel Remusat’s Histoire de la Ville de Khotan, p. 37. 
