Khotanese as a Language of the Tarim Borderlands

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8135321
AutoresHannes A Fellner (0000-0001-5486-3010, University of Vienna, autor de correspondencia)
Año2026
Volumen17
Número3
Páginas295
Fecha de publicación2026-02-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditorialMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel17030295
OpenAlexW7131804250
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas30

This paper examines the Khotanese tradition in the political and cultural history of the Tarim Basin in the first millennium CE by foregrounding its role as an active facilitator within a multicultural and continually transforming geopolitical environment. The paper approaches Khotanese as both a medium through which local forms of social organization were articulated and a mediator embedded in wider circuits of exchange linking the Tarim Basin with South, Central, and East Asia. Particular attention is given to the linguistic and textual evidence for interaction with other traditions in and around the Tarim Basin, and to cases in which adaptation, (re-)composition, and translation can be associated with identifiable historical settings, institutions, and actors. The paper argues from selected examples that the history of Khotanese illuminates how regional languages sustained local authority while remaining deeply entangled with transregional formations of knowledge, culture, and exchange, and how, in the contested spaces of imperial borderlands, local communities had to hone cultural prestige in and through their languages in order to maintain their standing

Exposition (narrative · Facilitator · Foregrounding · Geopolitics · Homeland · Politics · Prestige · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Indian and Buddhist Studies

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