New developments in the history of east Uighur manichaeism

Abstract

Most of the materials on the history of Manichaeism during the time of the East Uighur empire are Chinese sources (Chinese works and the Karabalgasun inscription) which are well known on account of its French translation with detailed notes by Chavannes and Pelliot (1911-1913). Thereafter several new materials in Middle Iranian or in Old Uighur have been published as follows: T II D 135, a colophon in Middle Persian; M 1, a colophon of the Mahrnāmag (Hymn-Book); U 1 (= T II K Bündel Nr. D 173), a fragment of an Uighur historical book about Old Turkic peoples; U 72 and U 73, an Uighur Account of Mouyu Qaγan’s Conversion to Manichaeism; U 168 II (= T II D 173 a2), the colophon of a prayer appended to a Uighur Manichaean scripture in 795. Also just recently Peter Zieme has discovered new material: 81TB10: 06-3a. I have tried to reconstruct the history of Manichaeism during the time of the East Uighur empire synthesizing all materials mentioned above.