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49-494: It is used to write both the Tibetan language and Dzongkha , the official language of Bhutan . There are also a number of cursive forms of the Tibetan script, sometimes collectively referred to as umê ( Tibetan : དབུ་མེད་ , Wylie : dbu-med ), "headless." Uchen script is a written Tibetan script that uses alphabetic characters to physically record the spoken languages of Tibet and Bhutan. Uchen script emerged in between

98-544: A close linguistic relationship to J'umowa, which is spoken in the Chumbi Valley of Southern Tibet . It has a much more distant relationship to Standard Tibetan . Spoken Dzongkha and Tibetan are around 50% to 80% mutually intelligible, with the literary forms of both highly influenced by the liturgical (clerical) Classical Tibetan language, known in Bhutan as Chöke, which has been used for centuries by Buddhist monks . Chöke

147-752: A distinct set of rules." The following is a sample vocabulary: The following is a sample text in Dzongkha of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : འགྲོ་ ’Gro- བ་ ba- མི་ mi- རིགས་ rigs- ག་ ga- ར་ ra- དབང་ dbaṅ- ཆ་ cha- འདྲ་ ’dra- མཏམ་ mtam- འབད་ ’bad- སྒྱེཝ་ sgyew- ལས་ las- ག་ ga- ར་ ra- གིས་ gis- གཅིག་ Trisong Detsen Tri Songdetsen ( Tibetan : ཁྲོ་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བརྩན། ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བཙན , Wylie : khri srong lde brtsan/btsan , ZYPY : Chisong Dêzän , Lhasa dialect : [ʈʂʰisoŋ tetsɛ̃] )

196-570: A famous two-year debate from 792-794, known in Western scholarship as the "Council of Lhasa" (although it took place at Samye at quite a distance from Lhasa ) outside the capital. He sponsored a Dharma debate between the Chan Buddhist Moheyan , who represented the third documented wave of Chan dissemination in Tibet, and the scholar Kamalaśīla , a student of Śāntarakṣita . Effectively the debate

245-433: A major power. He commissioned Thonmi Sambhota to create a script for Tibet and Bhutan, and in doing so wished to emulate the power of surrounding successful nations like India. India already had an established and successfully implemented written script. This allowed for India to be able to secure internal events and unification, as well as develop foreign relations and trade. Songtsen Gampo wanted his nation of Tibet to gain

294-637: A more abstract use of lines to represent meanings. Thus, Sumerian Cuneiform was the basis in which written language developed, and it influenced the Uchen script in its use of lines and abstract shapes that can be deciphered into words. Some of the proceeding earliest written scripts developed some time after Sumerian cuneiform are scripts attributed to Old Chinese . These scripts have been recorded on stone and marble and are written in Old Chinese. These scripts were less pictographic and more abstract in their depiction of

343-619: A more distant relationship to Standard Tibetan . Spoken Dzongkha and Tibetan are around 50 to 80 percent mutually intelligible . Dzongkha and its dialects are the native tongue of eight western districts of Bhutan ( viz. Wangdue Phodrang , Punakha , Thimphu , Gasa , Paro , Ha , Dagana and Chukha ). There are also some native speakers near the Indian town of Kalimpong , once part of Bhutan but now in North Bengal , and in Sikkim . Dzongkha

392-408: A notable change in form of the script, as ink and paper recordings were faster and easier to create. The script's form on paper manuscripts has less rigid lines and has a more of a slanted typography. This, in combination with the script writer's agency and human error, has led to variants in form that can be observed in early paper and ink Uchen documents and a more widespread uptake of Umê script over

441-422: A scribe would have marked out letters on the stone pillar or slab, and the stone cutter would have carved out the marked letters using the chisel as a sharp end to chip the stone and the hammer to apply force to the chisel. Wood and paper manuscripts have also been found containing Uchen script. The creation dates of these sources span from the middle of the eighth to the end of the tenth century. Historians believe

490-589: A second party to China in 763. This second expedition was headed by a high minister, Sba Gsalsnan. There is scholarly dissent about whom Gsalsnan encountered in Yizhou. Early scholarship considered Kim, but this had been revised to Baotang Wuzhu (714-774), head and founder of Baotang Monastery in Chengdu . Both Kim and Baotang Wuzhu were of the same school of Chan, the East Mountain Teaching . Tri Songdetsen, hosted

539-515: A successful and growing Empire. These elevations largely can be credited to Uchen script, as the implementation of a centralised script for countries and regions can be both a unifying and money acquiring tool. Uchen script was also heavily influenced by Indian written scripts of the period, namely Brahmi scripts . This direct influence of India and link between the two writing systems was also useful as it connected Tibet with India's power. This aided Tibet in securing highly valuable connections between

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588-469: Is believed to have been carved into wooden slabs. Though some evidence of these wooden carvings have been found by archaeologists and interpreted by historians, the majority of these artefacts have not been found but rather, over time have been eroded and lost. The earliest surviving examples of the written script are dated to have been made 100 years after the initial creation of the writing system . These artefacts have been dated to have been created between

637-731: Is considered the Mother of Buddhism. The first documented dissemination of Chan Buddhism to Tibet, chronicled in what has become known as the Statements of the Sba Family , occurred in about 761 when Tri Songdetsen Detsen sent a party to the Yizhou region to receive the teachings of Kim Hwasang , a Korean Chan master , who they encountered in Sichuan . The party received teachings and three Chinese texts from Kim, who died soon after. Tri Songdetsen patronised

686-598: Is now called the Middle East , which encompasses parts of Western Asia. One such written language that emerged from West Asia is Sumerian Cuneiform , the earliest documented writing system, which has been dated by historians to be from the Bronze Age. it is stylistically basic, using simple lines to create semi-realistic images to record language, such as depictions of animals. This use of lines eventually developed away from realistic drawings into symbols and alphabets that utilized

735-471: Is often elided and results in the preceding vowel nasalized and prolonged, especially word-finally. Syllable-final /k/ is most often omitted when word-final as well, unless in formal speech. In literary pronunciation, liquids /r/ and /l/ may also end a syllable. Though rare, /ɕ/ is also found in syllable-final positions. No other consonants are found in syllable-final positions. Many words in Dzongkha are monosyllabic . Syllables usually take

784-450: Is said that Mune Tsenpo was poisoned by his mother, who was jealous of his beautiful wife. Whatever the case, both the Old Book of Tang and the Tibetan sources agree that, since Mune Tsenpo had no heirs, power passed to his younger brother, Sadnalegs, who was on the throne by 804 CE. The other brother, Mutik Tsenpo, was apparently not considered for office as he had previously murdered

833-400: Is usually a trill [ r ] or a fricative trill [ r̝ ] , and is voiceless in the onsets of high-tone syllables. /t, tʰ, ts, tsʰ, s/ are dental . Descriptions of the palatal affricates and fricatives vary from alveolo-palatal to plain palatal. Only a few consonants are found in syllable-final positions. Most common among them are /m, n, p/ . Syllable-final /ŋ/

882-523: Is usually written in Bhutanese forms of the Uchen script , forms of the Tibetan script known as Jôyi "cursive longhand" and Jôtshum "formal longhand". The print form is known simply as Tshûm . There are various systems of romanization and transliteration for Dzongkha, but none accurately represents its phonetic sound. The Bhutanese government adopted a transcription system known as Roman Dzongkha , devised by

931-511: Is very important to the history of Tibetan Buddhism as one of the three 'Dharma Kings' (Tibetan: chögyel ) who established Buddhism in Tibet . The Three Dharma Kings were Songtsen Gampo , Tri Songdetsen, and Ralpacan . The Skar-cung pillar erected by Sadnalegs (ruled c. 800-815) says that during the reign of Tri Songdetsen, "shrines of the Three Jewels were established by building temples at

980-528: Is written using the Tibetan script . The word dzongkha means "the language of the fortress", from dzong "fortress" and kha "language". As of 2013 , Dzongkha had 171,080 native speakers and about 640,000 total speakers. Dzongkha is a South Tibetic language . It is closely related to Laya and Lunana and partially intelligible with Sikkimese , and to some other Bhutanese languages such as Chocha Ngacha , Brokpa , Brokkat and Lakha . It has

1029-444: The 8th and 9th centuries. Whilst the script was originally created in between the seventh and eighth century. These examples of Uchen script carvings are carved into rock faces and pillars. Sources and artefacts made of rock and marble having lasted longer as they do not erode or rot over time. Thus while there is lesser evidence of Uchen script inscribed on wooden surfaces, it is likely they existed but were not able to survive as long as

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1078-431: The 9th century. The broad range of texts and the number of themes addressed show that Uchen script was used in order to record a broad range of activities and events deemed culturally important by the commissioner. One notable example of a functioning carving of Uchen script is a wooden block, with the carven Uchen alphabet used for printing ink onto parchment and paper. It is believed that this method of woodblock printing

1127-735: The Chinese in modern Sichuan . Tri Songdetsen next sought to expand westward, reaching the Amu Darya and threatening the Abbasid Caliph , Harun ar-Rashid . The Caliph was concerned enough to establish an alliance with the Chinese emperor. Tri Songdetsen would be preoccupied with Arab wars in the west while taking pressure off his Chinese opponents to the east and north until his rule ended in 797. Tri Songdetsen had four sons: Mutri Tsenpo, Muné Tsenpo , Mutik Tsenpo, and Sadnalegs . The eldest son, Mutri Tsenpo, died early. Tri Songdetsen retired to live at

1176-619: The Indian Buddhist philosophical interpretation and Buddhist tantra in Tibet. In 763 Tri Songdetsen sent an army of 200,000 men to the border with Tang China, defeating the forces there and then continuing on to take Chang'an , the Tang Chinese capital, forcing Emperor Daizong of Tang to flee the capital. In 783 a peace treaty was negotiated between China and Tibet giving Tibet all lands in present-day Qinghai . The King also formed an alliance with Nanzhao in 778, joining forces to attack

1225-528: The centre and on the borders, Bsam-yas in Brag-mar and so on". The first edict of Tri Songdetsen already mentions a community of monks at Bsam-yas ( Samye ), consisting of the former army. Songdetsen became emperor in 755, at the young age of 13. His conversion to Buddhism took place in 762 at age 20. In post-imperial sources, is claimed to have invited Padmasambhava , Śāntarakṣita , Vimalamitra , and various other Indian teachers to come to Tibet to spread

1274-504: The consonant. In style it is written horizontally left to right and is semi-syllabic when read aloud. These letters can be stacked in order to create a syllable, or small group of letters, that is a section of the full word. Tibetan and Bhutan written scripts that use the Tibetan language, have been grouped into two categories. Uchen script, as all written scripts, fulfils its main function to record spoken language. Early Uchen manuscripts are attributed to have been recording proceedings of

1323-474: The first Dharma King, Songtsen Gampo . Disintegration continued when, in 694, Tibet lost control of several cities in Turkestan and, in 703, Nepal broke into rebellion. Meanwhile, Arab forces vied for influence along the western borderlands of the Tibetan empire. Nevertheless, Tri Songdetsen became imperial Tibet's greatest ruler and an unparalleled Buddhist benefactor. Samding Dorje Phagmo Tri Songdetsen

1372-486: The form of CVC, CV, or VC. Syllables with complex onsets are also found, but such an onset must be a combination of an unaspirated bilabial stop and a palatal affricate. The bilabial stops in complex onsets are often omitted in colloquial speech. Dzongkha is considered a South Tibetic language . It is closely related to and partially intelligible with Sikkimese , and to some other Bhutanese languages such as Chocha Ngacha , Brokpa , Brokkat and Lakha . Dzongkha bears

1421-414: The formal Uchen. The written languages of Asia had heavy influence on Uchen script in its creation, its style and its function. Due to the Uchen script being a Brahmi script , a written script developed between in the 7th and 8th century, Uchen has many influences from surrounding areas and groups of people at the time. As Tibet was a new empire, the king, Songtsen Gampo , endeavoured to establish Tibet as

1470-517: The kings, emperors and of matters of the court. These inscriptions were carved into stone, and wood. Other manuscripts attributed to have been created for the king and emperors of the seventh to tenth centuries include poetry dedicated to the king and recordings of key moments of the reign. Early examples of Uchen script were influenced strongly by Tibetan Buddhism . This is due to the fact that many examples of written Uchen script were scribed by Buddhist monks to write and record religious documents. Uchen

1519-444: The languages through letters and lines. Old Chinese writing was used to record poetry and important historical events. Uchen mirrors this use of alphabet in similarly being a tool for recording culturally significant stories poems and events, whilst using less pictographic letters. Dzongkha Dzongkha ( རྫོང་ཁ་ ; [d͡zòŋkʰɑ́] ) is a Tibeto-Burman language that is the official and national language of Bhutan . It

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1568-429: The later stone inscriptions. The creation of the Uchen inscription on stone surfaces was most likely achieved with stone tools, resembling early hammers and chisels, as these were the common tools of the time, that were used in surrounding counties including India. As Uchen script of Tibet is influenced heavily by early Indian script writing, inferences have been made that, similar to the technique of Indian inscriptions,

1617-484: The latest understanding of the teaching. The two pandits began by establishing Samye as the first vihara in Tibet. Several Tibetans were eventually initiated as monks and a vast translation project was undertaken translating the Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Classical Tibetan . Yeshe Tsogyal , previously either the consort or wife of Tri Songdetsen, became a great master after studying with Padmasambhava, and

1666-479: The linguist George van Driem , as its standard in 1991. Dzongkha is a tonal language and has two register tones: high and low. The tone of a syllable determines the allophone of the onset and the phonation type of the nuclear vowel. All consonants may begin a syllable. In the onsets of low-tone syllables, consonants are voiced . Aspirated consonants (indicated by the superscript h ), /ɬ/ , and /h/ are not found in low-tone syllables. The rhotic /r/

1715-540: The palace at Zungkar and handed power to his second son, Muné Tsenpo , in 797. From this point there is much confusion in the various historical sources. It seems there was a struggle for the succession after the death of Tri Songdetsen. It is not clear when Tri Songdetsen died, or for how long Mune Tsenpo reigned. The Testament of Ba , a Tibetan historical text which may date back to the 9th century, claims that Muné Tsenpo insisted that his father's funeral be performed according to Buddhist rather than traditional rites. It

1764-473: The recording of religious scriptures and the recording of poetry and texts of cultural significance. These examples of written Uchen script have been found in the form of stone and wood carvings, as well as manuscripts written in ink onto paper. The Tibetan script is based on Indic- Brahmi scripts of the time; that is the alphabets and scripts emerging from India. In form, the script includes thirty consonant , and vowel variants which are written above or below

1813-507: The reign of Songtsen Gampo under the king's instructions. The subsequent implementation of Uchen script, under the reign of Songtsen Gampo has been credited to have aided in improving the Tibetan economy, trade and foreign relations of the period. This improvement in economy and foreign relations elevated Tibet rapport with surrounding countries. This set Tibet on the trajectory to gain greater power in South East Asia and establish itself as

1862-526: The same success as India. Thus, in commissioning Thonmi Sambhota to create a written script, he wanted the script to resemble Indian scripts. Thonmi Sambhota was sent to study scriptwriting under the guidance of expert Indian scribes. The creation of Uchen script therefore shares certain stylistic and aesthetic similarities to Brahami Indian scripts. One such similarity is the elongated lower section of characters. Written language and written scripts in general can be said to have their roots in texts written in what

1911-471: The script after being sent to India to study script making. After being taught by, and observing expert Indian scribes and script makers he designed Uchen script. Sambhota used variations of these Indian and Brahmi scripts to create a script unique to Tibet and Bhutan. The purpose of Uchen script was to document the Tibetan language and the language of Bhutan; Dzongkha . The use of the script served many functions. These functions include; documenting key events,

1960-509: The seventh and early eighth century, alongside the formation and development of the Tibetan Empire . The script originally was created in Tibet but was also adopted in the neighbouring country of Bhutan located in East Asia . Historians believe the script was created by the seventh century scribe and academic Thonmi Sambhota . The creation of the script was undertaken by Thonmi Sambhota in

2009-400: The two nations. As India was the most powerful country in the region at the time it made a powerful ally and example for Tibet. As Uchen script is based on Indic- Brahmi scripts of the time period, it shares certain visual features. These include the use of long straight and curved characters that 'stack' to create syllables. Uchen script was formulated by Thonmi Sambhota. Sambhota formulated

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2058-409: The wooden carved manuscripts would have used similar tools to that of the stone carvings; in that variations of stone chisels and hammers would have been used to carve out the letters in wood. Paper manuscripts dated to the same period used ink applied to parchment or paper with a brush or quill , instead of using chisel and a stone to record Uchen script. This change in technique and tools creates

2107-481: Was also used to record official proceedings including legal matters, formal agreements and treaties. Most of these types of carvings were found in central Tibet, and are key artefacts in recording of the Tibetan emperors Khri Srong Ide Brstan c. 756-797 and Khri Lde Srong Brtsan c.800-815. Uchen script has also been located on documents found from a 'cave library' at Dunhuang that are histories and semi historical texts, giving key insights into cultural Tibetan life in

2156-621: Was between the Chinese and Indian Buddhist traditions as they were represented in Tibet. Sources differ about both the nature of the debate as well as the victor. Stein (1972: p. 66-67) holds that Kamalaśīla disseminated a "gradualist approach" to enlightenment , consisting of purificatory sādhanā such as cultivating the pāramitās . Kamalashila's role was to ordain Tibetans as Buddhist monks and propagate Buddhist philosophy as it had flourished in India. Stein (1972: p. 66-67) holds that Kamalaśīla

2205-517: Was declared the national language of Bhutan in 1971. Dzongkha study is mandatory in all schools, and the language is the lingua franca in the districts to the south and east where it is not the mother tongue. The Bhutanese films Travellers and Magicians (2003) and Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019) are in Dzongkha. The Tibetan script used to write Dzongkha has thirty basic letters , sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants . Dzongkha

2254-512: Was the son of Me Agtsom , the 38th emperor of Tibet . He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. Tri Songdetsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, playing a pivotal role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and the establishment of the Nyingma or "Ancient" school of Tibetan Buddhism . The empire Tri Songdetsen inherited had declined somewhat from its greatest extent under

2303-439: Was used as the language of education in Bhutan until the early 1960s when it was replaced by Dzongkha in public schools. Although descended from Classical Tibetan, Dzongkha shows a great many irregularities in sound changes that make the official spelling and standard pronunciation more distant from each other than is the case with Standard Tibetan. "Traditional orthography and modern phonology are two distinct systems operating by

2352-425: Was used in order to print and replicate Uchen letters in an authentic way, and allow for less variation in script writing. Uchen script writing is not an alphabet widely practiced in the twenty first century. The styles can be found and replicated as they have been recorded in calligraphy manuals. These alphabets and forms use a later variant of the original script, not the ancient Uchen alphabet. Early Uchen script

2401-537: Was victorious in the debate and that Tri Songdetsen sided with Kamalaśīla. Tri Songdetsen is also traditionally associated with the construction of Boudhanath in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The role of Padmasambhava on the other hand was to establish the teaching of Buddhist Tantra in Tibet. During the reign of Tri Songdetsen the combined efforts of Padmasambhava, Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla established both

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