00045
Other names / Alternative spellings
Social groups (status, family, lineage...)
btsun mo
'A zha people ?
Period of activity
VIIth century
Biographical data
Khon co Mang mo rje khri skar was Gung srong gung rtsan's consort and Mang slon mang rtsan's mother (ms. PT 1286 l. 63-64).
Titles
khon co ? (ms. PT 1286 l. 63-64).
Notes
It is unsure whether Khon co Mang mo rje khri skar has to be identified to the [great (?) grand-mother of the btsan po] pyi/phyi Mang pangs who died in horse year 706 (ms. PT 1288-ITJ 750 l. 156-165, see Uebach 1997 p. 57, 66).
There is much debate around the identity of khon co Mang mo rje khri skar. I will not sum it up here but one can refer to Dotson 2009 p. 22-23 for a good summary on the matter. According to Yamaguchi Zuiho, there seems to be little doubt that Khon co Mang mo rje khri skar has to be identified to Mun sheng kong co (Yamaguchi Zuiho 1996, p. 232-234, I guess mostly because of the equivalence khon co = k(h)ong co = gongzhu ), while H. Uebach tends to identify her to the phyi Mang pangs (i.e. "grand mother" Mang pangs) of the Old Tibetan Annals (ms. PT 1288-ITJ 750 l. 156-165) discarding khon co as a corruption (Uebach 1997 p. 57, 66).
According to "classical" Tibetan historians, Khon co Mang mo rje khri skar seems to have been of 'A zha origin (see, among others, "'a zha bza' mang mo rje" in Ne'u Pandita 2005 ed. p. 6, "sha bza' - for 'a zha bza'? - kong jo mo rje" in dPal 'byor bzang po's rGya bod yig tshang 2007 ed., p. 107... ).
Could it be that the 'A zha/Tuyuhun, who were speaking a language related to Mongol (see Pelliot 1921), were actually using the Chinese loanword gongzhu for their own princesses? To me, it does not seem inconceivable for the following two reasons:
- The 'A zha / Tuyuhun were often used as interpreters between China and other Central Asian populations (Interpreters in Early Imperial China / Rachel Lung. - Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing company, 2011. p. 31-34) and seem to have been at times much influenced by Chinese culture (Stein 1983 p. 205: "...vers 640 les T'ou-yu-houen sont au contraire caractérisés par l'adoption de la culture chinoise...") . Song shu 96.7a states "They are accustomed to follow [the career of] coming and going as merchants and interpreters ; therefore their etiquette is like that of the North [of China]" (transl. by Timothy Connor, "Translating The "Barbarians": A New Book in an Old Tradition", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Vol. 32, 1972, p. 245).
- The neighbouring Turks seem to have used the Chinese word for their own princesses, at least as early as the VIIIth c.: the term kunčuy - borrowed from Chinese - appears with the meaning of "princess" in Old Turkic inscriptions of the Orkhon (see among others L'Empire des Turcs Célestes / René Giraud. - Paris: A. Maisonneuve, 1960 p. 130, Irk Bitig: the Book of Omens / Talat Tekin. - Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993 p. 9, 21 see also kunčuy transl. as "wife" in other contexts in A Grammar of Old Turkic / Marcel Erdal. - Leiden: Brill, 2004 p. 141, 158, 180, 184, 186, 496...). A very similar word is also found in Modern Mongol dictionaries: "гүнж" ("princess", obviously also deriving from Chinese gongzhu 公主).
I feel it is also worth noting that Mang mo rje Khri skar's title is transcribed khon co rather than the more common k(h)ong co, a transcription that is also found in the so called Annals of the 'A zha principality, where it is used for the Chinese princesses (i.e. ms. ITJ 1368 l. 28, 29, also khon cho, l. 43, and one occurence of khong co l. 22, I could not find any other use of khon co in the OTDO database). Although k(h)ong co is an obvious transcription from the Chinese gongzhu 公主 (EMC: kəwŋ tɕuăˊ - according to Pulleyblank reconstruction), it somehow feels that khon co would be a fairly good transcription of a word such as the Old Turkic "kunčuy" or the Mongol "гүнж". Could it be that, not being a direct loan from the Chinese, khon c(h)o would instead transcribe the 'A zha/Tuyuhun pronunciation ?
Addendum 11/06/2019
The much later version provided in the Great Fifth's chronicle offers an interesting perspective on the matter:
- the Chinese princess had no son,
- Gung ri gung btsan was born from Mong bza' Khri lcam and was enthroned when he was 13 years old,
- Gung ri gung btsan's btsun mo was the 'A zha lady Kho 'jo mong rje khri dkar ti shag (with kho 'jo = /khonjo/? = khon co and mong rje = mang mo rje?),
- Gung ri gung btsan and 'A zha bza' Kho 'jo mong rje khri dkar ti shag's son was Mang srong mang btsan,
- Gung ri gung btsan died aged 18
("de nas rgya bza' dang bal bza' gnyis la sras ma byung bar / ru yong bza' dang / zhang zhung bza' / mong bza' khri lcam rnams khab tu bzhes par / sngon ma gnyis la sras ma byung bar / brag lha dang / thim bu lkog gi lha khang bzhengs / mong bza' la sras gung ri gung btsan 'khrungs / [...] lo bcu gsum lon tshe rgyal sar dbang bskur / btsun mo 'a zha bza' kho 'jo mong rje khri dkar ti shag bya ba khab tu bzhes pas sras mang srong mang btsan 'khrungs / gung ri gung btsan dgung lo bco brgyad lon nas gshegs /" rGyal dbang lnga pa chen mo 1980 ed. p. 55)
According to "classical" Tibetan historians, Khon co Mang mo rje khri skar seems to have been of 'A zha origin (see, among others, "'a zha bza' mang mo rje" in Ne'u Pandita 2005 ed. p. 6, "sha bza' - for 'a zha bza'? - kong jo mo rje" in dPal 'byor bzang po's rGya bod yig tshang 2007 ed., p. 107... ).
Could it be that the 'A zha/Tuyuhun, who were speaking a language related to Mongol (see Pelliot 1921), were actually using the Chinese loanword gongzhu for their own princesses? To me, it does not seem inconceivable for the following two reasons:
- The 'A zha / Tuyuhun were often used as interpreters between China and other Central Asian populations (Interpreters in Early Imperial China / Rachel Lung. - Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing company, 2011. p. 31-34) and seem to have been at times much influenced by Chinese culture (Stein 1983 p. 205: "...vers 640 les T'ou-yu-houen sont au contraire caractérisés par l'adoption de la culture chinoise...") . Song shu 96.7a states "They are accustomed to follow [the career of] coming and going as merchants and interpreters ; therefore their etiquette is like that of the North [of China]" (transl. by Timothy Connor, "Translating The "Barbarians": A New Book in an Old Tradition", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Vol. 32, 1972, p. 245).
- The neighbouring Turks seem to have used the Chinese word for their own princesses, at least as early as the VIIIth c.: the term kunčuy - borrowed from Chinese - appears with the meaning of "princess" in Old Turkic inscriptions of the Orkhon (see among others L'Empire des Turcs Célestes / René Giraud. - Paris: A. Maisonneuve, 1960 p. 130, Irk Bitig: the Book of Omens / Talat Tekin. - Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993 p. 9, 21 see also kunčuy transl. as "wife" in other contexts in A Grammar of Old Turkic / Marcel Erdal. - Leiden: Brill, 2004 p. 141, 158, 180, 184, 186, 496...). A very similar word is also found in Modern Mongol dictionaries: "гүнж" ("princess", obviously also deriving from Chinese gongzhu 公主).
I feel it is also worth noting that Mang mo rje Khri skar's title is transcribed khon co rather than the more common k(h)ong co, a transcription that is also found in the so called Annals of the 'A zha principality, where it is used for the Chinese princesses (i.e. ms. ITJ 1368 l. 28, 29, also khon cho, l. 43, and one occurence of khong co l. 22, I could not find any other use of khon co in the OTDO database). Although k(h)ong co is an obvious transcription from the Chinese gongzhu 公主 (EMC: kəwŋ tɕuăˊ - according to Pulleyblank reconstruction), it somehow feels that khon co would be a fairly good transcription of a word such as the Old Turkic "kunčuy" or the Mongol "гүнж". Could it be that, not being a direct loan from the Chinese, khon c(h)o would instead transcribe the 'A zha/Tuyuhun pronunciation ?
Addendum 11/06/2019
The much later version provided in the Great Fifth's chronicle offers an interesting perspective on the matter:
- the Chinese princess had no son,
- Gung ri gung btsan was born from Mong bza' Khri lcam and was enthroned when he was 13 years old,
- Gung ri gung btsan's btsun mo was the 'A zha lady Kho 'jo mong rje khri dkar ti shag (with kho 'jo = /khonjo/? = khon co and mong rje = mang mo rje?),
- Gung ri gung btsan and 'A zha bza' Kho 'jo mong rje khri dkar ti shag's son was Mang srong mang btsan,
- Gung ri gung btsan died aged 18
("de nas rgya bza' dang bal bza' gnyis la sras ma byung bar / ru yong bza' dang / zhang zhung bza' / mong bza' khri lcam rnams khab tu bzhes par / sngon ma gnyis la sras ma byung bar / brag lha dang / thim bu lkog gi lha khang bzhengs / mong bza' la sras gung ri gung btsan 'khrungs / [...] lo bcu gsum lon tshe rgyal sar dbang bskur / btsun mo 'a zha bza' kho 'jo mong rje khri dkar ti shag bya ba khab tu bzhes pas sras mang srong mang btsan 'khrungs / gung ri gung btsan dgung lo bco brgyad lon nas gshegs /" rGyal dbang lnga pa chen mo 1980 ed. p. 55)
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