Page 54 - 2022UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.4

On the History of Early Medieval Sughd-Korean Relations Bobur Goyibov | Associate Professor on Sogdian Scripts, Head of the Department of the Samarkand State University

The spread of religious and philosophical views is also of special importance GSR only served to develop economic and religious ties. Perhaps it also led
in the relations between the regions. During the early Middle Ages, this process to an exchange of cultural ties. The development of cultural ties throughout GSR
intensified. For example, a study of the impact of Buddhism on interactions in the primarily contributed to the formation of the Korean letter-phonetic alphabet.
region may also shed light on the problem. Sughd was inhabited by people of many According to M.Is’hakov, the formation of the Korean alphabet was due to the long-
religions, and a synthesis of Sogdian and Buddhist traditions can be traced. For standing cultural ties between the Korean region and Central Asia. According to
example, the image of Maitreya in the Panjikent murals and the terracotta shape the scientist, in the fourth and third centuries BC, the Uyghur script and the Mongol
depicting the Buddha's sitting position differ from pure Buddhist specimens in that script were formed on the basis of the Sogdian script, which was formed on the
they have a distinctive blend. [22] basis of the Aramaic script, and the Korean script (hangyl) was formed on the basis
According to Chinese chronicles, the diaries of Hoi Chao, a Buddhist of these writing patterns. According to M. Ishakov, the spelling of the letters in the
monk originally from Korea, also contain a description of his visit to Sughd and twenty two letter Sogdian script has a Sogdian script in their genesis compared
information about Buddhism. [23] According to Hoi Chao, Buddhism entered the to the Uyghur, Mongolian and Korean. [28] According to linguist Gary Ledyard, the
Korean region through China and rose to the level of the official religion of the Mongol script, based on the Sogdian script, also played an important role in the
Goguryeo (fourth-seventh centuries) and Silla (seventh -tenth centuries) states. formation of the khangyl. [29]
Sogdian Buddhist monks played a role in this. The spread of this religion by the Over time, the Korean script improved. In particular, Sechjon (1418-1450), the
Sogdian Buddhist monks throughout the BIY was confirmed by the Sogdian- fourth enlightened ruler of the Chosun Dynasty, reformed the Korean script in 1446.
Buddhist documents found in Turfan. [24] According to Chinese sources, in 713 there The legal basis for this reform, aimed at strengthening the Korean statehood and
were five thousand three hundred and fifty-eight monasteries and one hundred end understanding the identity of the people, was the decree "Hunmin chon'ym here"
twenty-six thousand monks registered. [25] An example of this is the translation of ("Guide to the people for correct pronunciation"). The decree states: - "Unlike in
many Sogdian-Buddhist philosophical and moral works in the Sogdian settlements China, in our country, the flow of speech is not fully expressed in writing (that is,"
of East Turkestan in the eighth-ninth centuries. does not represent a whole ... "). That is why there are many among the people who
The Sogdians also took part in the spread of Buddhism in the Orkhon oasis, cannot express their opinion in writing and in a letter. That's why I've developed
the residence of the First Turkic Khanate (552-603), and later among the peoples twenty-eight letters so that everyone can use them every day". [30]
of Turfan and other regions. [26] Mukhan (554-574), one of the Turkic rulers, allowed It is possible that the Sogdians, who were active merchants and religious
the spread of Buddhism, while Taspar Khagan (574- 581) facilitated its spread. [27] missionaries along the Great Silk Road, went to Korea, and the Koreans who used
This is evidenced by the information about the establishment of a Buddhist sangha Chinese hieroglyphs during this period abandoned this difficult script and adopted
(community of Buddhist monks) in the center of the Khaganate in the Sogdian the Sogdian script as convenient for them and used it until the Sejong reform.
"Bugut monument".

[22] Marshak Boris end Rasporova Valentina, Buddhist icon from Panjikent // Silk Road art and Archeology. 5. (Kamakara: 1997), 98.
[23] Bernshtam Aleksandr, Türks and Central Asia in the description of Hoi Chao // Vestnik drevniy istorii (Moscow: 1952. № 2), 27.
[24] Benveniste Emil, Vessantara Jataka. Text sogdien ed., Trad. et com (Paris: 1946), 7.
[25] Reischauer Edwin, Ennin’s Travels i T’ang China (New York: 1955), 225. [28] Iskhakov Mirsodiq, To the origins of the Korean alphabet // The role of the city of Samarkand in the history of world cultural development / Materials of the
[26] Iskhakov Mirsodiq, Continuity in the history of ancient Turkic writing systems (Sogdian-Turkic contacts) // History of Uzbekistan (Tashkent: 2000, International Scientific Symposium on the 2750th anniversary of the city of Samarkand (Tashkent-Samarkand: Fan, 2007), 221-224.
№ 4), 46. [29] Ledyard Gari, An Interview with Gari Ledyard" / The Review of Korean Studies Vol.6 No.1, (June 2003), 143. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gari_Ledyard
[27] Klyashtorny Sergey end Livshits Vladimir, Sogdian inscription from Bugut // Peoples of Afrika end Asia (Moscow: Nauka, 1971. Issue. 10), 133. [30] Iskhakov Mirsodiq, To the origins of the Korean alphabet, 221; Kontsevich L.R. Korean studies (Moscow: 2001), 87.

54 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter 55 Special Contribution