We don’t know the answers for these questions.

We don’t know the answers for these questions.

Bilingual texts such as Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka in Tocharian and Maitrisimit nom bitig in Uyghur helps reconstruct the Tocharian-A language. Also to be noted this is one of the very few Buddhist texts in Turkish (Uyghur). Likewise we have bilingual Sansksrit-Tocharians texts too. The dry Taklamakan desert has preserved many of their texts for posterity, although in fragments.

As far as the problem of “Caucasoid” Tocharians interacting with “Mongoloid” Han Chinese part of the question is concerned, I know it is difficult for us to believe but I don’t think many people in those times thought about “race”. They thought in terms of culture, language, traditions, religion, blood lines, yes, but race no! The Chinese had no problem tussling and learning from the “Indo-European” Kushans in the Gansu province of China, and they would had no problem tussling and learning from the “Indo-European” Tocharians of Xinjiang province.

In fact, by all accounts Buddhism came to China from the Indianized kingdoms of Xinjiang though we cannot be sure whether an early Tocharian state had a role. Still, outside the Kizil caves of Xinjiang, from which were recovered many Tocharian scripts, China honors Kumarajiva, a Kuchan who translated Diamond Sutra to Chinese!

"몽골족" 한족과 상호 작용하는 "백인" 토하르인의 문제에 관한 한, 나는 우리가 믿기 어렵다는 것을 알고 있지만 그 당시 많은 사람들이 "인종"에 대해 생각하지 않았다고 생각합니다. 그들은 문화, 언어, 전통, 종교, 혈통의 관점에서 생각했지만 인종은 아니었습니다! 중국인들은 중국 간쑤성에 있는 "인도-유럽" 쿠샨족과 싸우고 배우는 데 아무런 문제가 없었고, 신장 지방의 "인도-유럽" 토하르인들과 싸우고 배우는 데 아무런 문제가 없었을 것입니다.

사실 초기 토하르 국가가 어떤 역할을 했는지는 확신할 수 없지만 모든 설명에 따르면 불교는 신장의 인도화된 왕국에서 중국으로 들어왔습니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 많은 토하르 문자가 발견된 신장의 키질 동굴 밖에는 중국이 금강경을 중국어로 번역한 쿠찬 쿠마라지바를 기리고 있습니다!