The Li Clan of Jibin 〓賓 : A study of Bactrian merchants on the Silk Road

Abstract

In 2005, a tomb of a man by the name of Li Dan 李誕 from a place called Jibin 〓賓 who died during the Northern Zhou 北周 Period was unearthed in Xi'an 西安, China. We know from the tomb's epitaph that Li Dan was from Jibin and that he obtained his official position because he was a kind of "Brahman" 婆羅門種. From this information the consensus seems to be that Li Dan was of Indian (Kashimere) origin, but since there are various theories as to the exact location of Jibin, it is difficult to conclude anything about his origins. In the present article, the author attempts to clarify exactly where Jibin, where Li Dan was born, was located and considers what Li Dan intended to do in China. First, the author does a work up of the content of Li Dan's epitaph, and then introduces newly discovered epitaphs of Li Da 李陀 and his wife An 安 and of Li Xu 李吁. Judging from the content of all three epitaphs, the author concludes that 1) the men were father, son and grandson, respectively and 2) by her family name, An, the wife of Li Da, was of Sogdian origin. The existence of close marital ties between Li Dan and the Sogdians, which has already been speculated about, because of the proximity of Li Dan's tomb to and the tombs of contemporaries, An Jia 安伽, Kang Ye 康業 and Shi Jun 史君, is now a matter of historical fact. Secondly, the time when Li Dan's epitaph was engraved coincides with the time in which the location of the placename Jibin in Chinese was moved from Gandhara to Kapisi, because Gandhara had lost its position of importance due to the decline of Ephthal. Kapisi lies within the linguistic sphere of Bactrian, which is an eastern dialect of Iranian, like Sogdian. Dasa 陀娑, which is Li Dan's adult name (zi 字), can be found among common Bactrian names. Considering these facts within the context of the close relationship between the Li clan and the Sogdians, the author concludes that the Jibin mentioned in Li Dan's epitaph in fact refers to Kapisi, which was populated by Iranian Bactrians. Furthermore, since the Bactrians were well-known as traders, it can be assumed that Li Dan came to China for the purpose of commerce. And thus, the three epitaphs of the Li clan are important historical sources for unfolding the ways in which a group of Bactrians and Sogdians, tied together by marriage, extended their trading activities in the far away eastern land of China.