Monuments Found Near the Burana Tower

Burana Monuments

MONUMENT NO. 1
Round, disc-shaped, gray stone measuring 30x35 cm. An unusual large cross, deeply carved by impact method. In its center, within the circle, there is another small cross.

The monument was found approximately 800 m south of the Burana Tower by archaeologist M. Kubatbekov in 1979. It is currently stored at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR. A pencil rubbing on paper was made by us in 1979. Published for the first time (Table XIII, Fig. 1).

Translation:
(1) Instead of (for) Sansyza (?)
(2) priest Nalun (?)
(3) Nana (?)

Note. The first word is unclear; it was encountered for the first time. However, M. Sado, who reviewed the drawing of the inscription, suggests that this word means "for," "in honor of," or "in the name of." Then the expression as a whole can be understood as: for or in the name of such a saint, the priest Nalun-Nana died.

The next word, sansyz, is most likely Turkic. It appears in Kvolson's works. The third word ("priest") has been encountered repeatedly in inscriptions before. Despite this, the last two words raise doubts.

It is possible that they have a completely different meaning.

MONUMENT NO. 2

This monument was also found near the Burana Tower by archaeologists V. Mokrynin and M. Kubatbekov in 1979.

A dark-colored, strong river stone. On one side, in the middle part, there is a large cross. The inscription is poorly preserved and is almost unreadable. Like the previous one, it begins with the word

The rubbing was made by us. Published for the first time (Table XIII, Fig. 2, 3).

Translation:
(1) for Maryam,
(2) the believing girl.