Tripiṭaka), was translated and printed in 1635 in 108 volumes; the Bstan-'gyur (Tanjur), containing canonical commentary and noncanonical works in its 225 volumes, followed in 1741. Two especially well-known sermons (sutras) of Buddha are the Altan gerel (“Golden Beam”) and the Chagan lingqua (“White Lotus”), or, as they are known in Sanskrit, Suvarṇaprabhāsa and Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. None of these works, however, is indigenous.Religious but nondogmatic birth stories (called in Sanskrit Jātaka) deal with Buddha's meritorious deeds and, like the parables of Christianity, illustrate religious truths. Best known is the Üliger-Ün dalai (“The Sea of Stories”). Translations of other Indian fables are the Siddhi Kür (“Tales of the Vampire”) and the Bigarmijid (“Saga of King Vikramāditya”).In the 18th and 19th centuries Chinese traders brought from China many Mongolian translations of Chinese novels of enchantment and romance, including the San Kuo chih yen-i (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) and others.In the early 20th century T. Zhamtsarano, a Russian-educated Buryat writer and intellectual, founded the short-lived Mongolian newspaper Shine toli (“The New Mirror”). He also translated the works of some Western authors, such as Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells.After a Soviet state was established in Mongolia in the early 1920s, the power and influence of the Tibetan Buddhist church declined, and with it the literature it sponsored. There began to arise a revolutionary and socialist literature serving the people according to the current beliefs of the Communist Party. Popular themes were social criticism of the feudal past, with its exploitation of the people, and exemplary tales that showed new socialist values and educated readers to overcome the resistance of reactionary forces. Mongolian reliance on and gratitude for the fraternal Soviet Union and its assistance was an ever-present undercurrent. The rise of a system of schooling extending to the university level enabled many young Mongolian writers, poets, artists, and actors to achieve, within limits, a self-expression never before available to them. Leading 20th-century modern writers are Dashdorjiyn Natsagorj, Ts. Damdinsürün, D. Sengee, S. Erdene, and others.John Richard KruegerMusicMusic in Central Asia flowered along centuries-old caravan routes linking the Middle East with China and India via what is often referred to as Turkistan, the vast region extending from the Caspian Sea to Sinkiang province in China. Musical instruments diffused from one region to another, and many of the musical styles still display foreign influence. The variety of musical styles ranges from the systematically organized classical music of Turkistan to the notated religious chants of Tibet to the highly varied folk music styles of the region's numerous ethnic groups. The main thrust of this examination of Central Asian music will be on the traditions and styles first of Afghanistan and the sedentary population of Turkistan, then of the Turkic nomads, the Mongols, and the Siberian peoples, and finally of the Himalayan peoples in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim.Afghanistan and the sedentary population of TurkistanThis region of Central Asia includes Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the oases of eastern (Chinese) Turkistan. The region lies within the Persian cultural area, and in the arts and in language the Persian imprint has endured over many centuries. In music the links with Persia appear most clearly in terminology and instruments. Islām, another Middle Eastern heritage, predominates in this region and results in a generally low social status for musicians and musical performance—a situation generally not found in other regions of Central Asia.The area includes two main streams of musical practice: folk music in a broad range of styles, often closely linked to specific ethnic groups; and the more exclusive, cosmopolitan, classical music, derived from the medieval court music of Bukhara, Samarkand, and other urban centres of Transoxania (modern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and T