Tangut Character 17E59

In Tangut Buddhist writing, it is commonly translated as Dharma.

Dharma is the Buddha’s teaching and, more broadly, the truth or order it expresses. Tangut is the language written with this script; it is separate from Chinese.

Context and a Tangut dictionary can narrow the sense in a passage. A lone character does not supply a full sentence-level translation.

Why did Western Xia use Tangut writing?

It supported state, Buddhist, and cultural work in Western Xia.

Tangut writing was created under imperial order in 1036 as Western Xia built its state. Early uses included expressing a distinct political identity and producing a Tangut Buddhist canon; surviving writing also includes official, private, religious, and translated secular works.

A surviving manuscript leaf probably dates to the 12th or early 13th century. The script remained in use into Yuan and Ming times, with surviving use documented in 1502. It was rediscovered in the late 19th century and largely deciphered in the early 20th century.

Is 𗹙 Chinese or Khitan writing?

It is Tangut, in a separate script influenced by Chinese writing.

Tangut took Chinese writing as its main structural model, but its characters do not have Chinese readings. Khitan scripts are historical neighbors: their influence on Tangut has been proposed and disputed, so no ancestry is established for this glyph.