A jhate (i.e. azate) may be connected with the Avestan dzdta noble of noble birth Cf. also ztchin the Sogdian letters free-born (Reichelt, Sogd. Handschriftenreste, ii, p. 3)Although the documents do not furnish enough material for defining with certainty the meaning of the word, this explanation suits all the passages where it occurs. It is used mosj; frequently as an introductory term in giving lists of witnesses, e.g. 593 tatra saclii ajhade jamna cojhbo Dhamena Sugi Kuleya There the witnesses are people of high rank (or free-born), the cojhbo Dhamena, Sugi, Kuleya, etc. Similarly in 507, 588. It is worth while noticing that khula putre is used in a similar formula in 415, though not in exactly the same position, tatra sacJii janati sramamna Parvati livira Buddha rachida, vasu Kolfisa, khula putre Lfatga There witnesses know this the monk Parvati, the scribe Buddharachida, the vasu Kolpisa, and Lpatga, son of a good family.