[1] This story was popular among Buddhists and parallel versions can be found in Chinese, Tibetan, Khotanese, Sogdian, Pali and Sanskrit.
[1] A colophon to the Uyghur text notes that it was translated from an unidentified language called toxrï.
Under the assumption that this name was connected to a Central Asian people known as the Tocharoi in ancient Greek texts, and since the Maitrisimit nom bitig shows a "clear dependence" on the Maitreyasamitināṭaka, scholars began to refer to the unidentified language of the latter as "Tocharian".
[5] The Maitreyasamitināṭaka was originally a long text consisting of twenty-seven acts of ten to fifteen leaves (twenty to thirty pages) each.
There are stage directions, however, such as lcär poñś ("all have left [the scene]") at the end of each act, which suggests that it was also performed.