The control exercised by the Chinese during the Late Han Dynasty on the Silk Road ensured freedom of transcontinental trade through a double line of oases in the north and south of Tarim. This became a favorable factor for the spread of the Buddhist religion. Along with this, Indian literature and ancient Greek art also became known in the river basin. Tarim. More precisely, the Silk Road, which was also the road of Indian missionaries who carried Buddhism with them to Kashgar and China, contributed to the fact that trade and religion jointly promoted Greco-Roman art.
The messengers of Maes Titianos acted in the same vein as the preachers of the Buddha. The most visited section of the route at that time was probably the southern section, which passed through Yarkand and Khotan. In Yutkan, formerly Khotan, the expedition of Aurel Stein discovered Roman coins from the reign of Emperor Walesa (364-378); in Rawaka, east of Khotan, she found a whole series of Greco-Buddhist bas-reliefs, with beautiful ancient Greek draperies belonging to the Gandharian style. A little further to the east, in Niya (Ni-yan), during the excavation of a settlement abandoned at the end of the 3rd century, the expedition discovered Roman seals and intaglios, Indo-Scythian coins. In Miran, southwest of Lobnor, in ancient Shanshan, the same expedition came across excellent Greco-Buddhist frescoes, in particular depicting the Buddha, his monks and winged spirits.with a pronounced Roman-Asian flavor. These frescoes seem to date back to the 3rd-4th centuries. AD, signed with the name "Titus", an Indian script in which Titus can be seen.
It was along this Silk Road, during the heyday of China, that famous Buddhist missionaries arrived in the country: Ngan She-kao - a Parthinian who arrived in China in 148 and died in 170; Chu Shofo, Hindu, Che Chan is a representative of the Yuezhi people, that is, the Indo-Scythian. Both arrived in 170 and founded a monastery in the Chinese capital of Luoyang. In the next century, Che Kien, son of Ambassador Yuezhi, between 223 and 253 BC. translated many Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. The reference to Yuezhi is very curious, since it convincingly shows that the Kushan Empire, which then covered Afghanistan, Gandhara and Punjab, thanks to the Silk Road, greatly contributed to the spread of Buddhism in the Tarim Basin and in China. It is equally important to know that along with the Kushan and Indian missionaries, the Parthians who adopted Buddhism penetrated there,to spread proselytism in Upper Asia and the Far East. Finally, if the Chinese Triptita-ka also presents us with a list of missionaries and translators who came through Tarim to work in China, it is obvious that in Tarim, other groups of monks from eastern and northwestern Iran were engaged in the dissemination of their sacred texts in Sanskrit. with translation into local languages, from East Iranian to Kucharian. The example of the famous Kuma Rajiva (344-413) is very typical and deserves attention. Kumarajiva came from an Indian family who lived in Kucha. His ancestors reached a high position in the country. His father, a passionate preacher of Buddhism, sought to give up all honors in order to devote himself entirely to monastic vows, but the ruler of Kucha forced him to remain in the world and offered his sister to wife. As a result of this marriage, Kumarajiva was born. From early childhood, his mother brought him to Kashmir so that he would master Indian languages and writing, and also join Buddhism. Returning from India, Kumarajiva stopped in Kashgar, where he stayed for a year, and spent time studying the Abhidharma. The text of his biography testifies that Kashgar, like Kucha, was at that time such an attractive center of Indian philosophy that the rulers of these two cities disputed the honor of hosting such a learned monk as the young Kumarajiva. When he returned to Kucha, the sovereign of the country, whose name in Chinese sounds like Po Shuen, came to greet him, and the two young sons of the ruler of Yarkand became his followers. He lived in Kucha with his Indian teacher Vimalasha, a native of Kashmir,and who moved to this city just at the time when the Chinese general Liu Kuan, having captured Kucha, took Kumarajiva with him to China. During the reign of Liu Quan, Kucha stood out for the splendor of the palaces, which the Chinese governor greatly admired. The surprise he expressed about this gives us the right to conclude that it was about architecture and works of art that resembled Chinese, however, were closer to Indian and Iranian styles. According to Khakkin, the first paintings of the new style of Kyzyl caves should also be attributed to this period.which he expressed in this regard, gives us the right to conclude that it was about architecture and works of art that resembled Chinese, however, were closer to Indian and Iranian styles. According to Khakkin, the first paintings of the new style of Kyzyl caves should also be attributed to this period.which he expressed in this regard, gives us the right to conclude that it was about architecture and works of art that resembled Chinese, however, were closer to Indian and Iranian styles. According to Khakkin, the first paintings of the new style of Kyzyl caves should also be attributed to this period.
The area of the civilization of Upper Asia, as can be seen from the examples cited, is divided into two distinct longitudinal zones. In the north, from Orthodox Russia to Manchuria and Ordos, the art of the steppes, in particular the art of the nomads, is characterized by overlays or handles with a bronze knob, made in a stylized animal style, with a pronounced oriental ornament. In the south, along the Silk Road, from Afghanistan to Dunhuang, the painting and sculpture of the sedentary inhabitants of the oases along the caravan routes surrounding the Tarim Basin were directly influenced by Greek, Iranian and Indian art. All this was possible thanks to the Silk Road, on which unification took place through the teachings of the Buddha.
The origins of this art of Tarim, in the late antiquity and early Middle Ages, are rooted in Afghanistan. There, in the valley of Kabul, in the 4th century, the last Kushan rulers experienced the deep influence of Sassanian Persia, in whose orbit they were, as evidenced by the Kushan-Sassanian coinage investigated by Herzfeld and Hakkin. The Sassanian-Buddhist civilization, like the Sassanian-Buddhist art, originated in the Indo-Iranian borders. Let us recall in this regard the famous frescoes of Bamiyan and Kakraki, created at the end of the 3rd century. and throughout the IV century. Sassanian influences are evident in the types and costumes of the various characters. For example, a Sasanian-Brahman statuette, relatively recently discovered by Hakkin in Khairkhaneh near Kabul (end of the 4th century), purely Sasanian frescoes of Dokhtari Noshirvan, not far from Rui,on the road from Kabul to Bactria, where the Sassanian prince, ruler of Bactria (5th century) is depicted. All finds were the result of the Hakkin-Godard and Hakkin-Karl expeditions. They allow us to speak of Afghanistan as a country in which Indian beliefs and written culture were closely intertwined with the material civilization of Persia in the era of the Shapurs and Khosroyevs.
This Sassanian-Buddhist amalgam was introduced by Buddhist missionaries, rivals of Kumarajiva, in all the oases of Tarim, on various parts of the Silk Road, which thanks to them became an expensive sermon. Bamiyan's frescoes reflect the connection between the original style of Kyzyl frescoes, located west of the Kucha, a style characterized by clarity of material processing, discreet and soft colors: gray, brown, red-brown, dark brown, and light green. Hakkin (to whom we owe the chronology of the various periods) dates this style to about 450 and 650 years. Indian influence, by the way, remains dominant in the early style, in the depiction of the dance of the ruler Chandraprabha, reminiscent of the charming nudes of the Ajanta Indians; along with this, we feel the Sassanian influence, in particular,in the cave of peacocks and the cave of the artist, who created himself in the guise of a young Iranian nobleman: with an elegant light, well-fitted half-coat, decorated with a large Kuchan lapel on the collar. This could already be seen in Bamia-ne, on the frescoes reproduced by Mrs. Godard, where the details of clothing, right down to pants and high boots, were borrowed directly from Iran. Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul, by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938).who created himself in the guise of a young Iranian nobleman: with an elegant light, well-fitted half-coat, decorated with a large Kuchan lapel on the collar. This could already be seen in Bamia-ne, in the frescoes reproduced by Mrs. Godard, where the details of clothing, including pants and high boots, were borrowed directly from Iran. Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938).who created himself in the guise of a young Iranian nobleman: with an elegant light, well-fitted half-coat, decorated with a large Kuchan lapel on the collar. This could already be seen in Bamia-ne, in the frescoes reproduced by Mrs. Godard, where the details of clothing, including pants and high boots, were borrowed directly from Iran. Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938).decorated on the collar with a large Kuchan lapel. This could already be seen in Bamia-ne, in the frescoes reproduced by Mrs. Godard, where the details of clothing, including pants and high boots, were borrowed directly from Iran. Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938).decorated on the collar with a large Kuchan lapel. This could already be seen in Bamia-ne, in the frescoes reproduced by Mrs. Godard, where the details of clothing, including pants and high boots, were borrowed directly from Iran. Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938). Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938). Otherwise, reconstituted marble jewelry discovered in 1937 in Fondukistan, in the west of Kabul by Hakkin and Jean Karl, dated to the era of the minting of the Sassanian monarch Khosrov II (590-628), strengthen our confidence that Iranian-Buddhist Afghanistan continued, up to the beginning of the Arab conquest, to influence the fashion and men's attire of the Kuchan society (Rev.d. Aris Asiat. XII, 1938).
The secondary style of Kyzyl's frescoes is dated by Hakkin to the period between 650 and 750. This archaeologist points to the simplification of the models, the presence of brighter colors (blue lapis-azure, dark green) and the prevalence of the Sassanian influence on costumes and manner of dress. The Buddhist frescoes of Kyzyl and Kumtura, which are currently in the Berlin Museum, give us an idea of the processions of donors and donors, bringing to life for us the world of the monarch's court of the Kucha V-VIII centuries. We have the opportunity to state that the brilliant Kuchan aristocracy, clearly belonging to the Indo-European race, was undoubtedly also Iranian in their outfits and in all material culture, as it was Indianized in matters of religion and literature. Along with these palace costumes, the depiction of a military theme in Kyzyl (for example, scenes of the "section of relics"),shows us the Kuchan "cavalry", their knights, chained in armor with a conical helmet on their head, in calchuga and with a long spear, which reminds us at the same time of Sassanid knights and Sarmatian horsemen from the frescoes of Kerch-Panticapaeum in the Crimea.
This entire Iranian-Buddhist set is found in the southern part of Tarim. In particular, in the paintings of the wooden panels of Danadan-Yuilik, an oasis located in the northeast of Khotan (end of the 7th century). For example, in the same place we see "nagas" of a purely Indian type, akin to the most flexible naked figures of Ajanti. Or the Iranian rider and camel driver, a bearded bodisat-wu, covered with a tiara, dressed in a long cloak with wide sleeves, in pants and boots, which gives the image of a Sasanid aristocrat himself. Finally, we see Iranian influence in frescoes and miniatures in the Turpan region: in Bezeklik, Murtuk, etc. In Bezeklik, images of deities wearing armor remind us of the Kuchan knights in the Sassanid armor of Kyzyl and Kumtura, while Avalokitechvara, according to Hakkin, retained purely Indian noble features. In Murtuk, we find, along with purely Indian bodhisattvas, donors dressed in the same armor as in Kyzyl, and with helmets on their heads with unfolded edges, which confirms a purely Sassanian influence.
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On the other hand, in a small sculpture we find graceful figurines made of artificial marble Karashahr found by Aurel Stein, which, in a strange way, give the impression of a gallery of ethnic groups directly resembling the Greek Buddhist figurines, completely analogous to the Hadd figurines in Afghanistan, which are now in the Gime Museum …
Thus, before the conquest of the country by the Turkic peoples in the second half of the 8th century, the Indo-European oases in the north and south of Tarim, from Yarkand and Khotan to Lobnor, from Kashgar, Kucha and Karashahr up to Turfan, were not influenced by Altai in their cultural development and steppe civilization, and large areas of civilization, such as India and Iran. These areas represented the territories of outer India and Iran, reaching close to the Chinese border. Moreover, India and Iran, thanks to these facts, penetrated into China, as evidenced by Buddhist frescoes and banners found as a result of the expeditions of Pello and Aurel Stein near Donghuang, in the area where the Silk Road crossed the current Chinese province of Gansu.
Grusset Rene
