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Some Buddhist Finds from Khotan: Materials in the Collections of the State Hermitage Museum, St

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Some Buddhist Finds from Khotan: Materials in the Collections of the State Hermitage Museum, St Some Buddhist Finds from Khotan: Materials in the Collections of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Julia Elikhina State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg The Khotan collection of the State Hermitage They were found in Yotkan, the location which Museum includes more than three thousand Petrovskii referred to as Borazan. Similar objects objects. At its core is the collection of Nikolai are also in collections outside of Russia. The F. Petrovskii (1837-1908), who, beginning in collection contains some forty intact vessels and 1874, served as an official of the Russian more than 800 fragments. Scholars generally Ministry of Finance in Eastern Turkestan and date the Yotkan ceramics to the second-fourth then Russian Consul in Kashgar from 1882- centuries CE. The collection includes as well 1902. Petrovskii knew the local languages well coins, statuettes carved from stone, small and was interested in the history and culture of bronze sculptures and reliefs, bronze seals and the region, although he is best known to the intaglios, painting and written documents on English-speaking world as the representative wood. of Russian political interests during this period The question of the history of Yotkan remains of the so-called “Great Game.” He published a open, pending archaeological investigation of good many articles and notes (Petrovskii 1892, the site. Some scholars are of the opinion that 1893, 1906 etc.) and maintained close scholarly it was the capital of the oasis; others consider contacts with the leading orientalists of his time that it was the location of a cemetery. There such as Sergei F. Ol’denburg and Vasilii V. were other centers in Khotan besides Yotkan, Bartol’d. As Ol’denburg wrote, it was Petrovskii some of them better documented from the “who first encouraged scholars to devote archaeological standpoint: Ak-Terek, Ak-Sipil, detailed attention to the scholarly treasures of Dandan-Uilik and Rawak. We do know that the Chinese Turkestan; he was a man of whom Kingdom of Khotan maintained contacts with Russia rightly was proud” (Ol’denburg 1912, p. China, the West and the states of Central Asia. 3). In a letter to Academician Viktor R. Rozen, This explains why Khotan ceramics have much Petrovskii wrote: “the archaeological objects in in common with Central Asian late Kushan and the collection were obtained through agents especially Bactrian ceramics (Litvinskii 1995, from the local inhabitants. The objects come p. 123). There are some parallels with Chinese from the territory of the town of Borazan, where bronze dishes and with Classical vases. The they were discovered mainly in the channel of figured dishes resemble Classical ones only in the irrigation canal which watered the soil of their shape. According to Gösta Montell, the the ancient settlement” (IRAO 1882, protocols dishes with human representations derive from of 27 March; 1893, protocols of 20 June). The Classical prototypes (Montell 1935, pp. 158- objects in the collection of Petrovskii were a 159). Classical and Persian influences were cause for enthusiasm and were obtained by the reflected in the intaglios carved from semi- Imperial Hermitage in 1897. In addition, the precious stones, in the bronze seals and in small collection contains a significant number of finds terracottas. obtained by Sergei A. Kolokolov, Sobolevskii and the engineeers L. Ia. Liutsh and Belinko. A The distinctiveness of Khotan ceramics relatively small number of the objects was consists above all in their ornamental acquired from the scholars Nikolai I. Veselovskii compositions. Characteristic is the combination and Sergei E. Malov. of applied and stamped relief, sculpture, and flat ornament, which is also common in Kushan A significant part of the collection is objects Bactrian ceramics. Probably the Khotan vases made of terracotta, numbering more than 2500. were imitations of metal ones (gold or silver) The Silk Road 6/1 (2008), pp. 29-37 29 (D’iakonova and Sorokin 1960, pls. 1-5). In Khotan after the year 260 when seeking fuller Khotan vases were made of thin clay mixed with versions of the “Prajnaparamita”. He found this loess and after firing took on a bright red or work and made a copy of it on birchbark yellowish-red color. The purpose of the vases (Zürcher 1959, Vol. 1, pp. 61-63). remains unclear, whereas the other vessels were When Buddhism first established itself in used in daily life. Eastern Turkestan, the most widespread school Of particular interest are terracotta statuettes was the Sarvastivada (Vorob’eva-Desiatovskaia depicting men and women in secular dress, 1989). According to Margarita I. Vorob’eva- which were widespread in Eastern Turkestan in Desiatovskaia, there was a transition period in the fourth and fifth centuries. Their purpose Khotan between the predominance of the remains unclear: they could have been toys, Hinayana school and adherence to the or votive or burial statuettes. They were Mahayana. One consequence of this was an manufactured in large quantities with the help early emphasis on icongraphic depictions of the of moulds (D’iakonova 2000, pp. 229-230). Buddhas rather than Bodhisattvas (Williams Numerous figures of monkeys also originate in 1973, pp. 125-129). Khotan, their purpose likewise as yet being In 401 CE the Chinese pilgrim Faxian spent unclear. three months in Khotan; in his travel account A good many of the objects from Khotan are he emphasized that without exception all the to be connected with religious practice. Among inhabitants were Buddhists. The number of the local cults, the most widespread was the monks was huge, and they were primarily of worship of the god of weaving, whose painted the Mahayana school. There were fourteen large images are to be found on wooden icons. monasteries plus many smaller ones. The Beginning in the first centuries CE Khotan largest monastery contained 3000 monks. To became one of the major centers of Buddhism; the west of Khotan was another large many monasteries were erected there. Hence monastery. The columns beams, doors, and in Khotan along with monuments dedicated to window frames were all gilded, and the cells of local cults and cults imported from other areas, the monks richly decorated. In describing the there are a great many Buddhist monuments. monastery he mentions also wood carving, The art of Khotan featured clay and stucco relief mosaic, and interior details decorated with depictions of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, silver. The rulers of the six regions of Khotan ranging in size from miniatures to very large would send as gifts to the monasteries the rarest sculptures. A rather large group of Gandharan of precious stones. “The monastery is so Buddhist votive images carved from stone attest decorated and magnificent,” writes Faxian, “that to the connections with India. They were it is impossible to describe it in words” (Faxian imported by pilgrims and monks who moved 1957, pp. 17-18; Litvinskii 1992, pp. 454-455). from one monastery to the next and tend thus When famous Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang to be of small dimensions. The small Buddhist (600-664) visited Khotan in 644-645, he took Gandharan sculpture was widespread in the special note of large monasteries. While there, territories of Eastern Turkestan and Central Asia. Xuanzang explained to the local Buddhists the Monuments of Gandharan sculpture made of texts of the Yogacarabhumi-sastra, the stone and elephant ivory were found in Khotan Abhidarma-samuccaya, the Abhidarma-kosa by, among others, the expedition of Aurel Stein and the Mahayanasamgraha-sastra. Every day (Stein 1907, Vol. 2, pl. XLVII). he spoke to an audience of about a thousand; Information on Buddhism in Khotan has come his sermons were attended also by the ruler down to us from three sources: from the along with monks and laymen. The Abhidarma- descriptions of Chinese pilgrims, from fragments kosa is one of the fundamental works of the of Buddhist texts found in East Turkestan and Sarvastivada school; the others are part of the from works of art. Mahayana tradition. Thus, Xuanzang explained to his Khotanese audience primarily Mahayana The Chinese and Tibetan sources date the texts (Men’shikov 1980, pp. 133, 137). penetration of Buddhism into Khotan to the third century BCE. The first reports were written by Written texts attest to the popularity in the Chinese monk Zhu Shixing, who arrived in Khotan of Maitreya. A Tibetan work entitled “The 30 Prophecy about the Li Country [Khotan]” noted that the Buddha ordered eight Bodhisattvas to protect the territory of Khotan. Among them is Maitreya (Emmerick 1967, p. 13). One of the Khotanese kings named Vijaya Sambhava was venerated as the terrestrial incarnation of Maitreya. He ruled for five years beginning 165 years after the founding of the Khotanese state and during his reign built Buddhist monasteries and stupas (Emmerick 1967, p. 25). Another of the Khotanese rulers considered to be a terrestrial incarnation of Maitreya was Vijaya Virya, who likewise was renowned for building Buddhist structures (Emmerick 1967, p. 29). The following legend is associated with the name of the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Once in the time of the Buddha Kasyapa a stupa was erected on the territory of Khotan. Later on the location of Khotan a lake formed, and the stupa was covered by mountains. Then Maitreya appeared Photo copyright © 2008 State Hermitage Museum. All rights reserved. and the lake dried up, the mountains crumbled, and the stupa was freed (Emmerick 1967, p. Fig. 2. Seated Buddha. Painted stucco. H. 11 th 31). The king Vijaya Simha built a special cm. Khotan, 4 century CE. Inv. no. GA-2485. monastery dedicated to Maitreya as the chest in the gesture of fearlessness (abhaya protector-divinity of Khotan and erected there mudra). The left hand, extended along the body, his statue (Emmerick 1967, p. 55).
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