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Migrants Or Monks the Problems of a Migration Scenario in First to Fourth Century Caḍ́ota by the Niya River

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Migrants Or Monks the Problems of a Migration Scenario in First to Fourth Century Caḍ́ota by the Niya River Migrants or Monks The problems of a migration scenario in first to fourth century Caḍ́ota by the Niya River Tomas Larsen Høisæter Abstract: In the past decades migration has been the dominant explanation employed by scholars to explain how the Kharosthi script and other innovations from North-West India spread to the Tarim Basin region during the first centuries CE. This article is a case study which seeks to challenge this migration scenario, based on a close study of the textual and material evidence available from the Krorainian Kingdom which occupied parts of the Southern Tarim Basin in antiquity. First evidence which challenges the migration scenario is presented, looking both at linguistic and literary evidence, as well as evidence for continuity in local practice and belief. An alternative scenario based on ex- change and interaction is proposed towards the end of the article, arguing that to suppose large scale migration is unnecessary to explain the phenomenon at hand. For this alternative the article draw up- on ideas from recent archaeological studies on the pre-historic Central Eurasia. In late January 1901, Sir Aurel Stein began ancient documents, many of them very well exploring a site of ancient ruins north of the preserved. Though not as well publicised as village of Niya, now in the Xinjiang Uighur some of the more prominent Silk Road sites, Autonomous Region of China. Steins was such as Dunhuang or Turfan, Steins discov- one of the first scientific expeditions into the eries and those of subsequent expeditions Tarim Basin, a large drainage basin nestled resulted in the Niya site1 being one of the between some of the most imposing moun- best documented sites of the Tarim Basin tain ranges in the world, namely the Hima- and the ancient Silk Routes.2 The town, laya and Kunlun to the south, the Pamir called Caḍ́ota in the documents, was a small plateau to the west and the Tianshan and community at the edge of the Kingdom of Altai mountains to the north. The region that Stein befittingly called Innermost Asia has 1 In this article I have chosen to use the name historically been an arid region dominated Caḍ́ota when speaking of the historical by the vast Taklamakan desert, thus forcing town/region while I use Niya to refer specifical- ly to the archaeological site found by Stein humans to settle in clusters along the foot- north of present day Niya/Minfeng. hills of the mountains and near the many 2 Steins expedition is covered in detail in his rivers that flow into the basin. After being book, Ancient Khotan. Several authors have given detailed accounts of the history of the Ta- guided north from the village of Niya along rim Basin. Amongst these, Valerie Hansens one of these rivers, Steins expedition even- The Silk Road and Christoph Baumers The His- tually came upon the remnants of several tory of Central Asia, are the most recent and up- to-date works. Detailed discussions on the ancient buildings still clearly visible Caḍ́ota community can be found in Christopher amongst the sand dunes. The site proved to Atwoods Life in Third-fourth Century be a rich archaeological discovery, and to Cadh’ota and Mariner Erza Padwas disserta- tion An Archaic Fabric: Culture and Landscape alth of Steins joy, it also contained a we in an Early Inner Asian Oasis. Distant Worlds Journal 3 (2017) 81 Kroraina, known to Chinese historians as script once in use in North-West India and Loulan and later Shanshan. Sites along the the language written as being a form of Pra- Niya River appear to have been settled since krit. The find delighted him and intrigued at least the middle of the second millennium him, and he was quick to remark, BCE3 but the site of Caḍ́ota was inhabited in the first four or five centuries CE before …, there seemed enough in the first being abandoned.4 Judging from the many days discoveries to justify the conclu- sion that, with the Kharosthi script documents pertaining to taxation and trans- transplanted from the extreme North- actions, the majority of the population were West of India, an early form of Indian farmers, primarily growing a wide variety of speech had also been brought into use crops and practising animal husbandry, sup- within the territories of ancient Kho- plementing with several other products such tan, probably from the same region. as wine and textiles. The documents reveal Such a fact could only be accounted that the Caḍ́otans were Buddhists, monks for by historical events of far-reaching and their community (Sangha) played an importance, or else by ethnic move- active part in the documentary evidence and ments little suspected hitherto.6 two stupas were also uncovered. In addition, the Caḍ́otans also held onto old gods and Stein here very eloquently expressed the 5 beliefs. Although it was perhaps initially question that the discovery of the Kharosthi independent, the town of Caḍ́ota, at the time documents raised amongst scholars both of its documents were written, was ruled by the Kharosthi language and of ancient east- various governors and officials in the name ern Central Asia in general – namely, how of the king of Kroraina. The royal court was and why the Kharosthi script and the Prakrit in frequent contact with their officials and language of North-West India had penetrat- the locals could appeal their grievances di- ed so deeply into the Tarim Basin, almost to rectly to the king or to a local representative the border of ancient China. Several who pronounced judgement according to scholars have discussed this question since established laws and regulations. Indeed, the Steins discovery, and Valerie Hansen iden- vast majority of documents uncovered relate tifies two rough strands of thought,7 to various legal problems, crimes and offi- corresponding remarkably well with Steins cial duties facing the local officials. own proposals. Many of the earliest scholars to study the documents, including some of The documents from Caḍ́ota therefore of- the giants of the field, favoured direct politi- fered scholars a wealth of information on the local people, their administration, reli- cal control by the Kushan Empire which ruled Bactria and North-Western India in the gion, sources of sustenance and above all first and second centuries. Though several their daily lives and problems. But since scholars have supported this view, notable their discovery, the documents have also 8 perplexed scholars. Stein, who was well- proponents of which include John Brough , Edwin George Pulleyblank,9 and, more re- versed in the ancient languages of India, quickly recognized the writing on the docu- ments as being mainly in the Kharosthi 6 Stein 1907, 321. Note that Stein associated the whole southern Tarim Basin area with Khotan. 3 Tang et al. 2013, 38. 7 Hansen 2004, 290–91. 4 Hansen 2012, 54–55. 8 Brough 1965, 582–612. 5 Hansen 2004. 9 Pulleyblank 2002, 247–58. 82 Høisæter, Migrants or Monks cently, Douglas Hitch,10 recent research has by Christoph Baumer in his The History of tended towards criticising this view, and the Central Asia (2014). Kushan dominance theory has lost much The present article, however, aims to chal- of its popularity. Because of the constraints lenge this migration theory, based on a close of this paper, I will not devote more time to study of the Niya documents themselves, this hypothesis, although it certainly de- their context and the archaeological material serves a thorough re-examination. from the site. As several recent studies in More recently, however, some scholars have the field of Central Asian archaeology have proposed a different solution echoing Steins shown, notably the works of Michael second suggestion, namely that migrants Frachetti and William Honeychurch, inter- from the region of Gandhara in North- regional interaction was an important factor Western India (modern day Peshawar, Paki- in the regions development since pre- stan) moved into and settled in the southern historic times.14 Building on these ideas of Tarim Basin oases, bringing both Buddhism inter-regional networks I wish to propose an and their language with them. This move- exchange-based model rather than one based ment of people is thought to have occurred on migration or political control. The model at the end of the 2nd century CE and is sup- I propose not only better fits with the avail- posed to have occurred due to the political able evidence, but it also allows for a more instability and subsequent fall of the Kushan nuanced view of the history of the Empire. Amongst the first scholars to argue Krorainan Kingdom. In what follows, I have this view was Meicun Lin in his article Kha- chosen to base my spelling of Chinese rosthi Bibliography (1996), in which he ar- words and names on modern pinyin without gued that the Kharosthi script and Buddhism using tonal marks while the Kharosthi tran- itself were brought with thousands of scriptions follow the translation of T. Bur- Kushan/Yuezhi people migrating east- row. When referring to Kharosthi docu- wards.11 Since Lins article, the migration ments from the Krorainian Kingdom I fol- theorys main proponent has been Valerie low the numbers assigned to them in Bur- Hansen, who presented this view in the arti- rows translation in A Translation of Kha- cle Religious Life in a Silk Road Community: rosthi Documents from Chinese Turkestan, Niya During the Third and Fourth Centuries which broadly agrees with the transcription (2004) and argued it more forcefully in her of Auguste M. Boyer, Edward J. Rapson and recent book The Silk Road: A New History Èmile Senart in their Kharosthi Inscriptions (2012), although, in contrast with Lin, she discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese envisioned migration of smaller groups of Turkestan.
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