Literary and Iconographical Evidence for the Identification of the Zoroastrian Rain God Tishtrya in Sogdian Art
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Abstract
Despite the fact that Sogdian documents found in Dunhuang mainly concerned the Buddhist faith, they preserved important evidence about names and descriptions of deities rooted in the traditional religion of Sogdiana. This was a local form of Zoroastrianism called Xian in Chinese chronicles. Two 8th–9th cc. A.D. Buddhist texts in Sogdian from Dunhuang explicitly associated three Xian deities to Indian counterparts and even described their attributes. This paper discusses one deity not associated with any Sogdian god, namely Vreshman or Vaishramana, the Buddhist guardian (or lokapala) of the north. Sogdians probably identified him with Tish who usually appeared in pre-Islamic Sogdian art together with Nana.
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Literary and Iconographical Evidence for the Identification of the Zoroastrian Rain God Tishtrya in Sogdian Art
In: Iran and the CaucasusSearch for other papers by Matteo Compareti in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Despite the fact that Sogdian documents found in Dunhuang mainly concerned the Buddhist faith, they preserved important evidence about names and descriptions of deities rooted in the traditional religion of Sogdiana. This was a local form of Zoroastrianism called Xian in Chinese chronicles. Two 8th–9th cc. A.D. Buddhist texts in Sogdian from Dunhuang explicitly associated three Xian deities to Indian counterparts and even described their attributes. This paper discusses one deity not associated with any Sogdian god, namely Vreshman or Vaishramana, the Buddhist guardian (or lokapala) of the north. Sogdians probably identified him with Tish who usually appeared in pre-Islamic Sogdian art together with Nana.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 448 | 448 | 37 |
| Full Text Views | 16 | 16 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 116 | 116 | 2 |
