1 Introduction
In Cave 98 at Mogao, an imposing life-size figure of the Khotanese King Viśa’ Saṃbhava (r. 912–962/966, Chin. Li Shengtian
Portrait of Viśa’ Saṃbhava and of his wife, Lady Cao. East wall of Mogao Cave 98, Dunhuang, ca. 940. Mogaoku, vol. 5, 13
© Dunhuang Academy
Cave 98 was built after 918 to celebrate the official recognition of Cao Yijin (r. 914–935,
The portrait of the Khotanese royal couple is not the only element in this cave that shows a connection with Khotan. A large tableau of Mt. Gośīrṣa in Khotan, also known as Mt. Gośṛṅga, dominates the corridor ceiling. On the slopes of the corridor ceiling, the Khotanese Eight Protectors and Auspicious Statues are depicted in rows. In short, Cave 98 represents the epitome of what we refer to here as ‘Khotanese themes’ in the caves of Dunhuang.
2 Background of the Khotanese Themes
2.1 Auspicious Statues
Auspicious Statues6 are statues that originated at different holy places of the Buddhist world that were venerated for their special miraculous powers. Their auspiciousness derives from the fact that they were said to have been carved from the true appearance (Chin. zhengrong
The backgrounds of Auspicious Statues are found in the narratives about Buddhist sacred sites that circulated in Central and East Asia, and were diffused, in large part, through the travelogues of Chinese pilgrims returning from India, particularly in the stories about miraculous statues recounted by Xuanzang (600/602–664,
In Dunhuang, Auspicious Statues are depicted on wall paintings dating from the late 8th/9th to the 10th centuries9 and on silk banners—the sole surviving example of which is the one from the Cave Library recovered by Aurel Stein, now split between the collections of the British Museum and the National Museum New Delhi (fig. 4.2).10 Many of these depictions have captions that, when legible, identify the individual statues and their related narratives. Moreover, the content of the captions are echoed, in different ways, in four Chinese manuscripts found in Dunhuang, composed between the end of the 9th century and the 10th century known as Ruixiangji
Silk banner with depictions of Auspicious Statues. Dunhuang, 9th–10th c. Ch.xxii.0023, British Museum and National Museum New Delhi
Digital composition provided by the International Dunhuang project (IDP). IDP.BL.UK/Database/Large.A4D?RECNUM=84541&IMAGERECNUM=65526 © IDP
The topic of Auspicious Statues has received intermittent scholarly attention since the 1960s.12 Already in 1965, in his analysis of the silk banner from Dunhuang discovered by Stein, Alexander Soper noticed that a number of Auspicious Statues had a strong connection with Khotan, and pointed to the narrative backgrounds found in Tibetan texts and Chinese pilgrims’ accounts.13 Khotan’s importance as the place where many of these statues were located was highlighted again in the 1980s by Michel Soymié and by the Chinese scholars Zhang Guangda (
According to most recent surveys, the number of Auspicious Statues is around forty.16 Their appearance as a group has been registered in at least twenty-eight caves at Mogao and one at Yulin (tab. 4.1). Among the Auspicious Statues listed in the texts and captions, at least fifteen are clearly connected with Khotan and its Buddhist mythology: this accounts for more than one third of the number of Auspicious Statues. Table 4.2 is a list of Auspicious Statues identified as located in Khotan, according to the names provided by the inscriptions in the caves and the Records on the Auspicious Statues.17
Presence of Khotanese themes at Mogao and Yulin Caves (comp. E. Forte)
Auspicious Statues residing in Khotan (comp. E. Forte)
Paintings of Auspicious Statues are found in two places, either on the slopes of the ceiling of the cave’s main niche—typically the one facing the entrance and above the altar—or on the slopes of the ceiling of the entrance corridor. Further, there is some evidence that Auspicious Statues were depicted on a whole wall, together with other Khotanese themes and Buddhist legends, as in Mogao Caves 76 and 220, and Yulin Cave 33.18 According to Zhang Xiaogang, images positioned in the main niche’s ceiling are found mostly in caves that were (re)decorated in the first half of the 9th century, while the instances of the corridor-ceiling position date from the second half of the 9th century through the end of the 10th century. The third type of location, on the wall, does not appear before the second half of the 10th century.19
When they appear on the ceiling of the cave’s main niche, Khotanese Auspicious Statues are grouped with other Auspicious Statues located in India or China (fig. 4.3). Khotanese Auspicious Statues painted on the corridor ceilings are depicted with the array of Eight Protectors of Khotan (see below), and a similar scheme is followed in the caves where they are represented on one wall. It seems safe to conclude that starting from the second half of the 9th century and throughout the 10th century, Khotanese Auspicious Statues gained a major protective function.
Auspicious Statues and the founding legend of Khotan. Western niche ceiling (detail) of Mogao Cave 237, Dunhuang, ca. late 8th–mid 9th c.
Mogaoku, vol. 4, 108 (detail) © Dunhuang Academy
A topos of Khotanese Auspicious Statues is that they moved from their place of origin to Khotan through the air (Chin. tengkong
Places of residence of Auspicious Statues in ancient Khotan. Letters a–q refer to Table 4.2
Another cluster of holy places where the Auspicious Statues took up residence is the area north of Domoko (Chin. Damagou
2.2 Mt. Gośīrṣa
Mt. Gośīrṣa was, perhaps, one of the most sacred places in ancient Khotan. It recurs in many of the narratives preserved in ancient sources, in Tibetan and Chinese. The name Gośīrṣa in Sanskrit means ox head. It is rendered into Chinese as niutou (
A Tibetan text preserved in the Kangyur (Tib. bka’ ’gyur), the Ri glang ru lung bstan pa [Prophecy of Gośṛṅga, also known as Gośṛṅgavyākarana] (composed probably before the mid-9th century28), is entirely dedicated to the narration of events that took place on Mt. Gośīrṣa.29 This is the site where the Buddha Śākyamuni came to dwell for a while and predicted that the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan would come into existence one hundred years after his nirvāṇa. At this location, the Buddha expounded the dharma to an assembly of deities and then sat in meditation before going back to India. The text states that a monastery, the Gomasālagandha, and an image of the Buddha stand in the very spot of these events. The mountain was populated by other important monasteries, and buddhas of the past and bodhisattvas also dwelled here, in addition to a number of Auspicious Statues (see tab. 4.2).30 In particular, Mt. Gośīrṣa was also known as the abode of the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, which made it a kind of Khotanese counterpart of Mt. Wutai (Chin. Wutai shan
The site of Mt. Gośīrṣa is associated with Kohmāri Hill, 26 km southwest of the modern-day Khotan City, on the eastern bank of the Karakash River, in the vicinity of the site of Yotkan, the ancient capital of the kingdom (map 4.1).32 The name ox head or ox horn hints at the shape of the mountain; it has two summits separated by a valley, and thus it resembles the head of a cow. Xuanzang describes both the mountain and its sanctuaries, which are also mentioned in later Tibetan texts.33 The hill retains its sacred aura even today, as it is the place of two Muslim sanctuaries, albeit with no archaeological traces left from the Buddhist temples visited by Xuanzang.34
Depictions of Mt. Gośīrṣa are present in Dunhuang as both the identifier of a number of Khotanese Auspicious Statues—those of the past buddhas who gathered there—and the main subject of large tableaux.
Mt. Gośīrṣa tableaux are found in at least twenty caves at Mogao and two at Yulin (tab. 4.1). With the exceptions of Caves 76 and 220 at Mogao and Cave 33 at Yulin—where the depictions of Mt. Gośīrṣa are displayed on one wall of the main chamber35—Mt. Gośīrṣa tableaux are located on the ceiling of the entrance corridor. The first appearance of this theme could date to the 8th century,36 but the majority of the extant evidence falls into a period stretching from the first half of the 9th century (namely, in the period of Tibetan rule over Dunhuang) to the first quarter of the 11th century (until the end of the Guiyijun period).
The arrangement and proportions of the Mt. Gośīrṣa tableaux follow a similar scheme (fig. 4.4). The mountain is the largest element at the center of the composition and is rendered literally, in the shape of a cow head. A staircase leads from the bottom of the mountain, through the mouth of the cow, and to the top of its head, where a large image of a buddha sits in dhyānāsana on a lotus and performs the gesture of vitarkamudrā. In some depictions, the buddha is inside a pavilion—could this be the Gomasālagandha Monastery?—as in Mogao Caves 25, 342, and 454, and in Yulin Cave 33. An additional standing buddha is depicted in the space immediately over the mountain. While the sitting buddha represents Śākyamuni, when he stayed for seven days on the mountain, the standing image likely represents the Auspicious Statue of Śākyamuni, when it arrived through the air from Vulture Peak.37 Smaller figures of monks, devarājas, guardian deities, bodhisattvas, and other buddhas are depicted in the vicinity of the mountain; this is the audience to which the Buddha expounds the dharma, as described in textual accounts. The number of figures and the way they are displayed within the composition vary in the extant examples.38
Mount Gośīrṣa tableau, with Auspicious Statues and Eight Protectors. Corridor ceiling of Mogao Cave 9, late 9th c.
Dunhuang Gantonghua, 314, 5–3-10 © Dunhuang Academy
The rest of the space around the mountain in the tableau is occupied by visual narratives related to sacred places in India, Central Asia, and China. Among them, the founding legend of Khotan (see next paragraph) is depicted in the upper left corner, on the margin of the composition (fig. 4.4). This arrangement seems to be constant across Mt. Gośīrṣa tableaux located on the entrance corridor ceiling.
2.3 The Founding of Khotan
The legend of the founding of Khotan is recorded in various Chinese and Tibetan sources. It is basically composed of two main narratives, with some variations. One part tells of the prophecy spoken by the Buddha Śākyamuni on Mt. Gośīrṣa. At that time, the territory of Khotan was covered by a lake. The Buddha predicts that the Kingdom of Khotan will arise on this very place. To ease the process, he calls his disciple Śāriputra and the god Vaiśravaṇa, and orders them to dry the lake. The second part of the legend narrates how the Dynasty of Khotan came into existence, with Vaiśravaṇa playing the role of granting an heir to the first king and establishing a continuous royal lineage.39
Depictions of the founding legend of Khotan in Dunhuang relate to the prophecy only: Vaiśravaṇa and Śāriputra are depicted in the act of draining the lake (figs. 4.3 and 4.4). On the lake, small buddhas sit on floating lotuses. A building in the shape of a castle or fortress stands in the back. The scene is identified by an inscription. The one from Mogao Cave 237 says, “Kingdom of Khotan: the moment when Śāriputra and the celestial king Vaiśravaṇa pierce the lake” (Chin. Yutianguo Shelifu Bishamen tianwang juehai shi
Depictions of the founding of Khotan mainly appear in two forms: as individually framed pictures decorating the ceiling slopes of the large buddha niche in the main chamber of the caves, in a line with other individually framed depictions of Auspicious Statues (fig. 4.3) or embedded in large Mt. Gośīrṣa tableaux (fig. 4.4). The latter case is the most recurrent and seems to be the standard in caves that were built or decorated during the Guiyijun period. One exception to this scheme is found in Yulin Cave 32, where the scene with Vaiśravaṇa and Śāriputra is included in the tableau of Samantabhadra’s assembly, occupying the eastern wall of the main room.41
The combination of the two scenes—the Buddha on Mt. Gośīrṣa and the founding of Khotan—into one pictorial space is meaningful, as it rather faithfully reflects the narratives contained in the Tibetan texts Li yul lung bstan pa [Prophecy of the Li Country] and Li yul chos kyi lo rgyus [Religious Annals of the Li Country] (P. T. 960).
Then the Lord (bhagavant) Śākyamuni, having filled with his rays (raśmi) the Li country that had become a lake, from those rays there arose in the water three hundred and sixty-three lotuses. On the several lotuses appeared several lamps (pradīpa). Those rays, coming together, circling three times toward the right above the water, will sink into the midst of the water. Then the Lord (bhagavant) ordered Ārya Śāriputra and Vaiśravaṇa: ‘Do break up this lake (saras) that resembles the colour of ink at the mountain called Māṃsa-varṇa-parvata (flesh-coloured mountain).’ So he ordered. And the lake was broken up by the end of Ārya Śāriputra’s mendicant’s staff and by Vaiśravaṇa’s spear-point (kunta-palaka). And the Lord (bhagavant) for the sake of working the purpose (artha) of the beings (sattva) remained there a week on the Gośīrṣa hill, at a place where there is now a small stūpa, inside a shrine to the left of where stands a great image (pratimā) […].
Then the Lord (bhagavant) said to Ānanda: ‘The lake being broken up by the end of Śāriputra’s mendicant’s staff and by Vaiśravaṇa’s spear-point (kunta-palaka), on the lake’s subsequently drying up, after my nirvāṇa, this country called the Li country will exist. In the place where the rays circled three times, afterwards, in a circle, the fortress of Hu-then, the great city of Lṅa-ldan, will be built. In the place where the rays sank into the midst of the water, taking control over (adhiṣṭhāna) and guarding the country, an image of the Buddha of Rājagrāma, made with my controlling that bodily defilement should not sink into the sandal, will come through the air (ākāśa) from the country of India and remain. In the places where rose the lotuses and the lamps (pradīpa) on the water, afterwards three hundred and sixty-three vihāras, inhabited by monks and nuns practising the Mahāyāna, will be built by kings and other faithful donors (dānapati).42
2.4 The Eight Protectors
In 1942, Harold Bailey published a selection of texts in Khotanese to “illustrate the religion of Khotan”, where he noticed the recurrence of “a definite group of eight” deities, “devas, nāga, and devīs”, and noted that “the group is found in Khotan, Tibetan, and Chinese” texts.43 The group is also referred to in Khotanese by the collective name of Eight Protectors (Kh. haṣṭä parvālā). These are deities that have been specifically nominated by the Buddha Śākyamuni to protect Khotan and ensure Khotanese sovereignty (tab. 4.3).
The Eight Protectors of Khotan (comp. E. Forte, adapted from “Eight Protectors,” tab. 1)
In their study of the Records on the Auspicious Statues, Zhang Guangda and Rong Xinjiang highlight the occurrence of the names of the Eight Protectors of Khotan. In particular, in document S. 2113, they are listed one after another, and each name is followed by the formula “[…] protects the Kingdom of Khotan” (Chin. hu Yutian guo
The cult of the Eight Protectors probably emerged at the end of the 6th century. The oldest extant textual evidence containing a list of the Eight Protectors of Khotan is the Chinese Candragarbhasūtra (Chin. Yuezangjing
At present, we know that at least fifteen caves at Mogao and one at Yulin contain depictions of the Eight Protectors that belong to the period between the end of the 9th century and the last quarter of the 10th century (tab. 4.1).49 Representations of the Eight Protectors of Khotan at the Mogao Caves follow a rather standardized scheme in terms of placement (position within the caves), style, and iconography. The Eight Protectors are consistently depicted as a group and are typically displayed paratactically on the slopes of the ceiling in the entrance corridor, four on each side, above the donors, who are usually depicted on the walls of the corridor. The ensemble is often completed with images of Auspicious Statues, including the Khotanese ones (fig. 4.4).
Each deity is depicted within a frame, often identified by captions in Chinese. The style and iconography of the deities are rather consistent in terms of attributes and stance. In some cases, it is possible that stencils or sketch models (Chin. huagao
3 Evidence from Khotan
The silk banner of the Auspicious Statues that Aurel Stein discovered includes an image that was, from the very beginning of the study of the banner, unmistakably connected with actual sculptures brought to light by Stein himself at the site of Rawak in Khotan (figs. 4.2 and 4.5–4.6).53 Both the Rawak sculptures and the image on the banner show a standing buddha whose body halo is filled with small buddha figures.
Relief sculpture of a standing Buddha. Inner wall of Rawak stūpa court, Khotan, 6th–8th c.
Stein photo 5/3(19), IDP.BL.UK/Database/Large.A4D?RECNUM=54375&IMAGERECNUM=92020 © Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
At first, scholars interpreted the banner’s contents as drawings derived from sculptures worshipped at various sacred sites in India.54 Later, Alexander Soper noticed that in the captions of the images, in addition to the well-known Indian places, “[…] there is an interesting sprinkling of Chinese holy sites closer to hand in the Kansu area […]”, and “[…] a third region, Khotan, was of still greater importance […]” as the source of such images. For the image resembling the sculptures at Rawak, Soper suggests “[…] this icon was intended to represent one of the several specifically Khotanese buddhas named in the texts.” Soper goes as far as suggesting that this particular image was actually intended as a reproduction of the Buddha of Pimo, described in the records of Song Yun and Xuanzang.55
Hida Romi reanalysed the iconography of some of the images in the banner. The similarities between the image of the standing buddha with the halo filled with small buddhas and the statues from Rawak seem irrefutable, although the hypothesis that this depiction might represent the Pimo statue, in light of subsequent research on the Auspicious Statues, should be dismissed. Hida identifies the way the small buddhas are depicted as a distinctive feature of Khotanese iconography. Khotanese features are seen in another statue depicted in the banner of a buddha seated with pendent legs on a square throne. Further, Hida presents iconographical and textual evidence that one more image on the banner could have originated in the Khotan area.56
While the Khotanese origin of many of the Auspicious Statues is by now a fact, it nevertheless remains difficult—if not impossible—to attribute any of these images to known sculptural or painted remains from Khotan, aside from the case of the Rawak sculptures. This is not surprising, at least not more than the apparent absence of clear evidence of figurative representations of Khotanese themes in the Khotan area.
Joanna Williams suggests tentatively that some buddha images on wooden panels found in Khotan represent Auspicious Statues. However, she concludes that “[…] the assumption that these (= the paintings from Khotan) are in fact representations of ‘famous images’ is somewhat tenuous.” Williams points out that the imagery, as it appears in Dunhuang, finds no real parallels in the Khotanese paintings. This might be due, among other factors, to the chronological gap between the two productions.57 The Auspicious Statues paintings appear in Dunhuang in the 9th century, while the chronology of Khotanese paintings suggested by Williams, “[…] belonged primarily to the 8th century AD, and no new material has appeared to change this estimate.”58
So far, this remains the scenario: a substantial lack of evidence of local Khotanese artistic production of the themes found in Dunhuang and in the texts. A few local legends—preserved in the Tibetan and Chinese sources—have been identified as the subjects of some paintings.59 However, the founding legend is absent; the famous Mt. Gośīrṣa is not represented either, and the Eight Protectors as a group seems to be a subject that is equally ignored by the Khotanese painters.60
It is indeed likely that this state of affairs may change, because new material has appeared in the last decade. Newly discovered mural paintings from the site of Toplukdong (Chin. Tuopulukedun
On the inner walls of site no. 1 of Toplukdong, there is an image of a standing buddha with a large halo filled with smaller buddhas, very much recalling the image of the silk banner (fig. 4.7). Two other murals from the same structure appear to display two (?) of the Eight Protectors (fig. 4.8).61
Mural with a standing Buddha. Inner west wall of Toplukdong site n. 1, Domoko, Khotan, 7th–8th c.
Line drawing by E. Forte
Murals with two protector deities. Inner south wall of Toplukdong site n. 1, Domoko, Khotan (in situ), 7th–8th c.
Modified after Domoko, 6 © Domoko Museum
A group of fragments recovered from the larger structure at site no. 3 of Toplukdong shows a series of deities encircled by large oval haloes and floating in the air (fig. 4.9). They wear caftans with short sleeves over loose trousers tucked into high boots (male deities) or over long skirts in a light material (female deities). The deities have fierce expressions, with animal-like teeth. Their attributes are barely distinguishable, with some exceptions. There is no doubt that some kind of protector deities are depicted as a group here, although important elements are lacking to prove with certainty that these fragments represent the Eight Protectors. Ascertaining the exact identity of the individual figures (with one or two exceptions) needs further study. Their iconography does not tally with that of the Eight Protectors at Mogao, and the original number of the deities within the composition is unknown, due to the state of the remains.62
Mural fragment with protector deities, 62 × 83 cm. Recovered from Toplukdong site n. 3, Domoko, Khotan, 7th–8th c.
Buddhist Vestiges, 111 © Domoko Museum
4 Conclusions
In summing up, Khotanese themes in Dunhuang are seen in caves at Mogao and Yulin that were built or redecorated in the 9th and 10th centuries. The earliest representations belong to the last quarter of the 9th century, which basically falls into the period of the Tibetan presence in Dunhuang (ca. 786–848). The bulk of the depictions are found in caves from the Guiyijun period, especially those that were sponsored during the rule of the Cao family (914–1036,
This situation clearly reflects close connections between Dunhuang and the Kingdom of Khotan, strengthened and secured through marriage alliances, which led to the formation of a semi-permanent Khotanese (aristocratic) community in Dunhuang.63 The diffusion of Khotanese themes was fostered by such a community, which had the means to sponsor the decoration—or even the construction—of caves and monasteries in Dunhuang, with the support of the kindred Cao rulers. This provides a possible explanation for why the appearance of Khotanese themes is not always combined with Khotanese donors’ portraits.
The establishment of a close alliance between Khotan and Dunhuang appears to be something of a natural consequence derived from the political situation in eastern Central Asia in the 9th and 10th centuries. The instability created by continuous conflict nurtured the diffusion of end-of-the-dharma (Chin. mofa
Khotanese legends are not found in the extant literature in Khotanese; rather, they are echoed in Chinese pilgrims’ accounts and in the Tibetan texts. Xuanzang reports the legends of Khotan at length, and many of the legends find a parallel in the Tibetan texts and are recognisable in some of the Auspicious Statues’ narratives synthesised in the captions in the paintings at Mogao.
As Max Deeg underlines, the foundation legend Xuanzang reports does not include the story of draining the lake. It could be that the story was added at a later time, or at least after Xuanzang’s stay in Khotan.65 On the other hand, the drainage story appears in the Tibetan texts, the compilation of which likely occurred in the course of the 9th century, when Khotan and other territories of the Tarim Basin (and the region of Dunhuang) were under the control of the Tibetan Empire (Tib. Bod chen po, ca. 7th c. to 842).66 Depictions of the founding of Khotan in Dunhuang are rather similar to the narratives preserved in the Tibetan texts (for example, in Mogao Caves 231 and 237, typically ascribed to the Tibetan period),67 and seem to have been directly inspired by them.
On the whole, it is safe to assume that the narratives that constituted the basis of the Khotanese themes in Dunhuang acquired special popularity around the 8th or 9th century and found their way to a visual expression at the caves in Mogao. One may wonder about the agency of the Tibetans in this process—a question that I have to leave open for the time being.
The Khotanese themes in Dunhuang received a boost during the Guiyijun period in the 10th century, because of the direct connection between Khotan and the Guiyijun rulers, as explained above. Liberated from Tibetan dominion and left in peace by a considerably weakened Chinese presence in the Tarim area, Khotan regained its role in the political scene as an independent kingdom. A document from Dunhuang in 901 registers an official embassy from Khotan to the Guiyijun headquarters in Shazhou (
Rong Xinjiang points out another factor in the centrality of Khotan in Dunhuang imagery: with Islamic expansion, Dunhuang and Khotan remained the last strongholds of Buddhism in eastern Central Asia. This is clearly reflected in the words of the Prophecy of the Arhat from the Li Country:
[…] after the nirvāṇa of the Buddha Śākya-muni the image(s?) of the religion and the stūpas will last two thousand years and then perish […]. ’An-se and Śu-ling, being disturbed by many enemies, not followers of the religion, will be for the most part wasted with fire and havoc, and will become desolate. The Saṃghas of the monasteries thereof will come mostly into the Li country. The monasteries, stūpas and so forth, of the Li country are protected by five hundred Bodhi-sattvas […]. The monastery Hgeẖu-to-śan, having been trodden by the feet of one thousand and five Buddhas of the Good Aeon, will be a continuously and enduring mansion. Through the excellence and compassionate blessing of the Āryas the stūpas of the Li country and the practice of the Good Religion will flourish beyond those of other countries and will long endure.69
The Khotanese imagery at Dunhuang speaks of the need for communicating the legitimacy of the kingdom highlighting its prestige as both a political and a religious stronghold.
All things considered, the scenario in Dunhuang is rather linear. It is more puzzling to combine this scenario with the material from Khotan. The difficulty originates, basically, from the lack of clear evidence and from the chronological gaps between the appearance of the Khotanese themes in Dunhuang and the uncertain chronology of the Khotanese sites. The establishment of a firmer chronology of the Buddhist material culture in Khotan is an open issue, which likely will remain unsolvable without a systematic comparative, multidisciplinary, and cross-cultural effort. The revival of research on Khotanese themes in Dunhuang, together with new material brought to light in Khotan, opens up a path of interpretation that remained relatively unnoticed. The murals from Toplukdong in Domoko provide, in my view, the missing link between the cultural milieu at the origin of a specific ideology and imagery, and its visual manifestation at Dunhuang. It represents, most of all, a chance and a challenge to rethink old material from a new perspective.
Xinjiang Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013), 44–46. The date of the construction of the cave is between 923 and 925 in Dunhuang Mogaoku, vol. 5, 206. Although the inscription states that Viśa’ Saṃbhava is the owner of the cave, his portrait and the inscription seem to have been added later, in 940 (Dunhuang Mogaoku, vol. 5, 208). Historically, the name Great Jewel Kingdom of Khotan (Chin. Dabao Yutianguo
Rong Xinjiang
Dunhuang Mogaoku, vol. 5, fig. 12.
The term ruixiang is also rendered as “famous images”, “auspicious images” (Alexander C. Soper, “Representations of Famous Images at Tun-Huang,” Artibus Asiae 27.4 (1964/1965): 349–364; Roderick Whitfield, “Ruixiang at Dunhuang,” in Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art: Proceedings of a Seminar Held at Leiden University, 21–24 October 1991, ed. Karel R. van Kooij and Henny van der Veere (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995), 149–156), “miraculous images” (Claudia Wenzel, “The Image of the Buddha: Buddha Icons and Aniconic Traditions in India and China,” Transcultural Studies 1 (2011): 263–305), and “miraculous statues” (Michel Soymié, “Quelques représentations de statues miraculeuses dans les grottes de Touen-houang,” in Contributions aux études de Touen-houang III, ed. Michel Soymié (Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 1984), 77–102). I use the term Auspicious Statues, following Christoph Anderl (Christoph Anderl, “Linking Khotan and Dūnhuáng: Buddhist Narratives in Text and Image,” Entangled Religions 5 (2018): 250–311) and the idea suggested by Soymié, and also by Whitfield (“Ruixiang at Dunhuang,” 149), that the ruixiang paintings depict the statues of the deities and not the deities per se.
Veneration of Auspicious Statues occurred in China around the 6th century, reaching its peak around the 7th–8th centuries. See Wenzel, “The Buddha Image,” 277–282. A famous case is that of the ‘Udāyana Buddha,’ the very first image of Buddha Śākyamuni commissioned by King Udāyana of Kauśāmbī. The statue was carved from sandalwood by artisans, while they looked at the real, still alive, Buddha. In the process of the localization of Buddhism, narratives about the Udāyana statue changed; the statue is said to have moved to different places and to have eventually settled in China. On the Udāyana Buddha, see Alexander C. Soper, “Literary Evidence for Early Buddhist Art in China,” Artibus Asiae Supplementum 19 (1959): 1–296; Hida Romi
Soper, “Famous Images,” 351; Whitfield, “Ruixiang at Dunhuang,” 149.
Zhang Guangda
The banner is known by the inventory number Ch.xxii.0023 given by Aurel Stein. See M. Aurel Stein, Serindia. Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921), vol. 2, 1024–1026 and plate LXX (left half); Arthur Waley, A Catalogue of Paintings Recovered from Tun-Huang by Sir Aurel Stein (London: Trustees of the British Museum and of the Government of India, 1931), 84, 95, 268–271. For studies of the banner, see Benjamin Rowland, “Indian Images in Chinese Sculpture,” Artibus Asiae 10.1 (1947): 5–20; Soper, “Famous Images”; Whitfield, “Ruixiang at Dunhuang”; Hida Romi
Mss. P. 3352 (P. 3353 in Soymié, “Quelques représentations de statues miraculeuses,” and Whitfield, “Ruixiang at Dunhuang,” 149), S. 5659, S. 2113 (composed after 896), and P. 3033. The contents of the manuscripts are, in fact, derived from the captions in the caves. For a study of these manuscripts and of the captions, see Zhang and Rong, “Dunhuang ruixiangji”. Soymié (“Quelques représentations de statues miraculeuses,”) studied the text of ms. P. 3353 (3352) and compared it to the captions from Mogao Cave 231.
In addition to the references listed in the previous footnotes, see Ono Katsutoshi
Soper, “Famous Images,” 353–353. Soper clarifies the link between the images represented in the silk banner—which, until then, were believed to be drawn copies of actual Indian images seen by the pilgrims in India and brought back to China to serve as models for Chinese artisans—and those appearing in the Dunhuang caves. He also notices that the captions of the images on the banner are similar, if not identical, to the Auspicious Statues’ inscriptions in the caves at Dunhuang, for which he had documentation from the notes Paul Pelliot took.
Soymié, “Statues miraculeuses,” 102; Zhang and Rong, “Dunhuang ruixiangji”; Sun Xiushen
An overview with some new insights is given in Rong and Zhu, Yutian yu Dunhuang, 243–270. Zhang Xiaogang’s study revolves around iconographic issues in Dunhuang’s representations (Zhang Xiaogang
Zhang Guangda and Rong Xinjiang speak of around thirty statues (Zhang and Rong, “Dunhuang ruixiangji,” 193). In Zhang Xiaogang’s study, I counted some forty statues (Zhang Xiaogang, Dunhuang gantonghua, 7–71, 126–170, 212–246).
It must be stressed here that the final assessment of the identity of some of the images and the number of caves where these images appear is still in progress. Zhang and Rong counted 29 caves with depictions of Auspicious Statues (Zhang and Rong, Yutianshi congkao, 178–181, 216–223). They include: Mogao Cave 5; Mogao Cave 144, with a painting of Vaiśravaṇa and Śāriputra draining the lake; Mogao Cave 313, with a single image of the Gośīrṣa Auspicious Statue from the Tangut period; Mogao Cave 345; and Mogao Cave 453. The presence of Auspicious Statues in Mogao Caves 76 and 453 is documented by inscriptions. Zhang Xiaogang excludes Mogao Caves 5, 144, 313, 345, and 453, and adds the evidence of Cave 33 at Yulin (Zhang, Dunhuang gantonghua, 327, Table 2)—this brings his count to 24 caves with representations of Auspicious Statues at Mogao and one cave at Yulin. I tend to interpret the representation of the single Auspicious Statue in Mogao Cave 313 as a different case and count the depiction of Vaiśravaṇa and Śāriputra in Mogao Cave 144 among the depictions of the founding legend of Khotan. A factor to keep in mind is that, due to the state of conservation of the caves, especially the entrance corridors, paintings are often not clearly visible. The ongoing restoration work at Mogao and Yulin caves in the last decades revealed paintings that were previously unnoticed, and most likely, the number of caves known to display Khotanese auspicious statues will increase.
The paintings in Cave 220 at Mogao are only visible from old documentation recorded by Paul Pelliot. See Qiang Ning, “Diplomatic Icons: Social and Political Meanings of Khotanese Images in Dunhuang Cave 220,” Oriental Art 44.4 (1998/1999): 2–15. For the evidence of Mogao Cave 76, see Zhang, Dunhuang gantonghua, 325–324. In Yulin Cave 33, the painting is still fully visible. See Anxi Yulin ku
Zhang, Dunhuang gantonghua, 304–329.
This has been identified as the site of Yotkan, about 20 km west of the modern Khotan City. See M. Aurel Stein, Ancient Khotan. Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), 190.
The Karakash River was also known in ancient sources as the Western Jade River (Chin. Xi Yuhe
Pimo (or Hanmo
Song Yun travelled with the monk Huisheng (fl. 6th c.,
Chavannes, “Voyage de Song Yun,” 392–393; Da Tang Xiyuji
Chavannes, “Voyage de Song Yun,” 393.
On the different names of this locality, see Frederick W. Thomas, Tibetan Literary Texts and Documents Concerning Chinese Turkestan. Part I: Literary Texts (London: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1935), vol. 1, 5–6. Regarding the identity between Gośṛṅga and Gośīrṣa, see M. Sylvain Lévi, “Notes chinoises sur l’Inde: IV. Le pays de Kharoṣṭra et l’écriture kharoṣṭrī,” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 4.3 (juillet-septembre 1904): 555–556. The name Ox-head (Chin. Niutou
The earliest occurrence of the name is found in the Chinese Avataṃsakasūtra (Chin. Huayanjing
Zhu Lishuang
An English translation is in Thomas, Tibetan Literary Texts, vol. 1, 3–38. According to a recent assessment, the text was probably composed around the first half of the 9th century and is a translation from an original in Khotanese (Rong Xinjiang and Zhu Lishuang, “The Eight Great Protectors of Khotan Reconsidered: From Khotan to Dunhuang,” BuddhistRoad Paper 6.1. Special Issue: Ancient Central Asian Networks. Rethinking the Interplay of Religions, Art and Politics across the Tarim Basin (5th–10th C.), ed. Erika Forte (2019): 51.
Thomas, Tibetan Literary Texts, vol. 1, 11–17. The story is also found in other Tibetan texts. See Li yul lung bstan pa [Prophecy of the Li Country] (English translation of the passage in Ronald Eric Emmerick, Tibetan Texts Concerning Khotan (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), 2–5); Li yul chos kyi lo rgyus [Religious Annals of the Li Country] (P. T. 960), translation of the passage in Thomas, Tibetan Literary Texts, 305.
On the connection between Mt. Wutai, the Mañjuśrī cult, and Khotan, see Rong Xinjiang
Fernand Grenard and Jules-Léon Dutreuil de Rhins, Mission scientifique dans la haute Asie, sous la direction de J.L. Dutreuil de Rhins, 1890–1895, vol. 3 (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1898), 142–144; Stein, Ancient Khotan, 185–190.
Da Tang Xiyuji
Stein, Ancient Khotan, 185–190.
In Yulin Cave 32, Mt. Gośīrṣa is embedded in the scene of Samantabhadra’s assembly, on the east wall, while in Yulin Cave 33, Mt. Gośīrṣa occupies the center of the composition, covering the entire south wall. See Anxi Yulinku, Figs. 73, 75.
According to Zhang Xiaogang, the earliest extant depiction is from Mogao Cave 345, which he dates to the 8th century (Zhang, Dunhuang gantonghua, 199–200).
This explanation is put forward by Zhang Xiaogang
For a typological study of Mount Gośīrṣa depictions in Dunhuang, see Sun Xiushen
For a synopsis, see Stein, Ancient Khotan, 156–166. For a comparative study on the foundation legends of Khotan, see Gen’ichi Yamazaki, “The Legend of the Foundation of Khotan,” Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 48 (1990): 55–80; Max Deeg, Miscellaneae Nepalicae: Early Chinese Reports on Nepal; The Foundation Legend of Nepal in Its Trans-Himalayan Context (Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2016), 119–133.
See the texts transcribed in Zhang and Rong, Yutian shi congkao, 169–178.
Anxi Yulinku, fig. 73. Here, the scene is placed at the upper-right corner of the tableau. The tableau of Samantabhadra faces the one with Mañjuśrī, which is on the adjacent wall of the cave. On these paintings and their connection with Khotan, see Chen Suyu
Emmerick, Tibetan Texts, 11, 13. “Li country” is Khotan.
Harold W. Bailey, “Hvatanica IV,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 4 (1942): 912.
S. 2113 recto, lines 48–52. See Zhang and Rong, “Dunhuang ruixiangji,” 175, 207–216, in particular 209, table 3.
Sun, Fojiao dongchuan gushihua juan.
Rong Xinjiang
Mauro Maggi, “A Khotanese Medical Text on Poultices: Manuscripts P 2893 and IOL Khot S9,” in Traditional South Asian Medicine, ed. Rahul Peter Das (Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2008), 77–85.
Prods Oktor Skjærvø, This Most Excellent Shine of Gold, King of Kings of Sutras: The Khotanese Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra (Cambridge: Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, Harvard University, 2004); Lokesh Chandra, “Suvarna-Bhasottama and the Security of Khotan,” in Buddhism: Art and Values; A Collection of Research Papers and Keynote Addresses on the Evolution of Buddhist Art and Thought across the Lands of Asia, ed. Lokesh Chandra (New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2007), 175–185.
The latest survey is by Chen Suyu (Chen, Cong Yutian dao Dunhuang, 129–131, table 7–1). The earliest appearance seems to be in Mogao Cave 9, built in ca. 892 (Rong and Zhu, “The Eight Protectors”, 79).
Rong and Zhu, “The Eight Protectors,” 63–64.
Rong and Zhu, “Tuwen huzheng.” See the tables provided in Rong and Zhu, “The Eight Protectors,” 77–78, tables 4.1, 4.2.
Ibid., 80–81.
Stein, Ancient Khotan, 488–499, Figs. 61, 63, 64, 69.
Rowland, “Indian Images in Chinese Sculpture.”
Soper, “Famous Images”, 352, 361–362. The first suggestion that this image represents a Khotanese type is found in Rowland.
See the figures indicated as “Q”, “F”, and “G” in the fragment from the National Museum, New Delhi, in Hida, “Tonkō shōrai kenpon,” 499–522.
Joanna Williams, “The Iconography of Khotanese Paintings,” East and West 23.1/2 (1973): 127–129, figs. 23–26.
Williams, “Khotanese Paintings,” 109.
Erika Forte, “Images of Patronage in Khotan,” in Buddhism in Central Asia I. Patronage, Legitimation, Sacred Space, and Pilgrimage, ed. Carmen Meinert and Henrik Sørensen (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2020), 40–60.
To my knowledge, there is only an epigraphic evidence which mentions a group of eight deities—an inscription in Khotanese found on the temple CD4 at Dandān-öiliq. The inscription reads: “The donor [(Skr. dānapati)] Budai has commissioned these eight devas to be painted, wishing for their blessing” (my translation from the Chinese provided by Wen Xin
Erika Forte, “On a Wall Painting from Toplukdong Site No. 1 in Domoko: New Evidence of Vaiśravaṇa in Khotan?” in Changing Forms and Cultural Identity: Religious and Secular Iconographies. Papers from the 20th Conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art Held in Vienna from 4th to 9th of July 2010, Vol. 1, South Asian Archaeology and Art, ed. Deborah Klimburg-Salter and Linda Lojda (Turnhout: Brepols, 2014), 215–224; Erika Forte, “Khotan chiku Domoko hakken Toplukdong 1-gō butsuji to Gomati-dera densetsu
The paintings from Toplukdong were exhibited in Shanghai in 2014. See the exhibition catalogue, Chen Xiejun
A description and preliminary study of these painting are among the topics of a forthcoming article: Erika Forte, “The Eight Great Protectors Reunited? Patterns of Patronage and Legitimation in Khotan” (paper presented at the 24th Conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art in Naples, Italy, July 2018).
Rong, Eighteen lectures, 327–328.
Rong and Zhu, Yutian yu Dunhuang, 268–269. On the likely Central Asian (if not Khotanese) origin of the Sūryagarbhasūtra and Candragarbhasūtra, see Lévi, “Notes chinoises sur l’Inde V.”
The 7th or 8th century seems to be a plausible terminus post quem for the circulation of the drainage of the lake story. See Max Deeg, Miscellanea Nepalicae, 115, 141.
The Tibetans had occupied Khotan earlier in the 7th century, ca. 670 to 692, in a situation of continuous fighting with the Chinese Tang Empire (618–907,
Zhang Xiaogang, Dunhuang gangtonghua, 305–306.
Rong and Zhu, Yutian yu Dunhuang, 109–149. The official date set for the end of the Kingdom of Khotan is 1006. See Hiroshi Kumamoto, “Khotan. History in the Pre-Islamic Period,” Encyclopedia Iranica Online, last modified April 20, 2009, accessed February 14, 2020. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/khotan-i-pre-islamic-history.
Rong and Zhu, Yutian yu Dunhuang, 268–269. The passage in English of the Prophecy of the Arhat of the Li Country is quoted from Thomas, Tibetan Literary Texts, 78–79. “Hgehutosan” corresponds to Mt. Gośīrṣa.