ART, ARCHITECTURE AND RELIGION ALONG THE SILK ROADS

Transcription

1 ART, ARCHITECTURE AND RELIGION ALONG THE SILK ROADS

2 SILK ROAD STUDIES XII Edited by an international committee G. GNOLI (Roma [I]) S KLJASHTORNYJ (Sankt Peterburg [CIS]) S.N.C. LIEU (Sydney [AUS]) B.A. LITVINSKY (Moskva [CIS]) R. MESERVE (Bloomington (IN) [USA]) G. PINAULT (Paris [F]) A. SARKÖZI (Budapest [H]) N. SIMS-WILLIAMS (Cambridge & London [GB]) A. VAN TONGERLOO (Leuven [B]), Editor-in-chief S. WHITFIELD (London [GB]), Director of the Dunhuang Monograph Series P. ZIEME (Berlin [BRD))

3 SILK ROAD STUDIES XII Art, Architecture and Religion Along the Silk Roads Edited by Ken Parry BREPOLS ANCIENT HISTORY DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH CENTRE MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW AUSTRALIA

4 2008, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium. All rights reserved. No part of 1his publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2008/0095/ 176 ISBN Printed in 1he E. U. on acid-free paper

5 Table of Contents Introduction and List of Contributors Part 1 Chorasmia, Sogdia and Uzbekistan 1 ALISON V.G. BETTS AND V.N. YAGODIN 1 Tash-k' irman-tepe Cult Complex: An Hypothesis for the Establishment of Fire Temples in Ancient Chorasmia 2 DEE COURTt 21 The Ordinary and the Extraordinary in Central Asian Headcoverings 3 FIONA KIDD 33 The Early Medieval Necropolis at Pap in the Ferghana Valley: Republic of Uzbekistan 4 MICHELLE NEGUS CLEARY 51 Walls in the Desert: The Phenomenon of Central Asian Urbanism in Ancient Chorasmia Part 2 Christianity and Manichaeism 5 SAMUEL LIEU 79 Manichaean Art and Architecture Along the Silk Raad 6 VLADIMIR Liscak 103 Early Chinese Christianity in the Tang Empire: On the Crossroads of Two Cultures 7 GEOFF WATSON 127 The Ultimate Evangelical Away Game: British Missionary Endeavour in Central Asia c

6 8 MARK ALLON Part 3 Buddhism and Islam Recent Discoveries of Buddhist Manuscripts from Afghanistan and Pakistan and their Significance 9 KEN PARRY The Buddha as Colossus in Central Asia and China 10 COLIN MACKERRAS Religion in Contemporary Xinjiang Part 4 Silk Road Exchanges 11 HOLLY ADAMS 221 Clowns on the Silk Road 12 PETER EDWELL 233 Palmyrene Art, Architecture and Religion an the Euphrates: The Early Evidence for a Palmyrene Community at Dura Europos 13 JONATHAN MARKLEY 247 What Huo Qubing Did: The Problem of Feng Sh an Sacrifice 14 JOHN SHELDON 259 Middle Iranian Textual Sources for Silk Raad Religions: Overview and Assessment

7 INTRODUCTION This volume in the Silk Road Studies series consists of selected papers given at the fifth conference of the Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies (A.S.I.A.S.) convened at Macquarie University in November Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control it has not been possible for the volume to appear until now. However, all contributors have been given the opportunity to revise their papers, so it is my pleasure as editor to introduce this addition to the series. The theme of the conference, reflected in the title of the volume, allowed speakers the opportunity to examine and explore many areas of interest in relation to the history of Inner Asia. The close relationship between religion and material culture on the Silk Road is apparent from the archaeological and art historical evidence that has so far, and continues, to come to light. The place of art and architecture in the history of religions has not always received the attention is deserves, but it is clearly central to the study of the religious cultures of the Silk Road. The international trading routes across the region, which were utilised for over a thousand years, established a diversity of religious communities: Zoroastrians from Persia, Buddhists from India, Manichaeans from Mesopotamia, Christians from Syria, and Muslims from Arabia. Inner Asia became a melting pot of ethnic and religious groups the like of which was not seen again until the modern period. The papers presented in this collection bear witness to the rich Jegacy left by these communities, much of it hidden and forgotten for hundreds of years. Part 1 contains papers relating to the history of Chorasmia, Sogdia and Uzbekistan. The discovery of Zoroastrian fire temples in Chorasmia is of the utmost importance in tracing the history and spread of the Zoroastrian religion. The temple at Tash-k'irman offers evidence that the Chorasmian fire cult developed for different reasons than those in Persia. Y et the kind of Zoroastrianism that may have been practiced there remains unclear and may only be clarified by further discoveries. The excavation of an early medieval necropolis at Pap in the Ferghana Valley is largely unknown to Westerners. The finds indicate a close link with long distance trade as foreign goods such as shells, beads, glass,

8 II Art, Architecture and Religion Along the Silk Roads and precious stones have been found. The exact raute taken by merchants thraugh the Valley is not known, but the evidence from Pap does suggest that if it was not on the main raute, then it was at least close enough to benefit from it. The architectural remains of!arge enclosures in Chorasmia display evidence for a variety of uses. They appear to have served as trading centres and pratective Iocations for cultic and administrative buildings. These extensive and well-constructed fortified structures were not permanent urban settlements, but centres of refuge for people, cattle and goods in times of <langer. The scale of some of them is revealed by aerial photography. A survey of contemporary male and female headgear in Uzbekistan reveals the ancient origins of this distinctive custom. Before the twentieth century these headdresses were a common sight, with some of the womens' resembling the Mongol boghtag, described by Western travellers to the court of the Great Khan and depicted in contemporary paintings. Part 2 covers the religions of Christianity and Manichaeism while Part 3 does the same for Buddhism and Islam. Although the evidence for Manichaean art in Central Asia is fragmentary it is more extensive than it is for architecture. To date hardly any remains of Manichaean buildings have been found. One of the few images of Mani to have survived is housed in a Buddhist temple at Quanzhou in Fujian. More is to be published on the history of this temple soon. Christianity in China also left few traces of its artistic legacy. The epigraphical evidence from the Xi' an stele of 781 reveals a good deal about the nature of this religion in China. The Church of the East under the Tang received imperial patranage which it was not to enjoy again until the Mongol period. The term 'Nestorianism' used in the past by Westerners for Christianity in China is a misnomer and is rightly being discarded. The reports of British missionaries in Central Asia in the Iate nineteenth and early twentieth centuries indicate the difficulties they faced in converting the local populations. By then the dominant religion was Islam and the opposition of the mullahs to their evangelising praved frustrating. The British saw themselves as upholding civilised values and could only look on in horrar at what they perceived as the inadequacies of Islam. The significance

9 lntroduction and List of Contributors iii of Islam in Chinese Central Asia today cannot be underestimated. The presence of large Muslim minorities in Xinjiang has led to oppression by the Chinese government. This has resulted in the appearance of separatist movements, especially among the Uygurs. The future course of Islam in Xinjiang is dependent upon a whole range of factors, some so unpredictable as to make it impossible to forecast the turn events will take. The destruction by the Taliban of the colossal Buddha images at Bämiyän in Afghanistan has deprived us of Buddhist works of art that remained intact for centuries. The surviving large-scale Buddha images in Gansu and other provinces in China testify to a continuing tradition of monumental sculpture within Buddhism. The purpose behind the construction of these colossi is still a matter of conjecture. The recent appearance of early Buddhist manuscripts from Afghanistan and Pakistan written in the Kharo~thI script provides new evidence for the spread of Buddhism. These manuscripts which are being edited and published preserve many texts previously known only from translations in other languages. Their significance for the history of Buddhist studies is equivalent to the finds make by Aurel Stein, Albert von Le Coq and others at the height of Central Asian exploration a century ago. Part 4 under the title of Silk Road Exchanges examines a variety of topics. Here we learn about the tradition of clowns and clowning on the Silk Road. lt is only in recent times that clowns have started to disappear in Afghanistan as jesters and other entertainers are recorded in medieval and later Islamic sources. Under stricter Islamic regimes the sound of laughter and clowning has sadly been frowned upon. With a study of the evidence for a Palmyrene presence at Dura Europos on the Euphrates the attention shifts to the Syrian end of the Silk Road. The discoveries at Dura relating to the Christian and Jewish communities have tended to overshadow the evidence relating to other religious communities in this Roman frontier town. Temples dedicated to Palmyrene gods at Dura appear to show its importance for the international caravan trade which Palmyra did so much to promote. A survey of Middle Iranian texts discovered in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially the

10 iv Art, Architecture and Religion Along the Silk Roads identification of Sogdian and Khotanese, reminds us of their significance for the religious history of the Silk Raad. These texts are gradually becoming better known and will undoubtedly improve our understanding of the various religious communities to which they once belonged. A study of one particular episode mentioned in the ancient Chinese sources shows how confusion can arise. In this case the episode concerns the performance of a rite of sacrifice which does not appear on close examination of the texts to have taken place at all. I should like to thank Beth Lewis for her unfailing support and for applying her desktop publishing and copy-editing skills in bringing this volume to completion. I should also like to thank my colleagues at Macquarie, Gunner Mikkelsen and Malcolm Choat, for their technical advice and assistance; research student Duncan Keenan-Jones for his help with the illustrations; and Prajayan Kathirgamanathan for his advice on I.T. matters. In addition I should like to thank the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange for its continuing support of Silk Raad Studies at Macquarie.

11 Introduction and List of Contributors V LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Holly Adams is a performer, teaching artist, and performance historian, working in affiliation with the New York State Council on the Arts and various universities. Mark Allon is Senior Lecturer in South Asian Buddhist Studies in the Department of Subcontinental Studies, University of Sydney. His research interests are in Buddhist literature and in the Middle Indo-Aryan languages used by early Buddhist communities. Alison Betts is Associate Professor and Director of the University of Sydney Central Asian Programme (USCAP) in the Department of Archaeology. She specialises in the archaeology of the Levant and Central Asia and particularly in the study of nomadic peoples. Dee Courtt completed her studies at the University of New England, Armidale, and was co-ordinator of The Asian Arts Society of Australia's Textile Study Group, as weil as being a frequent visitor and tour leader to Central Asia. Peter Edwell is Lecturer in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University and completed his doctorate in Ancient History at Macquarie. He has teaching and research interests in the Roman East. Fiona Kidd is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sydney. She completed her doctorate on Sogdian terracottas and is currently researching early Chorasmian wall paintings. Samuel Lieu F AAH is Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University. He has research interests in the history Silk Road religions, especially the history of Manichaeism and of the Church of the East, and has published widely on the Roman East. Vladimir Liscak is Head of the East Asian Department of the Oriental Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague. He is a specialist in the history of contacts between Europe and China, especially in the Early Middle Ages.

12 vi Art, Architecture and Religion Along the Silk Roads Colin Mackerras AO is Professor Emeritus of Griffith University, Queensland. He specialises in Chinese history and politics, especially theatre and ethnic minorities. He has published extensively on the history of China's ethnic minorities, especially those of Xinjiang. Jonathan Markley is Assistant Professor of pre-modern Asian history in the Department of History at California State University, Fullerton. He completed his doctorate in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University. Michelle Negus Cleary is completing a doctorate in Archaeology at the University of Sydney. She is a registered architect and her research involves surveying, mapping and reconstructing ancient fortified enclosure complexes in Western Central Asia. Ken Parry is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University, with specialist interests in Byzantine intellectual and cultural history, the religious cultures of the Silk Road, and the history of early Christianity in Asia. John Sheldon was a teacher of Classics and Sanskrit at Sydney Grammar School. Since retirement he has worked as an honorary research fellow in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University, with a special interest in Middle Iranian Manichaean texts. Geoff Watson is Lecturer in History at the School of History, Philosophy and Classics, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. He has written extensively on British images of Central Asia in the period 1830 to Vadim Nicholaevich Yagodin is Director of the Institute for History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Karakalpak Academy of Sciences, Nukus, Uzbekistan. He has research interests in the archaeology of Ancient Khorezm and the study of Eurasian nomads on the Ustyurt Plateau.