note on buddhist local worship in muhammadan central asia

Note on Buddhist Local Worship in Muhammadan Central AsiaAuthor(s): M. Aurel SteinSource: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (Jul., 1910), pp.839-845Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25189736 .

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buddhist local worship in central asia 839

Note on Buddhist Local Worship in Mlhammad?n

Central Asia1

In the account of my first Central-Asian journey I have

had occasion to call attention to numerous instances

which the Khotan oasis and its \ icinity present, of the

survival of local worship from Buddhist into Muhammadan

times. The accurate topographical indications which un

furnished for that region by the records of the early Chinese pilgrims, especially llsiian-tsang, enabled me to

prove there that practically all sites that they describe

as sacred to the Buddhist population of their time are

still to this day marked by Muhammadan zi?rats of note,

and that the popular legends attached to the latter often

retain clear traces of the earlier Buddhist traditions related

by the pilgrims.2 The total absence about Khotan of stone suitable

for building or sculptural use has alwajs caused

buildings, whether sacred or secular, to be constructed

of materials such as timber, stamped clay, or sun-dried

bricks, which are particularly liable to decay. Under

the peculiar physical conditions prevailing within the

irrigated area of the oasis and in its immediate vicinity, actual remains of earlier shrines constructed of such

materials could scarcely be expected to survive in

recognizable form.3 In consequence it was not possible to support the identifications of the sacred sites above

referred to by such tangible archaeological evidence as

I had so often come across in the course of my

corresponding antiquarian researches in Kashmir, where

Muhammadan zi?rttt* are still in many eases built with

the very stones taken from the earlier Hindu shrines

1 This note, in Hungarian, was contributed to the Eml?kkanyr

presented to Professor 1. (?oldziher, Budapest, in honour of his sixtieth

birthday, June 22, 191(1. 2 For references see m}r Ancient Khotan, vol. i, Index, p. fil 1, s.v. Local

Worship. :! Cf. Ancient Khotan, pp. 1?K5 seep



840 BUDDHIST LOCAL WORSHIP IN CENTRAL ASIA

to which they succeeded. The wider extent of my

explorations of 1906-8 has enabled me to supplement those illustrations of the tenacity of local worship in

Central Asia by instances where I could lay my hand

on tangible archaeological proof, and a few of these

I propose to present here.

Ilsiian - tsang, the greatest of our Chinese pilgrim

guides for that region, when recording his journey about (542 A.D. across the Pamirs to K?shgar and

Khotan, tells us of an ancient hospice or punyasdhl which he reached after leaving the capital of Chieh

p'an -

to, the present Sarikol, to the north - east and

marching for 200 li or two daily marches across

mountains and precipices. The position of that religious foundation is described as in the centre of an elevated

plain "

in the midst of the four mountains belonging to

the eastern chain of the Ts'ung-ling mountains". "In

this, both during summer and winter, there fall down

piles of snow ; the cold winds and storms rage. . . .

liven at the time of the great heat the wind and the

snow continue . . . Merchant caravans, in coming and

going, sutler severely in these difficult and dangerous

spots." According to an "

old story "

which Hslian

tsang heard related, a great troop of merchants with

thousands of followers and camels had once perished here by wind and snow. An Arhat, or saint, of Sarikol

was believed to have subsequently collected all the

precious objects left behind by the doomed caravan

and to have constructed on the spot a house in which

he accumulated ample stores, as well as to have made

pious endowments for the benefit of travellers in neigh

bouring territories.1

Taking into account the topographical indications

furnished bj' the pilgrim's own route and the distance

and bearing recorded, I had previously arrived at the 1 See Julien, M?moires des contr?es occidentaux, ii, p. 215.



llUDimiKT LOCAL WORSHIP IN CENTRAL ASIA 841

conclusion that the site of the hospice would have to be

looked for on the Chichiklik Maidan, tho plateau-like head of a high valley, where the main route from T?sh

kurgh?n, the Sarikol capital, to Kfishgar crosses the

second great mountain range stretching south from the

Muztagh-ata massif. But it was only on my recent

journey that I was able to examine this route and to

verify the conjectured location. I found that the curious

level plain about 2^ miles long and about 11 miles across,

at the head of the Shindi Valley, situated at an elevation

of over 14,000 feet and bordered all round by snowy

ridges, corresponds most closely to Hsiian-tsang's descrip tion. The accounts of my caravan men and my personal observations amply sufliced to convince me of the losses

which this desolate upland of Chichiklik, exposed to the

winds and snows, claims annually in animals and sometimes

in men.1 Most of it was still under snow when I passed here in June, 1900. But a low knoll near the centre of

the plain was clear, and when, attracted by the sight of

a dilapidated Muhammadan tomb or "Gunibaz", I pro ceeded to examine its top, I soon discovered there the

foundations of a square enclosure some 35 yards on each

side, built of rough but very massive stone walls and

manifestly of early construction. The correct orientation

of the lines of wall was by itself a clear indication of

pre-Muhammadan origin. At the same time the decayed

grave mounds I could trace inside and the reports gathered from the Sar?kol?s accompanying me left no doubt about

the spot being now held sacred in Muhammadan eyes. 1 The hardships often suffered on this high plateau by travellers an;

strikingly illustrated by the record of another pious traveller, Benedict

Uo&a, the lay Jesuit, who passet 1 here in Hi?j?l on his journey from India

in search of fabled Cathay. He and his Kaiila started from Sarikol, 'and then in two days more the}' reached the foot of the mountain

called Ciecialith (i.e. Chichiklik). It was covered deep with snow, and

during the ascent many were frozen to death, and our brother himself

barely escaped, for they were altogether six days in the snow here."'

See Sir Henry Yule's Cathay and the. Way thither, ii, p. ??i?l.




The Chichiklik plain, forbidding as it looks, must for

a variety of topographical reasons always have formed

a regular halting-place, and the central position occupied in it by the ruined structure is exceptionally well adapted for the purposes of a storehouse or hospice such as

llsiiaii-tsang describes, intended to provide shelter and

supplies for travellers from whichever of the several

passes they may come. How much time has passed since

those walls have crumbled away to their foundations can

no longer be determined. But every archieological and

topographical indication justifies our recognizing in them

the last remains of the ancient structure to which Hsiian

tsang's record refers. Throughout Chinese Turkestan

graveyards are invariably attached to supposed zidrats

of saints, and it is therefore safe to look upon the graves now found within the enclosure and the sanctity claimed

for the ground as a distinct trace left by the legend which in Hsiian-tsang's days ascribed the foundation of

the hospice to the action of a holy man.

Another instance of local worship surviving the change of religion was also observed in the mountains. It presents

points of special interest for the student of folklore.

While moving in May, 1908, from Aksu along the foot

of the T'ien-shan range to Uch-Turfan, I had heard vague stories about ruins of some mysterious town which was

said to be sighted on clear days far away in the mountains

south of the latter place, but to disappear whenever it

was searched for. As I subsequently made my way

through these barren mountains by a previously un

surveyed route towards the valley of Kelpin, it was easy for me to ascertain that these legends of an ancient hill

town, variously talked of as Shahr-i-Barbar, Shahr-i

1 laidar, or under a Chinese designation as "The castle

of the T'ang chief ", had their origin in the remarkable

appearance presented by a high and fantastically serrated

portion of that range of the outer T'ien-shan south of



BUDDHIST LOCAL WORSHIP IN CENTRAL ASIA 843

Uch-Turfaii which figures on previous sketch-maps under

the name of Kara-teke. Its peaks, curiously recalling the Dolomites, rise above the Kara-shilwe side-valleys to heights of about 14,000 feet, and with their extremely bold pinnacles and precipitous rock walls bear a strange resemblance to ruined towers and castles.

The few Kirghiz who cling with their herds to what

scanty grazing can still be found in the high valleys

around, now almost waterless through progressive desicca

tion, know the line of these peaks by the collective name

of K?ka-j?de, and regard them with superstitious awe.

The stories they told me of dragons supposed to dwell

among them and to issue forth at times in the shape of clouds raining lire and hail, curiously recalled the

legends heard by the early Chinese pilgrims of the Nagas

dwelling on the heights of the Pamirs and above the

Hindu Kush passes. But I was still more interested

when information, elicited with some difficulty, reached

me about a stone image to be found high up on the

southern slope of that range.

Leaving my camp on May 13 at a point south of the

Saghiz-kan Pass, where water.was available in a rock

cistern, I proceeded in search of the image with Maiigush, the Beg of the local Kirghiz. After a ride of some

17 miles skirting high plateaus, we reached the grazing

ground known as Chal-koide at an elevation of some

7000 feet, and right under the frowning crags of the

eastern end of "

Kfika-jadc's town ". There, to my

surprise, I found the rough stone enclosure of a regular zi?rat crowning the top of a small rocky knoll, and

within it the stone image reported. It proved to be a stele

shaped slab about 3 feet high, rudely carved in flat relievo, with the representation of a male figure. Under the dis

proportionately large head the hands, folded upon the

breast and holding a curved sword, could still be made out.

The carving was too rude to permit of any approximately




safe dating, though the far-advanced weathering of the

surface clearly pointed to considerable age. But that the

image, whatever it was meant to represent, went back to

Buddhist times was made highly probable by the discovery

by its side of a small block of stone, apparently granite,

roughly carved into the miniature representation of a

stiipa, showing the conventional arrangement of bases and

dome common to Central-Asian monuments of this class.

The most curious feature to me, however, was to see the

enclosure around filled with all the usual votive offerings of orthodox Muhammadan shrines in these parts, horse

skulls, horns of Ovis poli and wild goats, rags fastened

on staffs, etc. It was evident that worship at this shrine

was very much a thing of the present, in spite of the

Uch-Turfan Mullahs' protest against it of which Mangush

Beg told me. Until recent years the cult of this queer cidrat was general among the Kirghiz of the neigh

bouring grazing grounds, and numbers of men used to

come to it from distant valleys, good Muhanimadans as

all these Turki herdsmen have been for long generations. At the present day only the older men were said to cling to the custom of praying at the shrine ; but even thus

nobody dares to enter its enclosure. The carved figure is

supposed to represent a female, Kuvxighiz by name, and

the wife of some ancient hero called Kaz-ata, whose image

pious eyes recognize in an inaccessible rock pinnacle high

up on the. crest of the range. This connexion clearly indicates that the curious shrine here surviving must have

owed its origin to the worship of some striking natural

feature or Svayambhd Tlrtha, as it would be called in

Sanskrit, which we know so well from the folklore of

India, ancient and modern, and which Buddhist local

cult has always been ready to find room for.

The ease with which superstitious awe will revive local

worship, even when extinct for centuries and among a

population long completely converted to Muhainmadanism,



nUDDHIST LOCAL WORSHIP IN CENTRAL ASIA 845

may be illustrated by an instance which came under my

observation in Chitral. It is true this mountain valley on the southern scarp of the Hindu Kush watershed counts

now political^ to India, but racial ties and the general character of its culture connect it very closelj* with the

region of the Upper Oxus. Marching up the Y?rkhun

River in May, 1906, on my way to Wakhfin and the

Pamirs, I was able at the village of Charrun, close to

where the Murikho Valley debouches, to examine a large boulder bearing the carefully incised sgraffito representa tion of a Buddhist st?pa with a short inscription below

in Br?hin? characters apparently of the 6-8th century a.D.

The boulder had been accidentally unearthed in a field

not far from an outlying homestead some eight years before my visit. The villagers, though all good Shi?hs, had since built a hut protecting the stone, which is now

worshipped as the relic of some " Buzurg

" or great man

of holy power. A legend that rapidly sprang up tells of

a holy man who in old times had sat there and mysteriously

disappeared, the stone being left to mark the spot, which

has since the discovery of the rock carving become known

as "

the sacred corner ".

I was unable to ascertain whether previous to the

discovery any latent tradition survived about the locality. But the ground showed plainly that the stone had lain

buried for ages under alluvial deposits, which must have

accumulated during periods when the terraced hillside, as

in many places of Upper Chitral, had passed out of culti

vation. All knowledge of the "

Kafir "

significance of the

carving had disappeared in the meantime, the complete conversion to Islam dating back in these valleys to at

least three centuries. Consequently no priestly protest whatever appears to have been raised when the local

cultivators took pious charge of this relic of early Buddhist

worship, and thus constituted themselves its safest archfeo

logical guardians. M. Aurel Stein.



note on buddhist local worship in muhammadan central asia

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