Coordinates | 34°58′11″N68°52′37″E / 34.969591°N 68.876891°E |
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Type | Monastery |
The Fondukistan monastery was a Buddhist monastery located at the very top of a conical hill [2] next to the Ghorband Valley, Parwan Province, about 50 kilometers northwest of Kabul. The monastery dates to the early 8th century CE, with a terminus post quem in 689 CE obtained through numismatic evidence, so that the Buddhist art of the site has been estimated to around 700 CE. [3] [4] This is the only secure date for this artistic period in the Hindu Kush, and it serves as an important chronological reference point. [4]
According to Benjamin Rowland "These little shrines, densely packed with sculptured figures set off by gaily painted backgrounds, must have given the effect of a kind of religious peep-show, in which, as on a stage, the visitor obtained a glimpse of celestial realms". [5] [6]
The works of art of the Fondukistan Monastery corresponds to a relatively high level of artistic activity in the areas controlled by the Buddhist Turk Shahis during 7-8th centuries CE, as a result of the continued development of Buddhist art, with possible Hephthalite influence, combined with the Sasanian cultural heritage. [7] [6] The art of Fondukistan also corresponds to the last stages of Greco-Buddhist art in the 7-8th century CE.
During this period, the Chinese Tang Empire extended its influence and promotion of Buddhism to the Kingdoms of Central Asia, including Afghanistan, with a corresponding influx of Chinese monks, while there was conversely a migration of Indian monks from India to Central Asia, precisely looking for this protection. [8] These events gave rise to the hybrid Indian-Sinicized styles of Fondukistan and Tapa Sardar. [8] Similarities have also been noted with contemporary works of art in China, such as those of Tianlongshan. [9]
Charles Masson visited the area of the Ghorband Valley in 1836 and mentioned the presence of numerous ruins in his book Narratives of various journeys in Afghanistan, Baluchistan & the Punjab. [10] [11]
The monastery was excavated in 1936 by Joseph Hackin of the Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan, and in 1937 by Jean Carl, from the same organization. [6] [12] Most of the works of art that were recovered were shared between the Musée Guimet, Paris, and the National Museum of Afghanistan, where many did not survive the depredations of the recent decades.
Various figures from the monastery show Central Asian influence, with dignitaries wearing double-lapel caftan, boots, armour and crown with lunar crescents. [16]
Dedications including coins of the Buddhist Turk Shahis (7-8th century CE) have been found under a statue of a royal couple in the monastery of Fondukistan, providing important insights in terms of datation. [17] [18] The coins were found in a cremation urn buried under the statues of the royal couple: the urn contained one Sasanian coin of the type of Khusrow II (r.590-628 CE) with Arabic "Bismillahi" legend and local countermarks, indicating a final strike date of 686 CE, thus suggesting a date soon after 686 CE for the construction of the site; another gold bracteate with the portrait of a ruler; and three early copper coins of the Turk Shahis (Göbl Type 236) with the Bactrian script legend "Srio Shaho" ( ). [19] [20]
The royal couple consists of a princess in "Indian" dress, and a prince "wearing a rich caftan with double lapel and boots" characteristic of Central Asian clothing. [21] [22]
Haḍḍa is a Greco-Buddhist archeological site located ten kilometers south of the city of Jalalabad, in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan.
The Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom was a polity established by the Sasanian Empire in Bactria during the 3rd and 4th centuries. The Sasanian Empire captured the provinces of Sogdia, Bactria and Gandhara from the declining Kushan Empire following a series of wars in 225 CE. The local Sasanian governors then went on to take the title of Kushanshah or "King of the Kushans", and to mint coins. They are sometimes considered as forming a "sub-kingdom" inside the Sasanian Empire.
Khingila I was the founding king of the Hunnic Alkhan dynasty. He was a contemporary of Khushnavaz.
Zunbil, also written as Zhunbil, or Rutbils of Zabulistan, was a royal dynasty south of the Hindu Kush in present southern Afghanistan region. They ruled from circa 680 AD until the Saffarid conquest in 870 AD. The Zunbil dynasty was founded by Rutbil, the elder brother of the Turk Shahi ruler, who ruled over Hephthalite kingdom from his capital in Kabul. The Zunbils are described as having Turkish troops in their service by Arabic sources like Tarikh al-Tabari and Tarikh-i Sistan.
The Hindu Shahis were a dynasty that had usurped power from the earlier Turk Shahis in the 9th century. The Hindu Shahis core territory is described as having been based in the regions of Eastern Afghanistan and Gandhara, encompassing the area up to the Sutlej river in modern day Punjab. The territorial zenith occurred under Jayapala in which the Shahi doman stretched from Lamghan and bordered Multan and Kashmir, extending to Lahore in the West. The empire was founded by Kallar in c. 843 CE after overthrowing Lagaturman, the last Turk Shahi king.
The Nezak Huns, also Nezak Shahs, was a significant principality in the south of the Hindu Kush region of South Asia from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the Hunnic states, their ethnicity remains disputed and speculative. The dynasty is primarily evidenced by coinage inscribing a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend.
The Alchon Huns, also known as the Alkhan, Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alakhana, and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus, and later expanded south-east, into the Punjab and Central India, as far as Eran and Kausambi. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire, in a sense bringing an end to Classical India.
The Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko-Hephthalite, or a group of Hephthalites origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity. The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kannauj kingdom to the east. From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia, and occupied Bactria and the Hindu-Kush region, forming largely independent polities. The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan. In the Hindu-Kush region, they replaced the Nezak Huns – the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the Xwn (Xionite) and/or Huna peoples.
The Tokhara Yabghus or Yabghus of Tokharistan were a dynasty of Western Turk–Hephtalite sub-kings with the title "Yabghus", who ruled from 625 CE in the area of Tokharistan north and south of the Oxus River, with some smaller remnants surviving in the area of Badakhshan until 758 CE. Their legacy extended to the southeast where it came into contact with the Turk Shahis and the Zunbils until the 9th century CE.
Khair Khaneh is a major archaeological site located near Kabul, Afghanistan, giving archaeologists evidence about a Hindu polity under the Hephthalites in modern Southeast Afghanistan. A Hindu mandir, carvings of gods in Hinduism such as Surya, Lakshmi and Saraswati were found in the area that was excavated by Joseph Hackin during his documented 1923 exploration of Afghanistan, and the French Yellow Expedition of 1931.
The Gardez Ganesha is a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha, discovered in Gardez, near Kabul in Afghanistan. It is considered as "a typical product of the Indo-Afghan school". It was dedicated by a king named Khingal.
Tepe Sardar, also Tapa Sardar or Tepe-e-Sardar, is an ancient Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan. It is located near Ghazni, and it dominates the Dasht-i Manara plain. The site displays two major artistic phases, an Hellenistic phase during the 3rd to 6th century CE, followed by a Sinicized-Indian phase during the 7th to 9th century.
Alkhis was a ruler of the area of Zabul, with its capital at Gazan (Ghazni) in Afghanistan in the early decades of the 8th century CE. He was the son of Khuras. He expanded his territory as far north of the region of Band-e Amir, west of Bamiyan. Although not listed in contemporary Chinese sources, Alkhis may have been a member of the Zunbil ruler of Zabulistan, and was probably of the same ethnicity as the nearby Turk Shahis ruling in Kabul at that time.
Hind was the name of a southeastern Sasanian province lying near the Indus River. The boundaries of the province are obscure. The Austrian historian and numismatist Nikolaus Schindel has suggested that the province may have corresponded to the Sindh region, where the Sasanians notably minted unique gold coins of themselves. According to the modern historian C. J. Brunner, the province possibly included—whenever jurisdiction was established—the areas of the Indus River, including the southern part of Punjab.
Tepe Maranjan was a Buddhist monastery, located on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, and dated to the 4th century CE, or the 6-7th century for the Buddhist phase. Many Buddhist sculptures were discovered on the site. They are made of clay, and stylistically derived from the sculptures of Hadda, but preceded the style of the Fondukistan monastery. Tepe Maranjan can be considered as representative of the Art of Gandhara of the 5th or 6th century CE.
Barha Tegin was the first ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Al-Biruni and reconstructions from Chinese sources, and the identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
Khingala, also transliterated Khinkhil, Khinjil or Khinjal, was a ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Ya'qubi and from an epigraphical source, the Gardez Ganesha. The identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
Bo Fuzhun, also Bofuzhun was a ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from Chinese imperial accounts and possibly numismatic sources. The identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
Ghar-ilchi was, according to Chinese and Arab sources, a local king of Kapisi and the twelfth and last known ruler of the Nezak Huns. Ghar-ilchi may have been the last member of a local "Khingal dynasty" founded by Khingila, the Alchon Hun ruler.
Michael Alram is an Austrian historian and a numismatist. He obtained his doctorate in the University of Vienna in 1982, in Ancient Numismatics and Classical Archaeology.
In the valley of Ghorband, separated from Koh Daman to the west by a high hill range stretching from the Hindu Kosh, are many and important remains of ancient times....