The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (, Uyghur: بزقلیق مىڭ ئۆيى ) is a complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
and
Shanshan
Shanshan (; ug, پىچان, Pichan, Piqan) was a kingdom located at the north-eastern end of the Taklamakan Desert near the great, but now mostly dry, salt lake known as Lop Nur.
The kingdom was originally an independent city-state, known in ...
(
Loulan
Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <
Taklamakan Desert
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and T ...
near the ancient ruins of
Gaochang
Gaochang (; Old Uyghur: ''Qocho''), also called Khocho, Karakhoja, Qara-hoja, Kara-Khoja or Karahoja (قاراغوجا in Uyghur), was a ruined, ancient oasis city on the northern rim of the inhospitable Taklamakan Desert in present-day Xinj ...
Flaming Mountains
The Flaming Mountains () or Huoyan Mountains, are barren, eroded, red sandstone hills in the Tian Shan of Xinjiang. They lie near the northern rim of the Taklamakan Desert and east of the city of Turpan. Their striking gullies and trenches caused b ...
, in the
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
region of western China. They are high on the cliffs of the west Mutou Valley under the Flaming Mountains, and most of the surviving caves date from the West Uyghur kingdom around the 10th to 13th centuries.
Bezeklik murals
There are 77 rock-cut caves at the site. Most have rectangular spaces with rounded archceilings often divided into four sections, each with a
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
of the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
. The effect is of entire ceiling covers with hundreds of Buddha murals. Some murals show a large Buddha surrounded by other figures, including Turks, Indians and Europeans. The quality of the murals vary with some being artistically naive while others are masterpieces of religious art. The murals that best represent the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves are the large-sized murals, which were given the name the "Praṇidhi Scene", paintings depicting
Sakyamuni
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
’s "promise" or "praṇidhi" from his past life.
Professor James A. Millward described the original Uyghurs as physically
Mongoloid
Mongoloid () is an obsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts of Asia, the Americas, and some regions in Europe and Oceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race. In the past, other terms ...
, giving as an example the images in Bezeklik at temple 9 of the Uyghur patrons, until they began to mix with the Tarim Basin's original
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
Tocharian inhabitants. Buddhist Uyghurs created the Bezeklik murals. However, Peter B. Golden writes that the Uyghurs not only adopted the
writing system
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...
and religious faiths of the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
Manichaeism
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
,
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
, and
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, but also looked to the Sogdians as "mentors" while gradually replacing them in their roles as Silk Road traders and purveyors of culture. Indeed, Sogdians wearing
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
Kingdom of Qocho
Qocho (), also known as Idiqut, ("holy wealth"; "glory"; "lord of fortune") was a Uyghur kingdom created in 843, with strong Chinese Buddhist and Tocharian influences. It was founded by Uyghur refugees fleeing the destruction of the Uyghur Kh ...
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kh ...
ruler
Khizr Khoja
Khizr Khwaja Khan (d. 1399, also known as Khizr Khoja) was the son of Tughlugh Timur and Khan of Moghulistan during the Chagatai Khanate, reigning from 1390 to 1399 AD.
Reign as Khan of Moghulistan
Khizr Khoja took the throne of Moghulistan af ...
(r. 1389-1399). After being converted to Islam, the descendants of the previously Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan failed to retain memory of their ancestral legacy and falsely believed that the "infidel Kalmuks" (
Dzungars
The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...
) were the ones who built Buddhist monuments in their area.
The murals at Bezeklik have suffered considerable damage. Many of the temples were damaged by local Muslim population whose religion proscribed figurative images of sentient beings; all statues were destroyed, some paintings defaced and others smeared with mud, the eyes and mouths were often gouged out due to the local belief that the figures may otherwise come to life at night. Michael Dillon considered Bezeklik's ''Thousand Buddha Caves'' are an example of the religiously motivated
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...
against depiction of religious and human figures. Pieces of murals were also broken off for use as fertilizer by the locals. During the late nineteen and early twentieth century, European and Japanese explorers found intact murals buried in sand, and many were removed and dispersed around the world. Some of the best preserved murals were removed by German explorer Albert von Le Coq and sent to Germany. Large pieces such as those showing Praṇidhi scene were permanently fixed to walls in the Museum of Ethnology in Berlin. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
they could not be removed for safekeeping, and were thus destroyed when the museum was caught in the bombing of Berlin by the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. Other pieces may now be found in various museums around the world, such as the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
in St. Petersburg,
Tokyo National Museum
The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage ( :ja:国立文化財機構), is considered the oldest national museum in Japan, ...
in Japan, the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in London, and the national museums of
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
A digital recreation of the Bezeklik murals removed by explorers was shown in Japan.Reconstruction of Bezeklik murals at Ryukoku Museum /ref>
Gallery
Image:Turpan-bezeklik-desierto-d03.jpg, View of the valley
Image:Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (23367458033).jpg, View of caves
Image:Bezelik Caves 01.jpg, Closer view of caves
Image:Turpan-bezeklik-pinturas-d02.jpg, Frescoes of Buddhas
Image:Turpan-bezeklik-pinturas-d01.jpg, Frescoes of Buddhas
Image:Uigure-bezeklik-17.jpg, A Uyghur prince
Image:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 064.jpg, Uyghur princesses, cave 9, Museum für Asiatische Kunst
Image:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 063.jpg, Uyghur Princes wearing robes and headdresses, cave 9.
Image:Bezeklik Caves - Praṇidhi scene No. 5, Temple No. 9.jpg, Praṇidhi scene No. 5, Temple No. 9
Image:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg, Details from Praṇidhi scene No. 5. Buddhist monks of Tocharianvon Le Coq, Albert. (1913) ''Chotscho: Facsimile-Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan'' . Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes . (Accessed 3 September 2016). or Sogdian origin on left, and East Asian on right
File:Ancient Uyghur Art.jpg, A Uyghur painting from the Bezeklik murals
File:Bezeklik Caves - Praṇidhi scene No. 6, Temple No. 9.jpg, Praṇidhi scene No. 6, Temple No. 9
File:BezeklikSogdianMerchants.jpg, Details showing Sogdian donors to the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
File:A brahmin, Bezeklik, Cave 9, probably 8th-9th century AD, wall painting - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01737.JPG, An Indian
brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
figure from Cave 9, dated 8th-9th century AD, wall painting
File:Turpan-bezeklik-pinturas-d03.jpg,
File:Fragment of a Buddhist Wall Painting, Bazaklik, region of Turfan, Sinkiang, China, Central Asian art, 8th century - Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - DSC09159.JPG, Fragment of a Buddhist Wall Painting
File:Marchands, dynastie Tang.jpg, Tradesmen, Tang dynasty
File:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 067.jpg, Uyghur female donor from the Bezeklik murals
File:Uigure-bezeklik-19.jpg, Uyghur noble from the Bezeklik murals
See also
*
Ah-ai Grotto
The Ah-ai Grotto ( zh, t=阿艾石窟, s=阿艾石窟, p=Ā ài shíkū) is a small, standalone Buddhist rock-cut cave located in the Kyziliya Grand Canyon, Kuqa, Xinjiang. The area is under the administration of Ah-ai Town, hence its name. The ...
*
Mogao Caves
The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...
*
Kizil Caves
The Kizil Caves ( zh, t=克孜爾千佛洞, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas; ug, قىزىل مىڭ ئۆي, translation=The Thousand Red Houses; also romanized Qizil Caves, spelling variant Qyzyl; Kizil means 'red') ar ...
German Turfan expeditions
The German Turfan expeditions were conducted between 1902 and 1914. The four expeditions to Turfan in Xinjiang, China, were initiated by Albert Grünwedel, a former director at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, and organized by Albert von Le C ...
Footnotes
Further reading
Chotscho : vol.1 Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch-Turkistan : vol.1 *Kitsudo, Koichi (2013). "Historical Significance of Bezeklik cave 20 in the Uyghur Buddhism" in ''Buddhism and Art in Turfan: From the Perspective of Uyghur Buddhism: Buddhist Culture along the Silk Road: Gandhåra, Kucha, and Turfan, Section II.'' Kyoto: 141-168 (texts in English and Japanese).
*Polichetti, Massimiliano A.. 1999. “A Short Consideration Regarding Christian Elements in a Ninth Century Buddhist Wall-fainting from Bezeklik”. ''The Tibet Journal'' 24 (2). Library of Tibetan Works and Archives: 101–7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302426.