Kalai Kafirnigan, also Kala-i Kafirnigan was a Buddhist temple in the region of

Tokharistan Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix ''-stan'' meaning "place of" in Persian) is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources. In the 7th and 8th century CE, Tokharistan c ...

(Classical

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...

), dated to the 7th-8th century CE. Buddhism in

is said to have enjoyed a revival under the

Western Turks The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate ( otk, 𐰆𐰣:𐰸:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, On oq budun, Ten arrow people) was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after t ...

(known as

Tokhara Yabghus 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 Amu Darya, Oxus River, with some smaller rem ...

in Tokharistan). Several monasteries of Tokharistan dated to the 7th-8th centuries display beautiful Buddhist works of art, such as Kalai Kafirnigan, Ajina Tepe, Khisht Tepe or Kafyr Kala, around which Turkic nobility and populations followed

Hinayana Hīnayāna (, ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "small/deficient vehicle". Classical Chinese and Tibetan teachers translate it as "smaller vehicle". The term is applied collectively to the ''Śrāvakayāna'' and ''Pratyekabuddhayāna'' pa ...

Buddhism. File:Mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, Museum of National Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.jpg, Buddhist mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, Museum of National Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 7th-early 8th century. Kalai Kafirnigan woman.jpg, Female devotee in Kalai Kafirnigan. 7th-early 8th century. File:Kalai Kafirnigan mural of a male figure.jpg, Mural of a male figure

References

{{Central Asian history Tajikistani culture Archaeological sites in Tajikistan Buddhism in Tajikistan