Sogdians & Buddhism

Samten de Wet

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Tuesday, 12 July 2016

 In a review of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra and the Ruling Elite, by Geoffrey C. Goble,  we read:

 “Goble astutely notes that the esoteric rites had Central Asian (probably Sogdian or Khotanese) origins and could have appealed to the military and bureaucratic elite such as Geshu Han, Li Baoyu and Du Hongjian (pp. 204) who had similar ethnic origins.”

 The Review is ONLINE HERE @ DISSERTATION REVIEWS.   And another Review is HERE   .

 As Mariko Namba Walter informs us:

 “Pu-k'ung (705 -774), Amoghavajra, who contributed greatly to the introduction of Tantric Buddhism to China, also had a Sogdian mother and an Indian father.”

Further on AMOGHAVAJRA @ WIKIPEDIA.COM    .

 For a comprehensive overview and Introduction, the articles  by Dr. Matteo Compareti  and Mariko Namba Walter,  at  Sino-Platonic Papers are a good place to start.


A  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON SOGDIANA

 Chiara Silvi Antonini, The Paintings in The Palace of Asfrasiab (Samarkand), Rivista degli studi orientali, Vol. 63, Fasc. 1/3 (1989), pp. 109-144

 Irina Arzhantseva, Olga Inevatkina, Afrasiab Wall-Paintings Revisited: New Discoveries Twenty-Five Years Old, Rivista degli studi orientali, Nuova Serie, Vol. 78, Supplemento No. 1: Royal Naurūz in Samarkand: Proceedings of The Conference Held in Venice On the Pre-Islamic Paintings at Afrasiab (2005), pp. 185-211

 Matteo Compareti, A Reading of the Royal Hunt at Afrāsyāb Based On Chinese Sources, Rivista degli studi orientali, Nuova Serie, Vol. 78, Supplemento No. 1: Royal Naurūz in Samarkand: Proceedings oi The Conference Held in Venice on The Pre-Islamic Paintings at Afrasiab (2006), pp. 173-184

 Dr. Matteo Compareti, "Traces of Buddhist Art in Sogdiana", Sino-Platonic Papers (Sino-Platonic Papers is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations) CLXXXI, 2008, 42 pp.  ONLINE HERE   .

 Dr. Matteo Compareti, Buddhist Activity in Pre-Islamic Persia According to Literary Sources and Archaeology.  ONLINE HERE   .

 Richard N. Frye, Sughd and the Sogdians: A Comparison of Archaeological Discoveries with Arabic Sources, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Mar., 1943), pp. 14-16

 Gustav Glaesser, Painting in ancient Pjandžikent, East and West, Vol. 8, No. 2 (JULY 1957), pp. 199-215

 Frantz Grenet, Iranian Gods in Hindu Garb: The Zoroastrian Pantheon of the Bactrians and Sogdians, Second–Eighth Centuries, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 20 (2006), pp. 87-99

 Frantz Grenet, Zhang Guangda, The Last Refuge of the Sogdian Religion: Dunhuang in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 10, Studies in Honour of Vladimir A. Livshits (1996), pp. 175-186

 Frantz Grenet, What Was the Afrasiab Painting About? Rivista degli studi orientali, Nuova Serie, Vol. 78, Supplemento No. 1: Royal Naurūz In Samarkand: Proceedings Of The Conference Held In Venice On The Pre-Islamic Paintings At Afrasiab (2005), pp. 43-58

 Samra Azarnoush, Frantz Grenet and Samra Azarnouche, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 21 (2007), pp. 159-177

 W. B. Henning, Sogdian Fragment of the Manichaean Cosmogony, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 12,  No. 2 (1948), pp. 306-318

 Fiona J. Kidd, Costume of the Samarkand Region of Sogdiana between the 2nd/1st Century B.C.E. and the 4th Century C.E., Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 17 (2003), pp. 35-69

 Vladimir Livšic, The Sogdian Wall Inscriptions on the Site of Afrasiab, Rivista degli studi orientali, Nuova Serie, Vol. 78, Supplemento No. 1: Royal Naurūz In Samarkand: Proceedings Of The Conference Held In Venice On The Pre-Islamic Paintings At Afrasiab (2006), pp. 59-74

 Ciro Lo Muzio, Remarks on the Paintings from the Buddhist Monastery of Fayaz Tepe (Southern Uzbekistan), Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 22, Zoroastrianism and Mary Boyce with Other Studies (2008), pp. 189-206

 Markus Mode, Reading The Afrasiab Murals: Some Comments On Reconstructions and Details, Rivista degli studi orientali, Nuova Serie, Vol. 78, Supplemento No. 1: Royal Naurūz in Samarkand: Proceedings of The Conference Held in Venice On the Pre-Islamic Paintings at Afrasiab (2005), pp. 107-12

 Boris I. Marshak, A Sogdian Silver Bowl in the Freer Gallery of Art, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 29 (1999), pp. 101-110

 Boris I. Marshak, The Tiger, Raised from the Dead: Two Murals from Panjikent, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 10, Studies in honour of Vladimir A. Livshits (1996), pp. 207-217

 Boris I. Marshak, Remarks On the Murals of the Ambassadors Hall, Rivista degli studi orientali, Nuova Serie, Vol. 78, Supplemento No. 1: Royal naurūz in Samarkand: Proceedings of The Conference Held in Venice On the Pre-Islamic Paintings at Afrasiab (2006), pp. 75-85

 Boris I. Marshak, V. I. Raspopova, Worshipers from the Northern Shrine of Temple II, Panjikent, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 8, The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia Studies from the Former Soviet Union (1994), pp. 187-207

 Enrico Morano, The Sogdian Hymns of Stellung Jesu, East and West, Vol. 32, No. 1/4 (December 1982), pp. 9-43

 Edwin G. Pulleyblank, A Sogdian Colony in Inner Mongolia, T'oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 41, Livr. 4/5 (1952), pp. 317-356

 G. V. Shishkina, Ancient Samarkand: Capital of Soghd, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 8, The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia Studies from the Former Soviet Union (1994), pp. 81-99

 V. G. Shkoda, Fifty Years of Archaeological Exploration in Panjikent, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 10, Studies in honour of Vladimir A. Livshits (1996), pp. 259-264

 V. G. Shkoda, The Sogdian Temple: Structure and Rituals, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 10, Studies in honour of Vladimir A. Livshits (1996), pp. 195-206

 Walter, Mariko Namba, "Sogdians and Buddhism", Sino-Platonic Papers (Sino-Platonic Papers is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations) CLXXIV, 2006, 65 pp.  ONLINE HERE   

IMAGE AT TOP: SOGDIAN MERCHANTS:  9th century fresco from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves near Turfan, Xinjiang, China. Two details from Praņidhi scene no. 6 in Temple no. 9

SOGDIA @WIKIPEDIA.COM

AFRASIAB PAINTING  @WIKIPEDIA.COM

Court art of Sogdian Samarqand in the 7th century AD.   HERE   . 

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