Suvarnapushpa
{{Infobox royalty
| title = Ruler of the Tocharians, King of Kucha
| reign = 600-625
|image=King Suvarnapusa of Kucha, Cave 69, Kizil.jpg
|caption=King Suvarnapusa of Kucha, from Cave 69, Kizil Caves.
| predecessor = Sunidie
| successor = Suvarnadeva
}}
Suvarṇapuṣpa ({{langx|sa|𑀲𑀼𑀯𑀭𑁆𑀡𑀧𑀼𑀱𑁆𑀧||Gold Flower}}, Swarnabūspe in Tocharian, or directly translated as Ysāṣṣa Pyāpyo "Golden Flower") was a King of the Tarim Basin city-state of Kucha from 600 to 625. He was known in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) as Kucīśvara Suvarṇapuṣpa "Suvarṇapuṣpa, lord of Kucha".{{cite web |title=A dictionary of Tocharian B |url=https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/ie/tochB.html |website=www.win.tue.nl}} He was known in Chinese as Bái Sūfábójué ({{lang|zh|白蘇伐勃駃}}, the prefix "白" means "white", possibly pointing to the fair complexion of the Kucheans){{cite book |last1=Peyrot |first1=Michaël |title=Variation and change in Tocharian B |date=January 2008 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-35821-8 |page=199 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_h1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Puri |first1=Baij Nath |title=Buddhism in Central Asia |year=1987 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-0372-5 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sluKZfTrr3oC&pg=PA79 |language=en}} as he sent an embassy to the court of the Tang dynasty in 618 CE acknowledging vassalship.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=99}}"618年,汉名为苏伐勃駃(梵文Suvarna pushpa,意为金色的花朵)的库车王向隋场帝表示归顺。" in {{cite book |last1=Grousset |first1=René |title=草原帝国 (L'Empire des Steppes) |page=138 |url=https://archive.org/details/shijiemingzhuB/B0806%E8%8D%89%E5%8E%9F%E5%B8%9D%E5%9B%BD/page/n149/mode/2up}}
Epigraphy
Suvarṇapuṣpa is illustrated with his Queen in Cave 69 of the Kizil Caves, with an inscription in Brahmi script on his halo:
{{quote|"Temple Constructed for the Benefit of Suvarnapuspa by His Son"|Cave 69 inscription.}}
Suvarṇapuṣpa is known to have ruled between 600 and 625, and his three sons died before 647 CE according to Chinese sources."On the lunette of the front wall is painted a scene of the preaching of the Buddha in the Deer Park. On the left of the Buddha are painted the king and his wife; on the halo of the king is inscribed the dedication, which was interpreted by Pinault in his paper of 1994, 'Temple Constructed for the Benefit of Suvarnapousa by His Son' (this material is referred to in Kezier shiku neirong zonglu p. 2). From Chinese historical records it is known that this king reigned between the years 600 and 625, and his three sons died before 647: to date, this is the most accurate dating for the cave" in {{cite journal |last1=Vignato |first1=Giuseppe |title=Archaeological Survey of Kizil: Its Groups of Caves, Districts, Chronology and Buddhist Schools |journal=East and West |date=2006 |volume=56 |issue=4 |page=405, note 71 |jstor=29757697 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757697 |issn=0012-8376}}The inscription is translated in Chinese “儿子为苏伐那·勃驶功德造寺” in {{cite book |last1=霍 |first1=旭初 |title=克孜尔石窟艺术模式及其对外影响, in English in Turfan revisited: the first century of research into the arts and cultures of the Silk Road |date=2014 |publisher=Reimer |location=Berlin |url=http://wuming.xuefo.net/show2.asp?id=137813}}{{cite book |last1=Zhu |first1=Tianshu |title=BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS: EMANATORS AND EMANATED BEINGS IN THE BUDDHIST ART OF GANDHĀRA, CENTRAL ASIA, AND CHINA |date=2007 |page=399 |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1182181696&disposition=inline}}
Visit of Xuanzang
File:Cave 69 Suvarnapusa inscription.jpg inscription on the halo of Suvarṇapuṣpa (detail).]]
When he visited Kucha in 630 CE, the Chinese monk Xuanzang received the favours of Suvarna-deva (Chinese: 白蘇伐疊 Bái Sūfádié, ruled 625-645 CE), the son and successor of Suvarna-puspa, and king of Kucha.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=99}}
Xuanzang described in many details the characteristics of Kucha (屈支国, in "大唐西域记" "Tang Dynasty Account of the Western Regions"), and probably visited Kizil:{{cite book |last1=Beal |first1=Samuel |title=Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World : Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 629) |year=2000 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-24469-5 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmISY_Z7bEgC&pg=PA19 |language=en}}, also available in: {{cite web |title=Kingdom of K'iu-chi (Kucha or Kuche) [Chapter 2] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220147.html#note-e-86576 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |access-date=30 December 2020 |date=27 June 2018}}{{cite web |title="屈支国" in 大唐西域记/01 - 维基文库,自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E5%A4%A7%E5%94%90%E8%A5%BF%E5%9F%9F%E8%A8%98/01 |website=zh.m.wikisource.org |publisher=Wikisource}}
1) "The style of writing is Indian, with some differences"
2) "They clothe themselves with ornamental garments of silk and embroidery. They cut their hair and wear a flowing covering (over their heads)"
3) "The king is of Kuchean race""王屈支种也" in {{cite web |title="屈支国" in 大唐西域记/01 - 维基文库,自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E5%A4%A7%E5%94%90%E8%A5%BF%E5%9F%9F%E8%A8%98/01 |website=zh.m.wikisource.org |publisher=Wikisource}}
4) "There are about one hundred convents (saṅghārāmas) in this country, with five thousand and more disciples. These belong to the Little Vehicle of the school of the Sarvāstivādas (Shwo-yih-tsai-yu-po). Their doctrine (teaching of Sūtras) and their rules of discipline (principles of the Vinaya) are like those of India, and those who read them use the same (originals)."
5) "About 40 li to the north of this desert city there are two convents close together on the slope of a mountain".{{cite web |last1=Waugh |first1=Daniel (Historian, University of Washington) |title=Kizil |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/religion/buddhism/tarim/kizil.html |website=depts.washington.edu |publisher=Washington University |access-date=30 December 2020}}
These events were soon before the Tang campaign against Kucha in 648 CE.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=99}}
Suvarna-deva is known from an inscription in which he is called in Tocharian "Swarnatepe":{{cite web |last1=Carling |first1=Gerd (Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen) |title=Tocharian (p.16) |url=https://spw.uni-goettingen.de/projects/aig/doc/TOC-INT-003.pdf}}{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Jared |last2=Joseph |first2=Brian |last3=Fritz |first3=Matthias |title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook |date=23 October 2017 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-052175-7 |pages=1090 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVFKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1090 |language=en}}
{{quote|[ika]ṃ ṣe kṣuṃntsa piṅkce [meṃ]ne • [i]
during the 21st year, in the 5th month …
oroccepi lānte swarnatepi kṣ(u)ṃ[n](e)
a3 [r]e [ā]k(ṣ)a •
in the year of the great king Swarnatepe.}}
Haripuspa was the son and successor of Savarnadeva.{{cite book |last1=Peyrot |first1=Michaël |title=Variation and change in Tocharian B |date=January 2008 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-35821-8 |page=169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_h1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 |language=en}}
Cave 69 in Kizil
Suvarṇapuṣpa is illustrated with his Queen in Cave 69 of the Kizil Caves, with an inscription in Brahmi script on his halo.
File:Vajrapani, Cave 69, Kizil.jpg|Vajrapani, Cave 69, Kizil
File:Cave 69, lunette with King Suvarnapusa.jpg|Cave 69, lunette over the front door: the Buddha preaching at Sarnath (佛鹿野苑初转法轮) with King Suvarnapusa and his Queen as attendants.
File:Kizil Cave 69, King and Queen of Kucha.jpg|King Suvarnapuspa and his Queen (龟兹国王与王后供养像) in Cave 69 (dated 600-647 CE per Chinese sources).{{cite book |last1=Zhu |first1=Tianshu |title=BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS: EMANATORS AND EMANATED BEINGS IN THE BUDDHIST ART OF GANDHĀRA, CENTRAL ASIA, AND CHINA |date=2007 |page=439 |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1182181696&disposition=inline}}
Sources
- {{cite book|last=Grousset|first=René|author-link=René Grousset|title=The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou|url-access=registration|year=1970|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1}}