Tokharistan

Several languages have used variations of the word "Tokhara" to designate the region:

• Tokharistan may appear in ancient Indian sources as the Kingdom of Tushara, to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. "Tushara" is the Sanskrit word for "snowy" "frigid", and is known to have been used to designate the country of Tukhara."Tushara ( snowy , frigid ) and Tushkara are used as equivalents of Tukhara" in {{cite book |last1=Tchouang |first1=Hiuan |title=Chinese Accounts of India |year=1957 |publisher=Susil Gupta |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-jFtAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} In Sanskrit, it became तुखार (Tukhāra).
• In ancient Greek, the name was Tokharoi ({{langx|grc|Τόχαροι}} ) or Thaguroi.
• Tochari for Latin historians.{{cite journal |last1=Namba Walter |first1=Mariko |title=Tokharian Buddhism in Kucha: Buddhism of Indo-European Centum Speakers in Chinese Turkestan before the 10th Century C.E. |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=October 1998 |volume=85 |pages=2–4 |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp085_tokharian_buddhism_kucha.pdf}}
• The name "Tokhara" appeared in the 4th century CE, in Buddhist texts, such as the Vibhasa-sastra.
• In Tibetan, the name for the region was Thod-kar or Tho-gar."The population was called by the Greeks Tokharoi, Thaguroi; by the Romans Tochar; or Thogarii (in Sanskrit, Tukhara; in Tibetan, Thod-kar or Tho-gar; in Khotanese, Ttaugara; in Uigurian, Twghry; in Armenian, T'ukri-k'" in {{cite book |last1=Diringer |first1=David |title=Alphabet A Key To The History Of Mankind |date=1948 |page=348 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57042/page/n349/mode/2up}}{{cite book |title=Religions and Trade: Religious Formation, Transformation and Cross-Cultural Exchange between East and West |date=28 November 2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-25530-2 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXdfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |language=en}}
• The name appears in Chinese as Tukhara (覩货罗 Duhuoluo or 吐火罗 Tuhuoluo).For 覩货罗 as "Tokharistan" see {{cite book |title=冯承钧学术著作集中 |date=June 2015 |publisher=Beijing Book Co. Inc. |isbn=978-7-999099-49-9 |page=175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkLgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT75 |language=zh}} "Tokhara" was known in Chinese sources as Tuhuluo (吐呼羅), which is first mentioned during the Northern Wei era (386-534 CE)."In the Record of the Northern – Wei Dynasty it is transcribed as T'u-hu-luo" in {{cite book |title=Chinese Monks in India: Biography of Eminent Monks who Went to the Western World in Search of the Law During the Great Tʻang Dynasty |year=1986 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0062-5 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5YEAAAAYAAJ |language=en}} In the Tang dynasty, the name is transcribed as Tuhuoluo (土豁羅). Other Chinese names are Doushaluo 兜沙羅, Douquluo 兜佉羅 or Duhuoluo 覩貨羅.
• In Khotanese, Ttaugara; in Uigurian, Twghry; in Armenian, T'ukri-k'.

Several portraits of ambassadors from the region of Tokharistan are known from the Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, originally painted in 526–539 CE. They were at that time under the overlordship of the Hephthalites, who led the embassies to the Southern Liang court in the early 6th century CE.

File:Kabadiyan ambassador to the Southern Liang court 516-520 CE.jpg|Qubodiyon ambassador to the court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital Jingzhou in 516–520 CE, with explanatory text. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song copy. The ambassador accompanied the Hephthalites to China.

File:Kumedh ambassador to the Southern Liang court 516-520 CE.jpg|Wakhan ambassador to the Chinese court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital Jingzhou in 516–520 CE, with explanatory text. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song copy.

File:Ambassadors from Kabadiyan (阿跋檀), Balkh (白題國) and Kumedh (胡密丹), visiting the court of the Tang Dynasty. The Gathering of Kings (王会图) circa 650 CE.jpg|Ambassadors from Qubodiyon (阿跋檀), Balkh (白題國) and Wakhan (胡密丹), visiting the court of the Tang dynasty. The Gathering of Kings (王会图), c. 650 CE

File:Silver gilt bowl. Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan, 6th c. CE. British Museum OA 1963.12-10.2. I. I. Smirnov (1869-1918), Vostochnoe serebro (St. Petersburg, 1909).jpg|Bactrian types on a silver gilt bowl, 6th c. CE. British Museum.{{cite journal |last1=Compareti |first1=Matteo |title=Some Examples of Central Asian Decorative Elements in Ajanta and Bagh Indian Paintings |pages=41–42 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10060191}}{{cite web |title=Silver bowl, British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1963-1210-2 |website=The British Museum |language=en}}

File:Silver bowl portraits.jpg|Silver bowl portraits.{{cite web |title=Silver bowl, British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1963-1210-2 |website=The British Museum |language=en}}

File:Ajanta Cave 1 ceiling foreign dignitary.jpg|Possible Bactrians revelling, on the ceiling of the central hall of Cave 1 of Ajanta caves, India (460–480 CE).{{cite book |last1=Brancaccio|first1=Pia|title=The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion |year=2010 |publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004185258|pages=80–82, 305–307 with footnotes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA81}}{{cite book|title=DK Eyewitness Travel Guide India|date=2017|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=9780241326244|page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTcnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT126}}{{cite journal |last1=Compareti |first1=Matteo |title=Some Examples of Central Asian Decorative Elements in Ajanta and Bagh Indian Paintings |pages=40–42 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10060191}}

The name of "Tocharians" was mistakenly applied by early 20th century authors to the Indo-European people of the Tarim Basin, from the areas of Kucha and Agni. These scholars erroneously believed that these Indo-Europeans had originated in Tokharistan (Bactria), and hence applied the term "Tocharians" to them. This appellation remains in common usage, although the Indo-European people of the Tarim Basin probably referred to themselves as Agni, Kuči and Krorän.{{cite journal |last1=Namba Walter |first1=Mariko |title=Tokharian Buddhism in Kucha: Buddhism of Indo-European Centum Speakers in Chinese Turkestan before the 10th Century C.E. |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=October 1998 |volume=85 |page=2 |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp085_tokharian_buddhism_kucha.pdf}}{{cite book |last1=Diringer |first1=David |title=Alphabet A Key To The History Of Mankind |date=1948 |pages=347–348 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57042/page/n349/mode/2up}}

In the Xi'an Stele, erected in 781 CE, the Church of the East monk Adam, author of the stele, mentioned in Syriac that his grandfather was a missionary-priest from Balkh ({{langx|syc|ܒܠܚ|translit=Balḥ}}) in Tokharistan ({{lang|syc|ܬܚܘܪܝܣܬܢ}} {{transl|sem|Taḥuristan}}).{{cite book |last1=Havret |first1=Henri (1848–1901) Auteur du texte |title=La stèle chrétienne de Si-ngan-fou. 3 / par le P. Henri Havret,... ; avec la collab. du P. Louis Cheikho,... [pour la IIIe partie] |date=1895–1902 |page=61 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54365345/f74.item |language=EN}}{{Cite book|last1=Kurian|first1=George Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dk4G-52QT-8C&dq=Ching%E2%80%90Ching+%28Adam%29+%28c.750+ce%28%3F%29%E2%80%93after+782+ce%29&pg=PA251|title=The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature|last2=III|first2=James D. Smith|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8108-7283-7|pages=251}}{{Cite book|last=Godwin|first=R. Todd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-mKDwAAQBAJ|title=Persian Christians at the Chinese Court: The Xi'an Stele and the Early Medieval Church of the East|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-1-78673-316-0|pages=10}}

File:Transoxiana 8th century.svg

Geographically, Tokharistan corresponds to the upper Oxus valley, between the mountain ranges of the Hindu-Kush to the south and the Pamir-Alay to the north. The area reaches west as far as the Badakshan mountains, south as far as Bamiyan. Arab sources considered Kabul as part of the southern border of Tokharistan, and Shaganiyan as part of its northern border. In a narrow sense, Tokharistan may only refer to the region south of the Oxus. The region used the East Iranian Bactrian language, which was current from the 2nd to the 9th century CE.

The most important city of Tokharistan was Balkh, which was at the center of the trade between Iran (the Sasanian Empire) and Indian subcontinent.

The region of Tokharistan had been outside of Sasanian control for the three centuries preceding the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–651 CE. During that time, Tokharistan was under the rule of dynasties of Hunnish or Turkic origin, such as the Kidarites, the Alchon Huns and the Hephthalites. At the time of the Arab conquest, Tokharistan was under the control of the Western Turks, through the Tokhara Yabghus.

Numerous artefacts exist from the art of early medieval Tokharistan, which shows influence from the Buddhist art of Gandhara.{{cite journal |last1=LITVINSKY |first1=BORIS |last2=SOLOV'EV |first2=VIKTOR |title=The Architecture and Art of Kafyr Kala (Early Medieval Tokharistan) |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |year=1990 |volume=4 |pages=61–75 |jstor=24048351 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24048351.pdf |issn=0890-4464}}

Many authors have suggested that the figures in the Dilberjin Tepe or Balalyk Tepe paintings are characteristic of the Hephthalites (450–570 CE).{{cite journal |last1=Kurbanov |first1=Aydogdy |title=THE HEPHTHALITES: ICONOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS |journal=Tyragetia |year=2014 |pages=317–334 |url=http://oaji.net/articles/2017/4586-1488311404.pdf}} In this context, parallels have been drawn with the figures from Kizil Caves in Chinese Turkestan, which seem to wear broadly similar clothing. The paintings of Balalyk Tepe would be characteristic of the court life of the Hephthalites in the first half of the 6th century CE, before the arrival of the Turks."Several murals at Dilberjin date from the 5th to the 7th century. A comparison between some of the Dilberjin paintings and those at Kyzyl (“the cave of the 16 swordsmen" and "the cave with picture of Maya") demonstrates a link between them (Litvinsky 1996, 151)." {{cite journal |last1=Kurbanov |first1=Aydogdy |title=THE HEPHTHALITES: ICONOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS |journal=Tyragetia |year=2014 |pages=317–334 |url=http://oaji.net/articles/2017/4586-1488311404.pdf}}{{cite book |last1=Frumkin |first1=Grégoire |title=Archaeology in Soviet Central Asia |year=1970 |publisher=Brill Archive |pages=116–118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdUUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA116 |language=en}}

File:Dilberjin frescoe, 5th-6th century.jpg|Dilberjin fresco, 5th-6th century.{{cite book|last1=Dani|first1=Ahmad Hasan|last2=Litvinsky|first2=B. A.|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750|date=1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103211-0|page=151|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA151|language=en}}

File:Dilberjin frescoe fragment.jpg|Dilberjin fresco fragment.{{cite journal|title=Les fouilles de la mission archéologique soviéto-afghane sur le site gréco-kushan de Dilberdjin en Bactriane|journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres|year=1977|pages=407–427|url=https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/crai_0065-0536_1977_num_121_2_13377.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:Balalyk_Tepe_mural_detail.jpg|Mural detail, Balalyk Tepe, late 5th-7th century CE

File:Balalyk_Tepe_festivities.jpg|Balalyk Tepe banquet scene, 6th-7th century CE

In painting, there is "Tokharistan school of art"{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} (see Northern Buddhist art) with examples from Kalai Kafirnigan, Kafyr Kala or Ajina Tepe,{{cite book |last1=Dani |first1=Ahmad Hasan |last2=Litvinsky |first2=B. A. |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750 |date=January 1996 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-103211-0 |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA150 |language=en}}{{cite book |title=UNESCO Collection of History of Civilizations of Central Asia : Online chapter |url=http://unesco.culture.free.fr/asia-new/html_eng/chapitre316/chapitre5.htm}} as Buddhism and Buddhist art enjoyed a renaissance, possibly owing to the sponsorships and religious tolerance of the Western Turks (Tokhara Yabghus).{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |pages=203–204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA203 |language=en}}

File:Mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, Museum of National Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.jpg|Buddhist mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, National Museum of Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 7th-early 8th century.{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |pages=203–204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA203 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Litvinskij |first1=B. A. |title=Kalai-Kafirnigan Problems in the Religion and Art of Early Mediaeval Tokharistan |journal=East and West |year=1981 |volume=31 |issue=1/4 |pages=35–66 |jstor=29756581 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/29756581.pdf |issn=0012-8376}}

File:Adults in caftan and child, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.jpg|Adults in caftan and child, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan

File:Buddha head, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.jpg|Buddha head, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan

File:Hunting scene, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.jpg|Hunting scene, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan

File:Hunting scene,Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities ofTajikistan (433).jpg|Hunting scene,Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan

Islamic art developed with the Samanid Empire and the Ghaznavids from the 10th to 12th century CE.

File:Bowl from Khulbuk, Tajikistan, 10-11th century, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (KN 1060).jpg|Bowl from Khulbuk, Tajikistan, 10-11th century, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (KN 1060)

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Category:Bactria

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