Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s12: Tun-Huang Region

Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s12

Language: English

Tun-Huang Region

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Sir Aurel Stein has frequently referred to this site.³ ‘To the southeast of its main oasis, at the foot of a barren dune-covered hill-chain, there lies the sacred site the ‘Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.’ Buddhist piety from about the fourth century A.D. onwards has here honey-combed the rock walls of a true thebais with hundreds of cave-shrines, still objects of worship.’⁴ Their decoration with frescoes and stucco sculptures is very rich. In other respects also they would resemble the famous caves at Ajanta, Elora, and other places.

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³ *Ibid.*, I., Chap. XXIII, XXIV, XXV.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, I., Introduction, p. xii. *See The Portfolio of Thousand Buddhas*, by Stein, Plates i--xlviii.

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‘Along the whole length of the scarp of the hill the precipitous portion of the rock-face shows an unbroken succession of grottoes (some 515 in number). Some high, some low, they are all closely serried laterally, and in most parts perched also one above the other. But the number of grottoes varies greatly in height. . . . At both the northern and southern ends the rock-face displays only a single line of cave-temples, while four or five successive tiers may be counted elsewhere. Only for short distances and between the two shrines containing colossal Buddha statues it is possible to recognize regular rows or storeys. The two last-mentioned temples stand in a separate category by themselves; for in order to secure adequate space for the giant clay images of seated Buddhas close on 90 feet high which they were meant to shelter, a number of halls were excavated one above the other. Each of these provides light and access for a portion of the colossus, which rises unbroken to the top through a continuous cavity at the back.’

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‘In front of most of the shrines there had been originally antechapels or porches of oblong shape carved out of the rock. Their back and side walls, as well as the ceilings, still retained paintings *in tempera*. . . . In most cases access to, and communication between, these upper shrines seems to have been assured by means of wooden galleries, now marked only by the wooden rafters which once served to support them, or more frequently still by the mere holes into which they were fixed. The rock-cut or wooden stairs, which were required for the same purpose, had crumbled away almost everywhere, and even rough ladders were to be found only before a few caves which had undergone manifestly recent restoration. . . . The interior arrangements and decoration of these upper shrines, mostly of modest size, did not differ in any essential way from those prevailing in the cave-temples carved into the foot of the cliff.’¹

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¹ Stein, *Serindia*, II, p. 793.

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‘The ground-plan and general structural arrangement of these caves showed a striking uniformity. Outside there came first a kind of oblong ante-chapel. . . . Where restoration had taken place recently, the front had been closed by a wooden construction with big doors and windows, and this feature is likely to have been present also in the original design. From this ante-chapel the cave-temple proper was approached through a high and rather wide passage, which alone admitted light and air to the interior excavation. This consisted everywhere of a single rectangular cella, usually almost square in shape and with sides up to 54 feet in length, hewn out of the solid rock and provided with a high conical roof. Within the cella, which is usually a little deeper than it is wide, the larger shrines had generally a big rectangular platform, elaborately decorated in plaster and facing the entrance.’²

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² *Ibid.*, p. 794.

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‘The centre was invariably occupied by a colossal stucco image of Buddha, by the side of which were grouped in a symmetrical fashion statues of smaller divinities, all of them often badly injured . . . usually a kind of screen and canopy combined had been left standing in the rock at the back of the principal image. Behind this, and between the platform and the cella walls, a passage was invariably left for the worshippers to perform the circumambulation (*pradakshiṇa*). In the smaller shrines similar groups of stucco images, with a seated Buddha in their centre, were ordinarily found placed in a kind of alcove or raised chapel. Only in a few instances a third type of internal arrangement was in vogue by which the centre of the cella

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A GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MYRIAD BUDDHAS

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FRESCO DECORATION IN THE INTERIOR OF A CAVE TEMPLE IN THE CAVES OF THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS

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was left unexcavated and the square block of rock used as a backing for statues.'¹

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¹ Stein, *Serindia*, II, p. 794.

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The wall-paintings are all executed *in tempera*. 'It is in this modified, technically inaccurate, sense that the term 'fresco' must be understood. The mural decoration in the passages and ante-chapels ordinarily represents rows of large Bodhisattvas moving in procession, or else seated in tiers. Diapers of small figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas . . . covered the walls in numbers of small cellas. Along with elaborate floral designs and tracery they had often been used also for the adornment of the ceiling in the large cellas. But it was on the walls of these last that the wonderful richness and variety of this pictorial art had found room to express itself fully. There the frescoes generally filled large panels, bordered by floral scrolls of striking beauty. They were arranged either singly or in a series. Painted dados, often representing figures of worshippers, in some cases monks or nuns, served to raise these panels to an appropriate height above the floor and the statue-bearing platform. Panels were almost invariably filled by elaborate compositions containing a large number of figures. Varied as the subjects were in details, two main classes could readily be distinguished among them. In one there appeared figures of Buddhas, surrounded by symmetrically grouped hosts of Bodhisattvas, saints, and other divine attendants, all shown in a carefully arranged architectural setting of pavilions, platforms, lotus tanks, etc. These panels were meant to represent scenes in Buddhist heavens. The other class of fresco panels displayed, in close juxtaposition and often bewildering variety, scenes which looked as if taken from mundane life, but often with sacred figures moving among them.' Sir Aurel Stein felt assured that 'these scenes in the mural paintings illustrated Buddhist Jātaka stories.'²

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² *Ibid.*, II, pp. 794–95. *See* Figs. 200, 214, 211, 212, 216, 217, 218, 219, 219–224, 228, 233–236, 230, 206, 209, 210, 220, 224, 231, 235, 217, 218, 221, 222, 233, 236, 202. For detailed descriptions, *see* pp. 847–91.

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There is another similar group of cave temples near Chiao-tzu, known as the 'valley of Myriad Buddhas.' This collection of cave temples 'could not compare in extent and importance with that of the Thousand Buddhas.'³ 'What the site lacks in size seemed,' says Sir Aurel Stein, 'to be made up by the singular wildness of its setting.'

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³ *Ibid.*, Vol. III, p. 1109.

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The temple grottoes of Wan-fo-hsia extend for a distance of over a quarter of a mile.¹ 'The condition of the sacred site harmonized very pleasantly with the picturesque seclusion and peace of this submontane thebais.' Numerous small shrines lay scattered along a raised terrace at the foot of the cliffs on the right bank of a river. None of the grottoes measured over 16 feet square and most of them 10 by 12 feet. In all essential points of architectural disposition and artistic decoration they 'show the closest resemblance to the average type of Chien-fo-tung shrines approximately assigned to the ninth-tenth century.'²

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¹ Stein, *Serindia* Vol. III, p. 1109.

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² *Ibid.*, Vol. III, p. 1109, Fig. 242, 243, 244.

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'The principal caves are found on the right bank ranged in two rows. The lower one opens on a terrace, about 20 feet above the river, the other extends on a level about 50 to 60 feet higher. The series of five main caves below starts on the south-east with one containing a colossal seated Buddha image, which rises up into the second storey. Next to it is a cave with a colossal figure of Buddha recumbent in *nirvāṇa*, fully 30 feet long. The five caves of the lower storey are supplied with verandahs in front and rendered very dark thereby.'

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'The subjects of the larger panels appear to be chiefly assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, set within a square frame of geometric design, and this again enclosed within a circle or oval of elaborate floral pattern. . . . The lower main caves, together with five or six small grottoes between them, containing new frescoes are the shrines which receive most attention from resident priests and pious visitors.'³

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³ *Ibid.*, p. 1110.

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'The upper row of caves is approached by flights of stairs roughly cut into the rock, which start near some small grottoes serving as quarters for the priests. There is a line of 12 cave temples extending on a uniform level. All of them comprise a cella, square or nearly so, with sides varying from 20 to 32 feet; an ante-chapel, itself as broad as the cella, but only of moderate depth and separated from the cella by a shallow wide passage; a high porch or outer passage, in some cases 20 to 30 feet deep where it is intact, admitting light and air from the face of the cliff. The shrines originally communicated with each other by means of narrow plastered passages leading from one porch to the other through the facing part of the rock wall. But where this had crumbled away or become unsafe, a rough tunnel connecting the ante-chapels had been driven through the rock. The uniformity with which this disposition is repeated in all shrines points to execution upon a definite plan and at no great distance of time, and with this the uniform style of their decoration seems in full accord.’¹

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¹ Stein, *Serindia*, III, pp. 1110-11.

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‘Throughout these cave-temples the walls bear paintings *in tempera*. . . . The walls of the porches ordinarily display on the one side rows of men dressed in dark-red robes with wide-brimmed black hats; and, on the other, processions of ladies wearing rich wide-sleeved dresses and elaborate coiffure with flowers, bands, and pendants around bulb-shaped caps. These figures carrying offerings, which also recur on the side walls of the entrances to the cellas, are intended to represent donors and donatrices. The walls of the cellas and ante-chapels are decorated either with processions of large, richly robed Bodhisattvas moving under ornate canopies or with a variety of panels, showing familiar scenes from Buddhist Heavens, Buddhas enthroned among rows of Bodhisattvas, large representations of Mañjuśrī and Samanta-bhadra on their *vāhanas*, etc.’²

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² *Ibid.*, III, p. 1111, see Fig. 246, 247.

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‘The remaining shrines of the series are very small and dark. The side walls of cella of one of these (xix) are decorated with scenes from Buddhist Heavens and the back wall is occupied by a large representation of the ‘wind-scene.’ There are inscriptions in cursive Brāhmī, scribbled by the side of a donor figure.’³

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³ *Ibid.*, III, p. 1113.

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These shrines of myriad Buddhas resemble in other respects also the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. And both appear to have been largely influenced by, if not copied from, the cave-temples of India, particularly those of Ajanta and Ellora.

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There are also other smaller remains of Buddhist *stūpas* and *vihāras* in several sites. There are Buddhist shrines, for instance, at Turfān, Yār-Khoto, mostly near the northern end of the town and in the open space beyond it. They consist of the central temple and part of the enclosing court of a large Buddhist *vihāra*, and the central group of *stūpas* at the northernmost Buddhist sanctuary.⁴ At Kara-shahr there is a large group of shrines, including several massive temple ruins. There are also scattered numerous other structures mostly of modest size.¹ There are small cellas above the springs. There are also cave temples.² At Shorchuk, also, there have been discovered a ruined shrine, together with the ante-chapel and cella with relievo statues and circular image base, temple ruin, ruined *stūpa*, stucco reliefs, and stucco relievo sculptures.³ There is here also a cave temple.⁴ Buddhist shrines have also been found at Khora site.⁵ Lastly at Mayaklik there are remains of Buddhist shrine, Buddha statue, Buddha image with painted base, and *tempera* painting.⁶

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⁴ *Ibid.*, III, pp. 1168–1169, Fig. 278, 279.

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¹ *Ibid.*, III, Fig. 281, 282, 284, 285, 287, pp. 1184–85.

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² Stein, *Serindia*, Vol. III, p. 1184.

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³ *Ibid.*, Fig. 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, pp. 1192–93.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, Fig. 298, p. 1199.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, Fig. 300, p. 1224.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, Fig. 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, pp. 1276–77, 1286–87.

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There appears to be no doubt about the fundamental influence of Hindu culture on the art and architecture of these Central Asian colonies. Sir Aurel Stein is equally emphatic on this point also. ‘The most thorough proof of the dominating influence which Indian art exercised on the industries represented in this ancient settlement, was supplied by,’ in addition to purely architectural and sculptural objects, ‘the ornamental wood-carving of the chair.⁷ . . . The height of the legs is 23 inches and the width of the chair 26 inches. . . . The great interest of this ancient piece of furniture lies in its ornamental carving, which shows the closest resemblance to decorative motives familiar from Gandhara reliefs. Referring for all details of the carving to the description given in the list, I may point out,’ he continues, ‘that the four-petalled flower of a shape closely approaching the large purple clematis, which forms its most frequent feature, is well known in Gandhara sculptures. We find it then,’ he concludes by referring to their essential features, ‘either complete and enclosed in squares forming ornamental bands, or else halved and placed within triangular spaces just as seen on the panels and legs of the chair.’⁸ The zigzag arrangement of these halved flowers has also its exact parallel there. ‘The eight-petalled lotus,’ he emphatically asserts, ‘is unmistakably Indian, while the central ornament of the front panel, with its conventionalized fruit (? pomegranate) and leaves, recalls decorative elements on certain Indo-Corinthian capitals.’⁹

Linked texts (1)

Jātaka — Pāli