A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c15.s1.18

c15.s1.18

The countries to the north of the great desert have proved to be equally fertile in finds of astonishing richness. At the ruined city of Idiqūt-i-Shahri the German explorers found the remains of Buddhist, Manichean, and Nestorian buildings and art associated in such a way as to show that for centuries the adherents of the rival creeds managed to live together. Ultimately, in or about the ninth century, the Buddhists were massacred by the Chinese, a fact of which Dr. v. Le Coq discovered terrible proof when he opened a chamber filled with the skeletons of monks and other signs of ruthless slaughter. At this site curious votive flags, both Manichean and Buddhist, were found, with designs painted on plaster applied to long strips of cotton, in the manner still practised by Tibetan Lamas.