Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s4.t2.30

v2.c11.s4.t2.30

**Dayan Stupa (Dayan Ta)** It is Chinese Buddhist pagoda, also known as Pagoda at Ci'en Temple. It located in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. The stupa was first built in the 3^rd year of Yonghui (652 CE) in the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. At that time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang subsidised to build this tower in the west courtyard of the temple to preserve Indian sutras obtained from India by the master of Xuanzang of Ci’en Temple. The stupa is a representative of the pavilion-style brick tower in the Tang dynasty, originally with five floors. It collapsed in the Chang’an years of Empress Wu Zetian (701-704 CE), and was reconstructed for 10 floors. Later only seven floors were left with a total height of about 64 mt. The plane of the tower is square, pilasters in the wood-like structure are built by bricks on the surface of each floor, and the circular arch door openings are cut in the centre of the four faces of each floor. The arch doors in the four facets of the tower base all have bluestone semicircular lintels with decoration of line carved reliefs of the Buddhism theme. Yuchi Yiseng, Khotan painter (present day Khotan) in early Tang, once painted murals at the Ci’en Temple. The lines carved on the lintels of the tower base resemble “winding iron wires”, which may be associated with the western region style of Yuchi Yiseng.