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The Silkroad Foundation Editor: Daniel C. Waugh
14510 Big Basin Way # 269 dwaugh@u.washington.edu
Saratoga, CA 95070.
© 2008 Silkroad Foundation
© 2008 by authors of individual articles and holders of copyright, as specified, to individual images.
The wonderful experience I had this summer museum), I had some basis for comparison. If
of participating in the Silkroad Foundation’s one leaves aside certain political issues, the
Dunhuang seminar and the subsequent tour to progress in “modernization” in China is
sites along the “Northern Silk Road” included impressive. Dunhuang itself seemed somewhat
visits to a number of museums. They ranged forgotten by time back in 1998; today the
from the dusty little box at the Yumenguan west donkey carts are gone from the streets and it
of Dunhuang, through the motion picture set has at least a superficial air of prosperity.
complex at Yangguan, to the magnificent Granted, a lot of what we saw there and in cities
collection of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous in Xinjiang may have been stimulated by the
Region Museum in Urumqi. While I did not keep national effort to burnish appearances before
systematic notes, and the visits for the most the Olympics, but the changes surely are much
part were far too short, here are some deeper than those inspired by that one-time,
impressions. I will pay particular attention to highly politicized display of national pride.
the Yangguan museum and that in Urumqi,
I was quite surprised when we visited
because they raise interesting issues with
Yangguan (the “southern” gate at the end of
regard to purpose, organization, and
the Great Wall) to discover that instead of the
interpretive strategies. Moreover, the collection
dusty little one-room “museum” that was there
in the Urumqi museum is hugely important. As
10 years before, a huge complex, apparently
the current jargon would have it, museums are
created by private enterprise, has arisen
“contested spaces.” Much as we would like to
phoenix-like at the edge of the desert [Figs. 1,
think they should educate through a purely
2]. It includes a reconstructed fortress, complete
“objective” lens, in fact probably none can
with replica siege engines; a “nomad” camp
where the yurts are sprayed concrete but from
All photos copyright © 2008 Daniel C. Waugh
3
As one drives north, one may masses of audiences receive the
experience a range of museums, education in patriotism.
from the modest, if at least
Indeed, the intention to
largely genuine collection in Anxi,
present the whole history of
to the extensive and well-
Xinjiang from earliest times as
displayed (absent meaningful
the story of the inevitable march
descriptive captioning) collection
of a unified, multi-cultural, but
in Hami, where the highlight is
Han-dominated China is very
one of the excavated mummies
much in evidence. While the
and the now rather famous
exhibits themselves in the
beautiful wool “tartans” found in
ethnographic section, arranged
the cemetery at Qizilchoqa. All
by the individual ethnic groups,
this pales though in comparison
are interesting enough, the
with the riches in Urumqi at the
explanatory comments would
regional museum.
make most who are sensitive to
The visitor to the Xinjiang identity issues today cringe, since
Uighur Autonomous Region about all we learn is that each
Museum would be well advised to group is happy and has beautiful
come prepared and to allow a customs. Important issues are
substantial amount of time to glossed over, if mentioned at all:
absorb all it offers. There seems the Hui are a distinctive “Muslim
to be an agenda for normal tour Fig. 7. Statue of a Bodhisattva, nationality,” even though that
groups (the average tourist likely Yangguan Museum designation is an artifical creation
has little patience for much more), and within it there is great
taking them first to see the ethnographic cultural diversity; that many Tajiks are Ismailis
exhibits, then to see the mummies, and leaving and thus followers of the Aga Khan, who was
little time for the major collecting tithes from them as
section of archaeological late as the 1920s, is never
exhibits on the first floor. If mentioned....
one spends the time the
archaeological section re- We can be thankful for the
quires, the limited captioning tastefully conceived new
and arrangement of the display of the famous
material is more likely to mummies on the second floor,
confuse than to inform, unless a marked contrast to the rather
the visitor has done his/her dismal presentation of them
homework. in the museum’s old building.
Here the curators have been
The same, of course, might very selective, highlighting
be said about many museum four of the mummies, from
exhibits, but here the different cemeteries and
challenge is compounded by periods. There are man-
the museum’s having taken Fig. 8. Entrance ramp to one of the nequins reconstructing the
seriously its mission state- tombs in the Astana Cemetery. original appearance of the
ment, prominently displayed individuals, and some care has
on the wall next to the entrance to the been taken to create an attractive setting (for
archaeological exhibits on the first floor: example, the body from Astana Tomb 72TAM215
We have [created]...exhibits from the Stone is set against a reproduction of the painted
Age to the Qing Dynasty for the purpose to panels there, which we actually had been
show the contributions the people of all privileged to see in situ when in Turfan) [cf.
nationalities in Xinjiang have made for Fig. 8]. The selection of artifacts which
safeguarding the reunification of the accompany them though is all too slim, and
motherland, for enriching the motherland’s some of the material illustrated on the walls
cultural treasure-houses and to make the has nothing to do with the particular burials,
4
even though that would not be obvious to most Furthermore, there are distinct biases here,
viewers. Many of the most famous objects perhaps an understandable legacy of a historic
excavated from Xinjiang cemeteries are still on unwillingness in China to recognize the power
tour. and legitimacy of its “barbarian” neighbors. We
find little that might help us to appreciate the
Part of the problem with the mummy exhibit
importance of the nomadic Xiongnu or Wusun
then is its mixing of cultures from different
who at one point dominated large parts of the
regions and periods. While this may be
region. While there are several examples of
consistent with the museum’s stated
texts in languages and scripts other than
educational goal, it works against any effort at
Chinese, there is no clear elucidation of the
real understanding of the fact that even after
significance and dominance of those languages
the initial Chinese penetration of the region
in certain periods. Might we not learn that the
under the Han Dynasty, the larger “Xinjiang”
Kharosthi script in Niya generally was used to
(a term coined in the Qing Dynasty) was still
write a north Indian language which was a
very much a disparate collection of regional
vehicle for administration in the Kushan Empire?
cultures. They interacted to some extent, yes,
But perhaps to hint at possible Kushan
but at the same time they maintained distinct
dominance of what is now southwestern
regional traditions. At very least it is an
Xinjiang might undercut the inevitability of
oversimplification to assert (as is done in the
“reunification of the motherland.” Might we
section of the first-floor exhibits which
imagine a day when no one would feel
ostensibly focuses on the Silk Road) that thanks
compelled to entertain such a thought seriously?
to the Han Dynasty conquests, “here became
the place where the civilizations of the world Ideally a museum not only should inform but
assembled and syncretized.” All roads in fact it should provoke the viewer into thinking long
do not lead historically to the P.R.C. To say that, and hard about what he or she is viewing,
though, should not be construed as questioning stimulate a desire to learn more, and present a
contemporary political legitimacy, however range of interpretations. In Sweden, a country
much some might wish to do so. where a concern over national identity is very
much alive, the national historical museum in
This difficulty created by the museum’s
Stockholm in fact takes very seriously the
interpretive framework is reinforced in the very
mission to present alternative interpretations
extensive archaeological exhibits, largely very
and challenge the viewer to decide which may
nicely displayed on the first floor. The
be right. In the regional museum in Vladivostok
arrangement is ostensibly chronological,
in the Russian Far East, I was amazed to
starting with the early Palaeolithic, but then in
discover in 2004 how quickly the ideologically
any given room one may see items side-by-
constructed narrative about the inevitable
side which have no particular relationship to
triumph of the Soviet system had been replaced
each other and come from ecologically very
after its collapse by somewhat subtle questions
different regions which are far apart on the map.
about how in fact one might think about the
A photograph of the now well-known gold mask
history of the late 20th century. Unfortunately,
unearthed in a nomadic tomb way beyond the
as controversies at the museums in Washington,
mountains at Boma decorates the wall of an
D.C., have shown in recent years, assertive
exhibit of objects from Astana and Karakhoja
nationalism aimed at presenting a triumphal
in the Turfan region. Unlike the approach that
narrative of the past may end up forcing
was taken in the Berlin/Mannheim exhibition
thoughtful curators to compromise and end up
last year, grouping the artifacts by site, here
largely avoiding anything which might stimulate
those from a single site may be scattered
the viewer to think.
randomly through several rooms. Therefore
there is no way to obtain any real sense of It would be naive to think that the dominant
historical and regional development. A melting- narrative in Urumqi will change any time in the
pot of nationalities? Perhaps, but that is a kind near future. The more the pity, since the
of modern construct that may have little richness of the collections on display there
interpretive value for our understanding of the surely will grow, and the ways in which they
richness of what archaeology in Xinjiang has might be invoked to cultivate an appreciation
unearthed. of the diversity and fascination of the history
5
Fig. 9. Clay pedestal Fig. 10. A silk banner
bowl, excavated at depicting Fuxi and
Astana by Aurel Stein. Nuwa, 7th-8th century
British Museum, Inv. no. CE, excavated at
1928.1022.110 Astana by Aurel Stein.
(Ast.i.1.05) National Museum, New
Delhi, Inv. no. Ast.
of the Silk Roads
ix.2.054.
are endless. This
could be done, idea, for example,
of course, with- after seeing so many
out raising any of the mingqi and
kind of political other grave goods
or ideological from the Astana
challenge, since Cemetery in collec-
to a consider- tions in London and
able degree the Delhi [Figs. 9, 10, 11,
problems in the 12], that the Urumqi
m u s e u m collection holds a
exhibits as cur- group of them which
rently mounted is so large and varied.
could easily be corrected by rearrangement and And the textiles
more extensive analytical captioning. scattered throughout the Urumqi displays are
Flawed as it is, the Urumqi museum is equally impressive in their variety. The more
arguably the single most important one so in that some of the most striking examples
anywhere to introduce the visitor to the early were not even there but off in traveling
history of Inner Asia. Even though huge exhibitions [Fig. 13, facing page].
quantities of the archaeological treasures of Rather than indulge in listing the other
Xinjiang were carted off by foreigners beginning treasures, I would conclude by recommending
in the late 19th century, the sheer volume and to those who may never have the good fortune
variety of what the excavations of the last half to visit Urumqi some books which can introduce
century have uncovered is stunning. I had no the Xinjiang archaeological collections. On the
occasion of its re-
opening after the
completion of the
new building, the
museum issued a
nicely illustrated
catalogue, with text
in Chinese and
somewhat fractured
English (Xinjiang
2006). The material
is grouped by type
6
Fig. 13. Detail of woven
decorative band de-
picting a winged beast,
on a woolen skirt frag-
ment, dating to the Han
Dynasty period and
excavated at Sampula.
Xinjiang Uighur Museum
Inv. no. 84LSIM01:361.
of object—ceramics,
wood, metal, etc.—not
arranged by the order
of the displays in the
museum itself. For
those who read
German, the catalogue
for the recent Berlin/
Mannheim exhibit,
reviewed in these
pages in our last issue,
provides a good many
important objects not in the Xinjiang museum through the ruins of Jiaohe, or, for that matter,
catalogue (as well as some which are) and more slowly and thoughtfully perusing the displays
extensive analytical essays and descriptive in the Urumqi regional museum.
cataloguing (Ursprünge 2007; Waugh 2008).
Smaller selections of some of the Xinjiang Daniel Waugh
material have appeared in other exhibitions, Professor Emeritus
such as that curated by Li Jian at the Dayton University of Washington (Seattle)
Art Institute in 2003 (Glory 2003). For the dwaugh@u.washington.edu
ongoing discoveries at Niya, there is a
beautifully illustrated introduction edited by
Feng Zhao and Zhiyong Yu (Legacy 2000),
issued in conjunction with an exhibition at the
China National Silk Museum. One-stop
shopping, at least in the sense of its References
geographical coverage and number of
illustrations, is the comprehensive Ancient Note: I have made no effort to transliterate titles
Culture in Xinjiang Along the Silk Road (2008), in Chinese but merely provide the information
a kind of illustrated encyclopedia arranged by on them from their English titles, along with
site, with captions and essays in both English the ISBN numbers to help those who might wish
and Chinese (the essays in Chinese are more to obtain them.
substantial). This remarkable book has
everything from architecture to cave murals to Ancient 2008
archaeological artifacts, with illustrations which, The Ancient Culture in Xinjiang along the Silk
if small, are generally good enough so that they Road. Comp. by Qi Xiaoshan and Wang Bo.
could readily be scanned for incorporation into [Urumqi?],2008. ISBN 978-7-228-08667-2.
lectures by those who teach the silk roads (cf. Legacy 2000
Waugh 2007).
Legacy of the Desert King: Textiles and
In short, one need not travel the Silk Roads Treasures Excavated at Niya on the Silk Road.
in Gansu or Xinjiang to learn what archaeology Ed. Feng Zhao and Zhiyong Yu. Hangzhou:
has revealed about their cultures and history. China National Silk Museum; Urumqi: Xinjiang
That said, studying a book is no a substitute Institute of Archaeology, 2000. ISBN 962-
for seeing the Mogao Caves, or wandering 85691-2-0.
7
Glory 2003 Collections on the Internet.” Central Eurasian
The Glory of the Silk Road: Art from Ancient Studies Review 6/1-2 (2007), 48-54 <http://
China. Li Jian, general editor. Dayton, Ohio: The www.cesr-cess.org/pdf/CESR_06_12.pdf>.
Dayton Art Institute, 2003. ISBN 0-937809-24- Waugh 2008
1.
Daniel C. Waugh. “Beyond the Sensational: The
Urspünge 2007 Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums’ ‘Origins of the Silk
Ursprünge der Seidenstrasse. Sensationelle Road’.” The Silk Road 5/2 (2008): 1-6 <http://
Neufunde aus Xinjiang, China. Hrsg. von Alfried www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/
Wieczorek und Christoph Lind. Mannheim: vol5num2/srjournal_v5n2.pdf>
Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen; Stuttgart: Konrad Xinjiang 2006
Theiss Verlag, 2007. ISBN 978-3-8062-2160-
Xinjiang Uigurs Autonomous Region Museum.
2; 978-3-927774-21-6.
Ed. Israfel Yusufu. Urumqi, 2006. ISBN 988-
Waugh 2007 97744-4-5.
Daniel C. Waugh. “Enhance Your Teaching of
Central Eurasia with Images from Art Museum
(Below): Panoramic view of the vast ruins at Jiaohe, including on the right the Large Monastery.
8
China and Islamic Civilization: Exchange of
Techniques and Scientific Ideas
George Saliba
Columbia University (USA)
Whether by land, along the famous ancient Silk it, Ctesiphon. The earliest recorded lore of this
Route, or by sea, along the age-old routes of type comes from travel accounts, mostly
antiquity through the Persian Gulf (once called legendary, as all seamen’s records are, from
the China Sea) [Fig. 1], China seems to have that same area around the Persian Gulf and
been in continuous contact with the other two dating as early as the ninth and tenth centuries
ancient and contemporary civilizations of the CE [Fig. 2, next page]. In almost all of them,
Indus Valley and Mesopotamia. On the whole China was a land of wonders, far away, and
those contacts were conditioned by trading definitely worth visiting. This literature that
exchanges, and yielded a very rich travel brought these contemporary civilizations into
literature describing China, its customs, rulers, the imaginary world of the story tellers, rarely
religions, wonders, etc., that must have developed into more systematic appropriations
entertained the urban centers around what is of scientific or technological ideas from one
today the Persian Gulf and all the way up the culture to the other. And yet much of science,
river to the medieval city of Baghdad and, before technology, medicine and alchemy, to name only
10
agreement among historians that this account The king then said, ‘These people will never
could very well portray a real historical event. be defeated until they permit that which was
In his account of the twenty-second year of Hijra forbidden and forbid that which was
(= 644 CE), the great Muslim historian Tabari permitted.’
(?838-923 CE), a native of Tabaristan in the Then he asked the ambassador, ‘Tell me of
Caspian Sea region of Persia, relates the their dress.’ And the ambassador told him.
following (here quoted in paraphrase in order ‘And their mounts?’ To which he responded,
to avoid the dry historical narrative): ‘Arabian horses,’ and he described them to
When the Muslim armies began to press him. To which the king said, ‘What
eastward against the borders of the Sasanian marvelous defenses these [horses] are!!’
Empire, the last Sasanian monarch, Yezdigird Then [the ambassador] described for him
III, fled eastward in order to avoid capture. In the camels, and how they kneel and rise
his despair, this Yezdigird apparently sent an with their loads. To which the king said, ‘This
ambassador to China in order to seek the help is a description of mounts with long necks.’
of its king in fending off the Muslim invasion. The king then sent with the ambassador a
In that encounter the Chinese king and the letter to Yezdigird that said, ‘I did not refrain
Persian ambassador were supposed to have had from sending you an army whose front could
the following conversation: be in Merv and its rear in China because I
was ignorant of my obligations to you, but
He [the Chinese king] first said, ‘Although
because these people, who were described
it is the duty of kings to come to each other’s
to me by your ambassador, could destroy
aid, I still want you to describe those people
mountains if they so wished. They could
to me, for you say that they were few and
even remove me from power. So my advice
they managed to expel you from your
is that you deal peacefully with them and
country, despite the fact that you were a
accept to live with them and do not stir them
multitude, and that could only mean that
up if they don’t stir you up.’
they were onto something good, while you
were onto evil.’ This anecdote about a possibly real event
[The ambassador] then responded, ‘Ask me portrays the Chinese king in a very positive
and I shall tell you.’ light, the same kind of light one would usually
The king asked, ‘Do they fulfill their reserve for an ally. One does not suspect any ill
promises?’ intention towards the Chinese, this despite the
He responded, ‘Yes, they do.’ fact that those same Chinese were described in
the same sources as being polytheists.
‘What do they ask of you before they fight
Furthermore, one cannot fail to detect the
you?,’ [the king asked].
mutual respect with which the early Muslims
The ambassador responded, ‘They ask one treated the Chinese. Other stories confirm this
of three things: They either ask us to adopt by referring to the Chinese king as the epitome
their religion, and if we accept they would of justice and fairness, and never recount a bad
treat us like them. Or they ask us to pay word about him. All the while he is portrayed
tribute and seek their protection. Or they as being very far away, and thus was in no
fight us.’ position to constitute an immediate threat.
[The king] then asked, ‘How do they obey
their chiefs?’ to which the ambassador said, Yet, despite the impression of distance, the
‘They are most obedient to their spiritual presence of each culture in the imagination of
guides.’ the other became more immediate during
Islamic times. We are told, for example, that
‘What do they forbid and what do they
the second Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (754-775
allow?’ [the king asked].
CE), laid down the foundations of his new city
The ambassador told him. Baghdad in what is today Iraq and at that
The king then asked, ‘Do they ever permit specific geographic site simply because he
that which was forbidden to them, or forbid thought he would gain a tremendous advantage
that which was permitted?’ on account of its proximity to the Tigris River.
The ambassador said, ‘No.’ Since the river empties into the Persian Gulf,
11
he emphasized that this gave him ready access The story may be completely apocryphal. Yet
to trade with China. The other reason was to it confirms a frame of mind of a Baghdadi
collect taxes from the western Muslim lands intellectual who was apparently full of
through the equally nearby Euphrates River. For admiration for the ability of the Chinese student
those reasons, and for many others as well, to write down every word in his short-hand
that very same city, Baghdad, was destined to system. Now, whether the student carried Greek
become later on the bustling center of the medicine back with him to China remains in
Islamic Empire for some seven centuries. the realm of legend, to say the least. My
suspicion, and Joseph Needham’s as well, is that
Al-Mansur’s dream of locating his capital at
he did not. Chinese medicine remains to this
the start of the Chinese trade route seems to
day quite independent of the philosophico-
have borne fruit. Two centuries after the
medical tradition of the Greeks.
foundation of his city, a biographer and
intellectual historian of Baghdad, al-Nadim, On the cultural level, and irrespective of the
recounts a captivating story in his famous book story’s scientific validity, it certainly confirms
al-Fihrist, a veritable encyclopedia of what an the sense of the immediate presence of Chinese
educated gentleman of the time should know culture in the imagination of the early Muslim
drawn from an almost exhaustive record of intellectuals. It also confirms the other reports
names of authors and books. He spoke of a that are preserved in the various Arabic sources
Chinese student who appeared in the city of about the amazing skills of the Chinese, in
Baghdad towards the beginning of the tenth almost every field they undertook. In the words
century. There he requested that the famous of the fourteenth-century geographer and
Muslim physician Abu Bakr al-Razi (Latin: belletrist Qazwini, we are told that the Chinese
Rhazes) [Fig. 3] dictate to him the works of the have magnificent skills in the crafts (lahum
Greek physician Galen as fast as he could, so yadun basitatun fi al-sina’at). The ninth-century
that the student could take a copy of those Jahiz had already reported that God had
works with him back to China. endowed the Chinese with the very special skill
for the crafts, and goes on to say that it was
probably the only gift they were given.
This widespread fame for excellence in
artifacts could have also been strengthened by
the marvelous techniques that the Muslims
brought back from China along with their trade
objects [Fig. 4]. Deservedly so, Muslims
Copyright © 2004 Daniel C. Waugh
12
regarded these trade objects with the utmost
admiration. The trade required skills in
navigation, a flourishing field in which there
13
Fig. 7 a) T’ang Dynasty ceramic bowl, found in
the 9th-century CE remains of Samarra, upriver
from Baghdad, and b) its Islamic imitation. Mu- through that wall, until perhaps the most recent
seum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, Inv. nos. Sam. times, well after the Jesuits had landed in China
784a, 748. Photos © Daniel C. Waugh, 2004 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Despite the Chinese sophistication in
admiration for those artisans began to inspire
astronomy, a deliberate attempt to transfer to
the Islamic artists themselves to produce their
China some of the latest state-of-the-art
own wares in the Chinese style, as any
astronomical instruments of thirteenth century
respectable collection of Islamic art can easily
Muslim lands [Fig. 8] was an apparent failure.
testify [Fig. 7].
A medieval source describes how around the
When it came to the theoretical sciences, the year 1267 a Persian astronomer Jamal al-Din
story was slightly different. In contrast to the (Cha-ma-lu-ting, in the Chinese sources) carried
quick dissemination of Chinese technological to China from the famous Ilkhanid observatory
inventions in the Muslim world and the eventual in Maragheh in northwest Iran a dozen or so
passage of those inventions on to Europe astronomical instruments, together with their
through its Muslim contacts, the theoretical detailed description in Chinese. Yet, as Needham
sciences seemed to have faced a virtual “wall,” has carefully documented, the Arabic names of
one not far removed from the physical China the astronomical instruments were
wall. Even if we were to believe the story of transliterated into Chinese rather than
the Chinese student managing to copy down, translated. So one must concur with Needham’s
in one month as the story went, the whole of observation that despite the great efforts to
the Galenic medical works that were circulating initiate this transfer of astronomical knowledge
in tenth-century Baghdad, we are still pretty from the lands of Islam into China, “the direct
certain that Galenic medicine did not make effect [of those instruments] upon Chinese
much of an impact on the independent Chinese astronomical practice seems to have been nil.”
medicinal system.
The reason for the celebrated success of the
The “wall” might block exchange in both transmission of Chinese technological
directions, as we can see from the example of innovations westwards and the apparent total
the very sophisti-
cated astronomical Fig. 8. Although not one
system of the of the instruments pur-
ancient and medieval portedly sent to China,
Chinese, which used astrolabes, like this el-
our very modern egantly decorated one in
Copyright © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh
14
failure of transmitting fundamental scientific brought back scores upon scores of medicinal
ideas eastward to China itself deserves some substances and drugs (rhubarb and ginger
re-emphasizing. The explanation may lie in the immediately come to mind), as well as metallic
manner in which Chinese science itself had and porcelain objects, which became abundantly
developed, and even more importantly in the popular and imitated in Islamic civilization [Fig.
very antiquity of that science. China came in 9]. They also brought descriptions of items of
contact with Islamic civilization during the clothing as well as the cloths themselves. The
seventh and the eighth centuries, at the very techniques used to craft the objects could be
time when Islamic civilization was open to all emulated in the Islamic world and improved
sorts of other scientific traditions. Chinese upon, as was done with the production of paper,
scientists, whether in in which linen and
mathematics, rags replaced mul-
astronomy, medicine, berry bark.
or chemistry (then
15
was something probably similar to our modern One could easily trace scientific
mug shots, but apparently with much better developments in both cultural spheres and at
fidelity. Their kings, just like the Indian kings, times see similarities that invite speculation as
says al-Idrisi, were highly interested in painting to who was borrowing from whom. But given
and took care to teach this art to their children. the current state of our knowledge about either
They even went as far as choosing the best culture, it is impossible to determine the
painter among their children to succeed them. direction of such influences if there were any.
However, one thing seems certain: technological
In other scientific areas such as alchemy,
inventions which were definitely produced in
Chinese theory and practice did not owe much
China during the first thirteen centuries of the
to the Islamic, nor did the mostly Hellenistic-
Common Era, such as the discovery of earth
based Islamic alchemy apparently owe much
magnetism and the use of the compass for
to the Chinese. Islamic alchemy was on the
navigation, invention of paper, printing,
whole attempting to transmute the base metals
gunpowder, the wheelbarrow and the like, all
in order to produce gold, as one could
seemed to have swept through the rest of the
reasonably expect to do if one based his work
world thanks to the mediation of the vast Muslim
on an Aristotelian theoretical basis. Chinese
empire on the western border of China. Precious
alchemy was seeking a drug, called the elixir,
little of hard-core scientific knowledge followed.
that would lead to longevity or even ensure
immortality. The two systems were essentially
Note: This essay is based on a lecture co-
incompatible
sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation and Iona
One has to wonder about the direction of College, New Rochelle, New York, where the talk
transmission of ideas when such concepts as was presented May 3, 2008.
elixir began to appear in both cultures almost
at the same time, slightly after the early Muslim
About the author
ships first landed in China in the early part of
the eighth century. Thinking in terms of George Saliba, Professor of Arabic and Islamic
comprehensive world views and major coherent Science, Columbia University, works on the
systems of thought, one would assume that history of Arabic/Islamic science in general and
cultures with such deeply diverging orientations particularly the history of planetary theories
regarding the purpose of alchemy would have from antiquity to the Renaissance. He has a
little to borrow from one another. Techniques special interest in the transmission of science,
and individual concepts and processes might and particularly the transmission of Islamic
be quite another matter. It is plausible that the science to western Europe during the
early Muslims who heard of that Chinese Renaissance, the subject of his most recent book
enterprise would themselves attempt to prepare Islamic Science and the Making of the European
the elixir, as long as it did not require a major Renaissance (MIT Press, 2007). One of his
shift in their system of thought. Lacking a well earlier publications about the transmission of
formulated system of scientific and philosophical science, which was published on the Internet
thought, early Islamic culture could freely under the title Mediterranean Crossings, was
borrow such ideas and techniques. In contrast, later translated into Chinese and published in
the deeply ingrained Chinese world view the Chinese journal Horizons, vol.1 (2000): 46-
prevented analogous borrowing from the Islamic 63. For more information visit his website at
world. <http://www.columbia.edu/~gas1/
Although in later centuries there are saliba.html>.
borrowings touching some theoretical medicinal
concepts, their exact circumstances are far from Recommended readings
being well understood. In other fields such as
astronomy, we may witness similar approaches Apart from the author’s own publications, which
to the techniques of observations and may be consulted for additional bibliography,
observational instruments, but may look in vain note Arun Bala, The Dialogue of Civilizations in
for analogous influences in more theoretical the Birth of Modern Science (New York: Palgrave
fields such as planetary theories. Macmillan, 2006). In Joseph Needham’s
16
magisterial, Science and Civilization in China, translation. Note in particular the translation
7 vols. in 27 (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge of The History of al-Tabari / Ta‘rikh al-rusul wa‘l
University Press, 1954-), alchemy is covered muluk, 40 vols. (Albany: State University of New
in vol. 5, pts. 2-5; medicine in vol. 6, pt. 6. On York Pr., 1985-); The Fihrist of al-Nadim: a
the importance of paper in the Islamic world Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, Bayard
see Jonathan M. Bloom, “Silk Road or Paper Dodge, ed. and tr. (New York: Columbia Univ.
Road?” The Silk Road 3/2 (2005): 21-26, which Pr., 1970); The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D.
summarizes his elegant book Paper Before Print: 1325-1354, tr. H.A.R. Gibb [Works issued by
The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic the Hakluyt Society, 2nd ser., nos. 110, 117, 141,
World (New Haven: Yale Univ. Pr., 2001). A good 178, 190], 5 vols. (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge
many (but by no means all) of the important Univ. Pr., 1958-2000).
Arabic sources are available in English
On the Road:
For travelers and merchants of the middle ages, long road journey in 2000, when tensions
Iran was unavoidable. The great caravan roads abated for a time, which took us diagonally
that linked China and India to Rome or across Iran from northwest to southeast,
Constantinople passed through Persian lands, roughly following the route of Marco Polo’s
and the sea-lanes terminated at ports in the journey in 1273 CE. The world of the caravans
Persian Gulf. Iranian rulers took full advantage is vanishing fast, but those who look can still
of their geographical opportunities: they taxed find places where the roar of automobile traffic
foreign trade, and made every effort to keep has not yet drowned out “the whispers of the
East and West from making direct contact. desert-wind, the tinkling of the camels’ bell.”
Merchants chafed at the exorbitant tolls, but
there was little they could do about it; efforts
The world of the Arab geographers
to by-pass Iranian spaces, either by land north
of the Caucasus Mountains, or via the Red Sea,
We are remarkably well informed concerning
had only limited success. Iran’s relative
the historical geography of Iran, thanks chiefly
prosperity from medieval times through the 17th
to a small band of Muslim scholars, writing
century was due, in no small measure, to
mostly in Arabic, who recorded in detail the
revenue from trade.
state of the region in the 10th and 11th centuries
Iran is a large country, with a continuous CE. At that time, Iran was at least nominally
history of some 2500 years as a nation and a part of the Abbasid Empire (though in practice
state. The major caravan routes, which trace much of the country was ruled by local dynasties
back far into antiquity, remained in use into or by the Seljuk Turks), and Baghdad was the
the 20th century, and geography dictates that center of the universe. This was the city glorified
modern roads must generally run parallel to in “The Thousand and One Nights” (known in
those of the past. In consequence, Iran’s English as “The Arabian Nights”), a glittering
abundant legacy of art and architecture is quite metropolis of palaces, mosques and schools,
accessible, or would be but for recurrent political hospitals and bazaars, that covered some five
frictions. The present article is the fruit of a square miles and held more than a million souls.
As the focal point of an empire that stretched of Jerusalem, who produced a systematic
from China to Spain, Baghdad was a magnet treatise intended to be useful to merchants and
that drew luxury goods from all over the world, educated men. In the following century Nasir-
and the Caliph’s court had no equal for wealth, i-Khusraw, an Ismaili Persian from a land-
prestige and display. owning family in Transoxiana, embarked on a
pilgrimage to Mecca that lasted for seven years,
The Arab geographers were a much more
and came to include Syria and Egypt as well.
sober lot than the brilliant fabulists who
His account is one of the earliest in Farsi. These
invented Aladdin and his lamp. In the early
pioneers and their successors described an
years of the 10th century Estakhri, a native of
extensive web of roads, radiating from Baghdad,
Iran, traveled extensively and recorded his
that knit together a vast region that was
journey, with emphasis on Fars and western
reasonably well ordered and prosperous, and
Iran. This pioneering work was augmented and
whose life was linked to faraway lands beyond
incorporated into that of his successor, Ebn
the bounds of the Eastern Caliphate. The map
Hawkal, a native of Nusaibin in Syria, who
shown in Fig. 1 has been purposely simplified,
roamed the Abbasid world for thirty years as a
omitting several of the known routes so as to
merchant and missionary, and compiled his
emphasize the chief lines of communication
observations in a book entitled “Configurations
across the Iranian plateau.
of the Earth.” The grand master of geographical
science of that day was their younger The chief thoroughfare of that time was the
contemporary Muqaddasi, a well-educated son Great Khorasan Road, by which travelers could
18
proceed to northern Iran, across Central Asia Continuing east, the road passed through Tus,
(a region Iranian in speech and culture, and a few miles north of today’s Mashad (which did
part of Khorasan, land of the sunrise), and not yet exist), an important regional center that
eventually to China. The route was already was home to the poet Ferdowsi who flourished
ancient, antedating the coming of Islam by more around 1000 CE. Here, on the fault-line between
than a millennium. The armies of Cyrus and Iran and Turan, Ferdowsi composed the
Darius had marched that way, extending the Shahname, Iran’s national epic. Nothing of Tus
rule of the Great King across Afghanistan as far remains, except for the bleak ruins of its citadel.
as the Indus River. Alexander the Great followed Turning northward, the Khorasan Road dropped
in their footsteps. Goods from China had come down into the Kara Kum desert, making for the
by the Khorasan Road since the time of the Han, oasis city of Merv. Watered by an extensive
the Parthians and the Romans in the first network of canals, Merv is believed to have held
centuries CE. So long as strong government was a million inhabitants when the Mongols took it,
entrenched in Chang-an, and the rambunctious and butchered every one. Of the splendors of
Turks were under control, the Khorasan Road Merv, only confused ruins and the mausoleum
was the premier artery of long-distance trade of a Seljuk sultan survive today. Beyond lay
and matches our common perception of the Silk Bukhara, Samarkand and eventually, across the
Road. And after the Arab conquest, pilgrims high Pamirs, half-legendary China.
from the cities of Central Asia took the Khorasan
Road on the annual Hajj to Mecca in Arabia. Well-traveled branches diverged from the
Khorasan Road at many points, of which only
the chief ones are shown on the map. From
Going eastward, the Khorasan Road climbed
Hamadan one could journey southward onto the
onto the Iranian Plateau, crossing country
Mesopotamian plain, or southeast to the ancient
inhabited chiefly by Kurds, and passed through
city of Isfahan, several times the capital of Iran.
cities that have endured triumph and disaster
One could also head north for Qazvin, there to
from antiquity to the present day. Then as now,
pick up a western branch of the Silk Road for
Kermanshah was the chief city of Kurdistan,
Tabriz, Dabil (not far from today’s Yerevan in
noted for its many trees, abundant fruit and
Armenia) and eventually the port of Trebizond
the rock-cut alcoves of Tagh-e-Bostan with their
on the Black Sea. A further branch led northward
spectacular Sasanian sculptures. Darius’
to Ardebil, Tbilisi and the Caucasus. Nishapur
triumphal inscription on the cliff of Bisitun was
was the point of departure for a track southward,
well known, though perhaps not fully
between the parched basins shown on the map
understood: Ebn Hawkal read the panel
as the Great Salt Desert and the Great Sand
depicting Darius with the tributary kings as the
Desert. And from Merv, routes led to Balkh,
representation of a school-house, with the
Herat, Kandahar and India.
master and his boys. Hamadan, once capital of
the Medes, was described as a fine and large Little enough remains today of Rayy, the
city that had recovered from the destruction Greeks’ Rhages, which was a major hub of
inflicted during the Arab conquest. The road commerce and transport, and considered by
then went by the important center of Rayy (see some the finest city east of Baghdad. Rayy was
below), today a suburb of sprawling, smoggy the starting point for the major caravan route
Tehran. It then followed the southern foot of that skirted the western and southern side of
the Alborz Mountains to Nishapur, the chief city the central deserts, on the way to the Persian
of Khorasan, described in detail by both Ebn Gulf or to India. Way stations still featured on
Hawkal and Muqaddasi. Like other large towns maps include Qom, Kashan, Na’in, Yazd, Kerman
of that time, Nishapur consisted of a fortress, and Bam, several of which we shall visit below.
the town proper and a suburb. All three were From this road, also, branches led forth. Several
defended with walls, pierced by numerous gates routes led to Isfahan and Shiraz; the latter
that gave access to the extensive markets. No began as an Arab foundation that grew into an
town in all of Khorasan was healthier or more important center, and today rules the South.
populous than Nishapur, or more celebrated for Shiraz could also be reached from Baghdad, via
its rich stores of merchandise and the wealth Ahvaz. Several routes led northeast, across the
of its merchants. central desert. Most important, here was the
19
access to ports on the Persian Gulf. Much of the caravan’s approach, “the insignia and alarum
trade with India and China was conducted by of the leading camel alone” (Curzon). The
sea. Basrah has been the key to this commerce enterprise as a whole came under the command
from antiquity to the present, with direct links of a chief, who made all the necessary
by water to Baghdad and destinations to the arrangements and chose the route and halting
west. Even the Iranian Plateau received places. Individual travelers paid the chief a lump
imported goods via Baghdad, though it did also sum for each animal, which covered a share of
have ports of its own. In the 10th century CE, the cost of fodder, guides and guards. Goods
the chief harbor on the eastern shore of the were bundled into packs weighing up to 200
Persian Gulf was Siraf; that town was utterly lbs each; passengers could be carried in
destroyed in 977 by a powerful earthquake, panniers. The route was generally well
from which it never recovered. Siraf’s place was established, sometimes marked with cairns or
taken by Hormuz, and eventually (in the 17th poles, with halts determined by the location of
century) by nearby Bandar Abbas, which settlements or wells. But the track was not
remains an important harbor to this day. always obvious, and so caravans employed local
guides familiar with the terrain. The danger of
Caravans attack was always just over the horizon;
travelers went armed, and caravans were
Those were tracks and routes, of course, not accompanied by guards. Individual travelers
proper roads, that crisscrossed the uplands and must perforce attach themselves to a caravan
assured Iran a central role in the commerce of and take care not to fall behind.
western Asia. Wheeled vehicles and made roads
Caravans were of several sorts. Most of them
all but vanished from the Middle East after the
were engaged in trade, and much of the traffic
Arab conquest, not to be seen again until the
was local. Everything moved on animal-back:
19th century; and in Iran, true roads had hardly
grains, dates and dried fruit, dried fish from
ever existed. Indeed, caravans of pack animals
the Caspian Sea and the Gulf, firewood and salt
— most often camels, but sometimes mules or
and cooking oil. Certain manufactured goods
large donkeys — were better suited to the
were distributed across Iran and were also
circumstances: vast spaces, sparsely inhabited
exported: Nishapur was famous for its black-
and infested with robbers, where wells were
on-white ceramics, cottons came from Fars,
few and far between and a vicious storm might
Rayy, Bam and Khuzestan. Silk was spun in
blow up at any moment. Caravans have been
Yazd, Nishapur and Transoxiana; Ardebil and
the engines of trade since antiquity (remember
Qom produced leather goods. Carpets (the chief
those double-humped camels depicted on the
furniture of the East) traveled all over, and
bas-reliefs at Persepolis), allowing men and
remote Baku was known for a useful medicinal
goods to travel in relative security on fixed
substance, petroleum. Even the winter’s snow
routes and on a predictable schedule [Fig. 2].
was in demand, to cool the palaces of the Caliph
There was nothing haphazard about the trade and his ministers during Baghdad’s torrid
caravan, which would spend weeks or months summers.
on the road to
multiple destina- It ’s the long-
tions, and required distance trade that
careful organiza- conjures up the
tion. The animals, romance of the Silk
Copyright © 2000 Ruth Harold
20
chants ever traveled the whole route; instead, forbidding buildings designed to hold off bandits
goods changed hands many times along the and marauding tribesmen. Caravanserais were
way. From China came silk, of course, but also typically square or rectangular, with towers at
porcelain and paper; turquoise and lapis lazuli the corners and along the curtain walls, but no
were shipped from the oasis cities of Central windows. The single projecting entrance block
Asia. In exchange, the West sent woolens, featured a doorway tall enough to admit a
brocades and colored glass, but much of what loaded camel, barred with a heavy wooden gate.
Europe imported was paid for in gold. There An open courtyard contained a well, occasionally
was active trade with the Volga basin and points a small mosque, and provided working space
north, from whence came furs, amber, honey to load and unload animals. An arcaded portico
(the sweetener of antiquity), beeswax for surrounded the courtyard, with rooms for
candles and especially slaves. Iran paid chiefly travelers behind; these were raised above
in silver coins, which have been found in large ground level to keep animals from straying into
numbers in both Russia and Scandinavia. Trade the guest quarters. Stables and storerooms were
with India and Southeast Asia was conducted placed into the corners or against the outer
by sea. Arab dhows brought rubies, musk and walls. Large caravanserais offered an upper
perfumes, indigo and a miscellany of spices to story to accommodate official and affluent
the port cities of Siraf and Hormuz; pearls, coral, travelers. Outside the walls were likely to be
weapons and even horses traveled the other market stalls where travelers could purchase
way. cooked food, firewood and medicines, and make
repairs to harness and packsaddles.
Pilgrims made a large contribution to the
traffic on the caravan routes. Muslims are Hundreds of caravanserais were built all
enjoined to make pilgrimage to Mecca once in across Iran (Wolfram Kleiss located and
a lifetime, and many thousands did so every measured some 500 of them, some of them
year. One caravan that left Isfahan for Mecca in pre-Islamic), and quite a few have survived
1715 CE was said to number 30,000 men and [Fig. 3]. Some were put up by charitable
women, plus an untold complement
of beasts! Pilgrims from Central Asia
and Iran made their way to Baghdad,
and thence to Aleppo and Damascus,
where they were joined by another
Copyright © 2000 Ruth Harold
21
step into, and crammed with
merchandise. Business is transacted
in front, amidst the bustle of shoppers
and gawkers, porters and donkeys
and boys scurrying to and fro carrying
trays with tiny glasses of tea.
Merchants are loosely grouped by
22
Abbasid times, the 8th through 10th centuries but the two friars that had been deputed to
CE, and again when the Seljuks dominated the convert the heathen bailed out early on. The
region in the 11th and 12th centuries, with their Polos were made of sterner stuff. From Layas,
capital at Isfahan. Some scholars believe that a Mediterranean port near today’s Adana, they
the Seljuk era saw the zenith of Iran’s caravan journeyed north to Erzincan through country
trade. inhabited largely by Kurds (“an unprincipled
people, whose occupation is to rob the
A century later catastrophe struck. Bursting
merchants”). The Polos probably intended to
out of their remote grasslands in 1217 CE, the
make for Khanbaliq by way of the steppes of
savage horsemen of Ghengis Khan and his sons
Central Asia, but a local war barred the way. So
devastated Central Asia, Iran and Anatolia, and
they traveled eastward to Tabriz, which they
punched deep into eastern Europe and the Arab
found to be “a large and very noble city … so
lands. The Mongols were ferocious and
advantageously situated for trade that
bloodthirsty beyond anything the settled realm
merchants from India, Baudas [Baghdad],
of Islam had ever experienced before; and
Mosul … as well as from different parts of Europe
nothing could stop their advance. The Mongols
resort thither to purchase and to sell … precious
wanted pasture for their ponies, not fields and
stones, pearls etc.” Regrettably, “The
orchards; and so, between 1220 and 1260, cities
Mahometan inhabitants are treacherous and
were burnt to the ground, their inhabitants
unprincipled.” From Tabriz the Polos apparently
slaughtered and the cultivated land laid waste.
struck diagonally across Iran for Hormuz. Their
Balkh, Bukhara, Samarkand, Merv, Tus,
route is not specified, but we pick up their trail
Nishapur, Rayy, Hamadan, Qazvin and Baghdad
at the desert city of Yazd (cloth of silk and gold),
all shared the calamity, which lives in the Iranian
and again at Kerman (turquoise, embroidered
psyche to this day. It took a generation for the
cloth, hunting falcons and all sorts of arms and
Mongol khans to realize that pasture and ruin
equipment). They intended to take ship at
paid no taxes, and they began to promote
Hormuz, but judged the vessels on offer to be
revival. The empire of Qubilai Khan, in the last
unseaworthy. So north they went again, through
quarter of the 13th century, stretched from
the deserts of Seistan and Khorasan, and
Hungary to China, and was wide open to
eventually made their way to Balkh and across
commerce in goods and ideas. It was a golden
the Pamirs. By the time the three Venetians
age of travel, and the time when explorers and
bowed down before Qubilai Khan, they had been
merchants from Europe first discovered the
on the road for three and a half years. Is Marco’s
fabulous realm of Inner Asia.
tale true? Skeptics have questioned his veracity
The Mongol khans who ruled Iran from from the beginning, and not without reason.
approximately 1260 to 1400, known as the Polo’s account of Iran has odd gaps, but it also
Ilkhans, left a surprisingly rich legacy of art includes much specific detail; it reads to me
and architecture (the 14th century is when like the imperfect recollection of firsthand
glazed tiles first became common), suggesting experience.
that cities were reviving and economic life was
Marco Polo the merchant tells of trade and
flourishing again. The ancient network of
manufactures; subsequent travelers had wider
caravan tracks was not substantially altered,
interests. An outstanding description of Iran is
but its focus shifted from Baghdad (which had
that of Thomas Herbert, who was all of 21 when
been pillaged in 1258 CE) to northwestern Iran.
he was attached to a mission that King Charles
The Ilkhans chose to make their capital in
I sent to the court of Shah Abbas in 1627. By
Maragheh, and later in the large city of Tabriz.
then the caravan road to Central Asia was long
The high road then ran through Erzerum, and
past its heyday, and foreign trade was conducted
the chief port was the Greek city of Trebizond
by sea; but Iran was orderly and prosperous,
on the Black Sea.
and regional trade flourished. Herbert was
Marco Polo was a lad of 17 when, in 1271, he fascinated and impressed by what he saw,
accompanied his father Nicolo and uncle Maffeo notwithstanding the fact that he fell deathly ill
on their second voyage to the court of the Great near the end and barely lived to tell of his
Khan at Khanbaliq, today’s Beijing. They carried adventures. Landing near Bandar Abbas (“the
a letter from the Pope and a phial of sacred oil, most valuable port the King of Persia hast”)
23
they rode to Shiraz (“pleasantest of Asiatic describe a country of dirt-poor people dwelling
cities”), visited Persepolis and continued on to in half-ruined towns huddled within crumbling
Isfahan — a journey of three months. Herbert, walls (“ruin added to ruin”; Browne). Corrupt
like later travelers, was enchanted by Isfahan: guards and officials fleece everyone, and bandits
“most pleasant in its situation, elegant as to skulk in the passes and the dark. The Khorasan
building, populous for inhabitants, rich in trade, Road between Mashad and Tehran was
and noble by being the usual residence of the especially at risk from slave raiders, until the
court.” It is also blessed with “air pure and Russians crushed the Turkomans in 1881.
quick.” The Shah had decamped to the Caspian Fanatical and bigoted mullahs, often flagrantly
Sea, and the embassy followed him there. deceitful (especially in the matter of liquor) stir
Politically, the mission was a failure, but it up ignorant folk to violence against native
inspired an engaging and informative account minorities such as Zoroastrians and Ba’bis
of the country and its people, which became a (Bahai), and foreigners are their favorite prey.
bestseller in England. And Herbert noticed You set foot inside a mosque or shrine at the
something that would become important later: risk of your life. As to the romance of the
there was not a fortress or a regiment in the journey, “no greater misery can be conceived
King’s domain that would stand up to an English than that of travelling with a caravan, the
force, and no navy to speak of. de’sagre’mens of which are many and various”
The late nineteenth century was when the (Ferrier, 1857).
going really got good, especially for British Lord Curzon, who knew the state of the Shah’s
travelers who could contemplate adding Iran governance intimately, wrote scathingly of the
to their vast holdings. Indeed, Colonels Charles rapacity of a system based largely on corruption,
M. MacGregor and Charles E. Yate, traveling in intrigue, extortion and embezzlement (his
the border regions of Seistan and Khorasan in terms). The results were plain to see in the
1875/6 and 1893 – 1898, respectively, seem total absence of public works, and in the
to be reconnoitering the country with a view to dilapidated state of all buildings, from
a future campaign. The most impressive caravanserais to mosques, except in the major
contribution to that literature is Lord Curzon’s cities. To be sure, we are reading European
magisterial opus, Persia and the Persian travelers whose critical perceptions were
Question (1892). With the security of India at sharpened by the certitude that their own
stake, the Great Game is never far from his civilization was both materially and morally
mind (the eastern countries are “pieces on a superior. But they do not mislead us: the latter
chessboard upon which is being played out a nineteenth century was a low point in Iran’s
game for the dominion of the world”), but fortunes, which ultimately spawned the
Curzon’s account of Persia’s geography and upheavals that would roil Iran in the next
current realities has never been surpassed. Less century, and spill over into our own time.
lofty but more in sympathy with Iran’s long-
suffering people is Edward G. Browne’s account Travelers’ notebook
of his Year amongst the Persians (1893). Here
is a traveler with a curious and wide–open mind, The modernization of Iran during the past
ready to immerse himself in the literary and century has swept away that world of medieval
religious culture of a country that he came to commerce. You may still see an occasional
love, and willing to put up cheerfully with its camel, but caravans are no more. Goods go by
hazards and discomforts. lorry, pilgrims travel by bus or ‘plane and lodge
The contemporary adventurer, apt to blanch in hotels, not caravanserais. The city walls have
in horror at the thought of brigands and bedbugs all been demolished, because improved security
alike, can only admire the fortitude of our made them redundant and they got in the way
predecessors of a century ago. They all got their of automobile traffic. Even in the thirty years
lumps — from the execrable roads, the decrepit that lay between our yearlong residence in Iran
and verminous caravanserais, the broken- (1969/70) and our return as visitors, the
backed horses and the thieving muleteers. Even ambience changed quite noticeably. Villages
sympathetic observers, such as Browne and the once accessible only by mule track are now
American scholar Williams Jackson (1906), linked to the wider world by asphalted road.
24
heritage in brick,
stucco and glazed tile.
Only in the Iranian
world (including its
periphery, Iraq and
Central Asia) do you
find architecture in
color. Iran’s many
mosques and shrines
25
UNESCO has A very different facet of Old Persia lives on
declared Yazd a at the many shrines where pilgrims gather. They
World-Heritage no longer travel by caravan but they continue
site. Na’in [Fig. to come, an enduring feature of life in Iran as it
9] is similar but was in the European middle ages. Since the
smaller, and overthrow of Saddam Hussein, thousands of
claims one of Iranians have made the hazardous journey to
Iran’s most Shiism’s holiest shrines at Najaf and Kerbala,
a n c i e n t undeterred by the risk of stampedes and suicide
mosques, built bombers. Pilgrims flock to Shah Cheragh in
Copyright © 2000 Ruth Harold
in the 10 t h Shiraz [Fig. 11, facing page], and find their way
century. Finally, to the tombs of the Safavid Shaikhs in Ardebil,
let me mention up in northwestern Iran [Figs. 12, facing page;
Khiva and Bu- 13, 14 p. 28]. The hereditary chief of a militant
khara, out on Sufi brotherhood and endowed with irresistible
the fringes of charisma, Shaikh Ismail was all of twelve years
the Persian old when he led forth his Turkoman warriors to
world. Bukhara conquer Iran for Shiism (1499 CE). As the
is older and has Fig. 9. An alley in Na’in. founder of the Safavid dynasty, Shah Ismail is
the finer build- still a potent force and intercessor.
ings, but no atmosphere. Khiva is much more
Blessed above all the others is the pilgrimage
recent; its buildings date to the 19th century,
to the tomb of the Imam Reza, eighth in the
when the city grew fat on the profits of its slave
line of divinely guided and infallible Imams
market, kept stocked with Persian and Russian
descended from the Caliph Ali. The Imam died
captives by Turkoman raiders. The Russians at
in 817 CE (of poison, Shiites believe), and was
last put a stop to it in 1873, and the life went
buried at Mashad in northeastern Iran; of all
out of the town. Khiva was heavily restored in
the many shrines in the country, his is the most
Soviet times and turned into a museum. Hardly
sacred. For most of its history the shrine has
anyone lives within the walls, but the ramparts
been off-limits to foreigners; we were privileged
are imposing and the buildings gleam with blue
to enter it in 1970, during a brief period when
tiles. There is about Khiva a touch of fakery.
Shah Mohammed Reza ordered it opened (the
And yet, standing on the palace walls at
present status is not clear to me). Nowhere in
sundown, you gaze out over a purely Persian
Iran will you find glazed tiles more lustrous than
cityscape of flat roofs overtopped by domes,
in the Mosque of Gowhar Shad and the adjoining
eywans and tall minarets [Fig. 10]. I know of
courtyards. And even the most hardened
no more evocative vision of the Khorasan Road
rationalist cannot fail to be moved by the
in caravan days.
passionate devotion of the
swarms of pilgrims, who have
come from all corners of this huge
country to bask for a little while
in the grace of a long-dead martyr.
26
information; see under “Bazaar,”
“Camels,” “Caravan,” “Caravan-
serai,” “Commerce” and others.
Information about the Muslim
geographers will be found in that
encyclopedia and in the
Encyclopaedia of Islam. Laurence
Lockhart, Persian Cities (London:
27
For the Silk Road see Luce Boulnois, Silk silkroad/cities/iran/mashad.html>. The map is
Road: Monks, Warriors and Merchants on the based on several sources, especially An
Silk Road (Hong Kong: Odyssey Books, n.d., Historical Atlas of Islam, William C. Brice, ed
ca 2004); and Jonathan M. Bloom, “Silk Road (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981); and the Tübinger Atlas
or Paper Poad?” The Silk Road 3/2 (2005): 21- des Vorderen Orients (Wiesbaden: Dr Ludwig
26. Reichert Verlag, 1994).
An article on Yazd by the present authors Quotations: “The whispers of the desert wind”
appeared in The Silk Road 3/2 (2005): 34 -37. etc, from The Kasidah of Haji Abdu el Yezdi, by
A description of the Shrine of the Imam Reza Richard Burton (1880). Others were taken from
has been posted on the website of Silk Road the sources cited.
Seattle, <http://depts.washington.edu/
Fig. 14. A Ming Dynasty Jigdezhen kilns blue-and-white porcelain plate, 1403-1424, donated
in 1611 by Safavid Shah Abbas I to the Ardebil family shrine, which housed one of the largest
collections anywhere of Chinese porcelain. Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
28
Some Buddhist Finds from Khotan: Materials in
the Collections of the State Hermitage Museum,
St. Petersburg
Julia Elikhina
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
The Khotan collection of the State Hermitage They were found in Yotkan, the location which
Museum includes more than three thousand Petrovskii referred to as Borazan. Similar objects
objects. At its core is the collection of Nikolai are also in collections outside of Russia. The
F. Petrovskii (1837-1908), who, beginning in collection contains some forty intact vessels and
1874, served as an official of the Russian more than 800 fragments. Scholars generally
Ministry of Finance in Eastern Turkestan and date the Yotkan ceramics to the second-fourth
then Russian Consul in Kashgar from 1882- centuries CE. The collection includes as well
1902. Petrovskii knew the local languages well coins, statuettes carved from stone, small
and was interested in the history and culture of bronze sculptures and reliefs, bronze seals and
the region, although he is best known to the intaglios, painting and written documents on
English-speaking world as the representative wood.
of Russian political interests during this period
The question of the history of Yotkan remains
of the so-called “Great Game.” He published a
open, pending archaeological investigation of
good many articles and notes (Petrovskii 1892,
the site. Some scholars are of the opinion that
1893, 1906 etc.) and maintained close scholarly
it was the capital of the oasis; others consider
contacts with the leading orientalists of his time
that it was the location of a cemetery. There
such as Sergei F. Ol’denburg and Vasilii V.
were other centers in Khotan besides Yotkan,
Bartol’d. As Ol’denburg wrote, it was Petrovskii
some of them better documented from the
“who first encouraged scholars to devote
archaeological standpoint: Ak-Terek, Ak-Sipil,
detailed attention to the scholarly treasures of
Dandan-Uilik and Rawak. We do know that the
Chinese Turkestan; he was a man of whom
Kingdom of Khotan maintained contacts with
Russia rightly was proud” (Ol’denburg 1912, p.
China, the West and the states of Central Asia.
3). In a letter to Academician Viktor R. Rozen,
This explains why Khotan ceramics have much
Petrovskii wrote: “the archaeological objects in
in common with Central Asian late Kushan and
the collection were obtained through agents
especially Bactrian ceramics (Litvinskii 1995,
from the local inhabitants. The objects come
p. 123). There are some parallels with Chinese
from the territory of the town of Borazan, where
bronze dishes and with Classical vases. The
they were discovered mainly in the channel of
figured dishes resemble Classical ones only in
the irrigation canal which watered the soil of
their shape. According to Gösta Montell, the
the ancient settlement” (IRAO 1882, protocols
dishes with human representations derive from
of 27 March; 1893, protocols of 20 June). The
Classical prototypes (Montell 1935, pp. 158-
objects in the collection of Petrovskii were a
159). Classical and Persian influences were
cause for enthusiasm and were obtained by the
reflected in the intaglios carved from semi-
Imperial Hermitage in 1897. In addition, the
precious stones, in the bronze seals and in small
collection contains a significant number of finds
terracottas.
obtained by Sergei A. Kolokolov, Sobolevskii and
the engineeers L. Ia. Liutsh and Belinko. A The distinctiveness of Khotan ceramics
relatively small number of the objects was consists above all in their ornamental
acquired from the scholars Nikolai I. Veselovskii compositions. Characteristic is the combination
and Sergei E. Malov. of applied and stamped relief, sculpture, and
flat ornament, which is also common in Kushan
A significant part of the collection is objects Bactrian ceramics. Probably the Khotan vases
made of terracotta, numbering more than 2500. were imitations of metal ones (gold or silver)
30
Prophecy about the Li Country [Khotan]” noted
that the Buddha ordered eight Bodhisattvas to
31
[Dalbergia]). The lotus in Buddhism symbolizes
sanctity and purity. Carved in each of the halves
is a special niche in which is placed a miniature
32
is that of bhadrasana, in which the legs of the sit. The form of the triple arch under which
divinity cross at the bottom. Such an Maitreya sits is found among Gandharan
iconography of Maitreya was widespread in monuments from as early as the third century
China in the fourth-sixth centuries (Watt 2004, (Sérinde 1995, p. 108). There is another
p. 165 and passim). In all probability, the right Gandharan example, now in the collection of
hand formed the gesture of fearlessness the Museum in Kamakura, Japan — a stucco
(abhaya mudra) or possibly the gesture of relief depicting the “Great Departure of the
reasoning (vitarka mudra). According to the Buddha,” dating from the third-fourth centuries
iconographic canon both gestures are (Sérinde 1995, p. 237).
characteristic for Maitreya. The left hand of the
Other elements of the iconography, such as
divinity has been broken off. Possibly it held a
the lotus thrones, sometimes with lions, are
water-bottle (kamandalu), known from
characteristic both for Gandhara and for Hadda.
Ghandaran sculptures to be an attribute of
Typical as well for Gandhara is the rhomboid
Maitreya.
decoration of the throne. In Central Asia such
The iconography of Maitreya in the rhomboid decoration is specific to the Kucha
monuments found in East Turkestan is quite oasis: sixth century examples from there are
varied. He can be depicted both as a Buddha to be seen in many wooden statuettes and a
and as a Bodhisattva, standing and seated in fragment of wooden carving in the collections
various poses: in the lotus position (padmasana) of the British Museum, the Musée Guimet and
and with pendent legs (bhadrasana). See, e.g., the State Hermitage. Of particular interest
a sixth-century panel from Kucha, Bibliothèque among these sixth-century Kuchean wooden
nationale, Paris; a fifth-century stone Chinese objects is an image of the Buddha Sakyamuni,
example, Musée Guimet (Sérinde 1995, pp. 263, decorated in the upper part by the same
265). Similar representations of Maitreya are rhomboid ornament as our reliquary (collection
found in Khotan. The mudras also may be quite of the Musée Guimet; Sérinde 1995, p. 160).
varied. He is shown as a Bodhisattva on wooden
panels from the collection of the British Museum On the basis of the above, one can
and the National Museum in New Delhi hypothesize regarding the Hermitage diptych
published by Joanna Williams (Williams 1973, that the statuettes were made in Gandhara in
pp. 129-130). Ol’denburg published two images the third-fourth centuries, whereas the case was
of Maitreya from Khotan (Ol’denburg 1898, pp. specially made for them later in the sixth
0106-0107). One of them, which he dated century in Kucha. Taken together, the good state
fourth-sixth century, is a terracotta stamped of preservation and the distinctive nature of the
image given him by Petrovskii. Its small size materials used make this
diptych unique among
33
Fig. 7. Avalokitesvara-Padma-
34
Fig. 9. Avalokitesvara-Padma- Fig. 10. Vajrapani. Cast
Photo copyright © 2008 State Hermitage Museum. All rights reserved.
35
colleagues in the Division of Scientific and Emmerick 1979
Technical Expertise of the State Hermitage for Ronald E. Emmerick. A Guide to the Literature
their assistance. The article was translated from of Khotan. Studia Philologica Buddhica.
Russian by Daniel C. Waugh, who is grateful to Occasional Paper Series, 3. Tokyo: Reiyukai
Dr. Mechtild Mertz for her consultation regarding Library, 1979 [note also, revised and enlarged
terminology for wood anatomy. 2nd ed., Tokyo: The International Institute for
Buddhist Studies, 1992].
About the author
Faxian 1957
Julia (Iuliia Igorevna) Elikhina graduated [Faxian/Fa-hsien]. A Record of the Buddhist
from the Department of Mongolian and Tibetan Countries. Tr. Li Yung-hsi. Peking: Chinese
Philology in the Oriental Faculty of St. Buddhist Association, 1957.
Petersburg State University; she defended her IRAO
kandidat dissertation in history (Ph.D. Izvestiia Russkogo arkheologicheskogo
equivalent) on “The Cult of Bodhisattva obshchestva.
Avalokitesvara and His Reincarnations (Kings
and Lamas) in the History of Tibetan Statehood Litvinskii 1992
from the 7 th to the Beginning of the 20 th Boris A. Litvinskii, ed. Vostochnyi Turkestan v
Centuries.” Since 1988 she has been on the staff drevnosti i rannem srednevekove. Etnos, iazyki,
of the State Hermitage Museum where she is religii (East Turkestan in antiquity and the early
Curator of Tibetan, Mongolian and Khotanese Middle Ages. Ethnos, language, religion).
collections (including archeological materials Moscow: Nauka, Glav. red. vostochnoi literatury,
from Noin-Ula, Karakorum, etc.). She is the 1992.
author of more than 35 articles and various Litvinskii 1995
catalogue descriptions on the art of Tibet and
Boris A. Litvinskii, ed. Vostochnyi Turkestan v
Mongolia. She may be contacted at <julia-
drevnosti i rannem srednevekove. Khoziaistvo,
elikhina@yandex.ru>.
material’naia kul’tura (East Turkestan in
antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Economy,
References material culture). Moscow: Vostochnaia
literatura, 1995.
Chungang 1986
Chungang Asia misul, Kungnip chungang Litvinskii 2000
pangmulgwan sojang [Art of Central Asia: Boris A. Litvinskii, ed. Vostochnyi Turkestan v
Collection of the National Museum]. Seoul, drevnosti i rannem srednevekove. Arkhitektura,
1986. iskusstvo, kostium (East Turkestan in antiquity
and the early Middle Ages. Architecture, art,
D’iakonova 2000 costume). Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura RAN,
Nataliia V. D’iakonova. “Izobrazitel’noe 2000.
iskusstvo” (Representational art). In: Litvinskii
Men’shikov, 1980
2000, pp. 218-251.
L. N. Men’shikov. “Zhizneopisanie nastavnika v
D’iakonova and Sorokin 1960 zakone pri velikoi dinastii Tan, khranitelia trekh
Nataliia V. D’iakonova and Sergei S. Sorokin. sokrovishch pri obiteli Datsyn” (The “Life” of
Khotanskie drevnosti. Katalog khotanskikh the preceptor of the law under the great T’ang
drevnostei, khraniashchikhsia v Otdele Vostoka dynasty, the keeper of the three treasures at
Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha: terrakota i shtuk the Datsyn Monastery). Appendix to: L. Iu.
(Khotan antiquities. A catalogue of the Khotan Tugusheva, Fragmenty uighurskoi versii biografii
antiquities in the Oriental Section of the State Siuan’tsana. Moscow: Nauka, 1980.
Hermitage: terracotta and stucco). Leningrad:
Montell 1935
Izd-vo. Gos. Ermitazha, 1960.
Gösta Montell. “Sven Hedin’s Archaeological
Emmerick 1967 Collections from Khotan: Terra-cottas from
Ronald E. Emmerick. Tibetan Texts Concerning Yotkan and Dandan-Uiliq.” The Bulletin of the
Khotan. London Oriental Series V. London, etc.: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 7 (1935):
Oxford University Press, 1967. 145-221.
36
Ol’denburg 1898 Sérinde 1995
Sergei F. Ol’denburg. “Dva khotanskikh Sérinde, Terre de Bouddha. Dix siècles d’art sur
izobrazheniia Maitrei” (Two Khotanese images la Route de la Soie. Paris: Réunion des Musées
of Maitreya). Zapiski Vostochnogo otdeleniia naionaux, 1995.
Russkogo arkheologicheskogo obshchestva 12
Stein 1907
(1898): 0106-0108.
M. Aurel Stein. Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report
Ol’denburg 1910 of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese
Sergei F. Ol’denburg. “O nauchnom znachenii Turkestan. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
kollektsii N. F. Petrovskogo” (On the scientific 1907.
importance of the collection of N. F. Petrovskii).
Vorob’eva-Desiatovskaia 1989
ZVORAO 19/4 (1910), protok.: xxv-xxviii.
Margarita I. Vorob’eva-Desiatovskaia. “O
Ol’denburg 1912 terminakh ‘khinaiana’ i ‘makhaiana’ v rannei
Sergei F. Ol’denburg. “Pamiati N. F. Petrovskogo buddiiskoi literature” (On the terms Hinayana
1837-1908” (In memory of N. F. Petrovskii and Mahayana in early Buddhist literature). In:
1837-1908). ZVORAO 20/1 (1912): 01-08. Buddizm: istoriia i kul’tura. Moscow: Nauka,
Glav. red. vostochnoi literatury, 1989: pp. 74-
Ol’denburg and Ol’denburg 1930
83.
Sergei F. Ol’denburg and E. G. Ol’denburg.
“Gandarskie skul’pturnye pamiatniki Gosu- Williams 1973
darstvennogo Ermitazha” (Gandhara sculptures Joanna Williams. “The Iconography of
in the State Hermitage). Zapiski Kollegii Khotanese Painting.” East and West, N.S., 23/
Vostokovedov 5 (Leningrad, 1930): 145-186. 1-2 (1973): 109–154.
Petrovskii 1892 Watt 2004
Nikolai F. Petrovskii. “Buddiiskii pamiatnik bliz James C. Y. Watt et al. China: Dawn of a Golden
Kashgara” (A Buddhist monument near Age 250–750 AD. New York: Metropolitan
Kashgar). ZVORAO 7 (1892). Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 2004.
Petrovskii 1893
Nikolai F. Petrovskii. “Otvet konsula v Kashgare Zürcher 1959
N. F. Petrovskogo na zaiavlenie S. F. Erik Zürcher. The Buddhist conquest of China.
Ol’denburga” (The response of the Consul in The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early
Kashgar N. F. Petrovskii to the statement by S. Medieval China. 2 vols. Sinica Leidensia, vol.
F. Ol’denburg). ZVORAO 7 (1893). 11. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1959.
Petrovskii 1906 ZVORAO
Nikolai F. Petrovskii. “Zametka po povodu Zapiski Vostochnogo otdeleniia Russkogo
soobshcheniia A. Krigofa o nakhodke arkheologicheskogo obshchestva.
kamennykh orudii” (A note on the
Zwalf 1996
communcation by A. Krigof concerning the
discovery of stone implements). Turkestanskie Wladimir Zwalf. Catalogue of the Gandhara
vedomosti 24 November 1906. (One of a Sculpture in the British Museum. 2 vols. London:
number of his articles in Turkestanskie British Museum Press, 1996.
vedomosti.)
37
The Buddhist Monuments of Adjina-tepa
Vera Fominikh
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
39
reiterate a single pattern. Preserved among the
paintings are parts of a composition depicting
an elegant female head in three-quarter view
[Fig. 4], her hair elaborately coiffed and wearing
elaborate gold jewelry. It seems as though the
artists were less skilled when depicting the
donors, where the models may well have been
members of the local population of Tokharistan.
In the rubble under the floor was a sizeable
40
of the head, if the renowned sculptures from the Monastery
this statue of Fondukistan in Afghanistan [cf. Figs. 7, 8].
was a seated
The best known archaeological discovery at
one, its height
Adjina-tepa was the clay statue of the Buddha
would have
in Nirvana. The excavation in 1966 of the
been about 4
circumambulation corridor (room 23) unearthed
m; if a stand-
a larger than life-size clay statue of a Parinirvana
ing figure, it
Buddha, whose lower parts from the waist down
would have
41
Fig. 9 (top). The Parinirvana Bud-
dha — drawing reconstructing its
original appearance and location.
42
conquests. The monumental Parinirvana Buddha References
is a particularly important example of Buddhist
sculpture which deserves to be better known. Fominikh 2003
Vera A. Fominikh. “Restavratsionnaia
Acknowledgements rekonstruktsiia monumental’noi glinianoi statui
Buddy v nirvane iz Adzhina-tepa (Tadzhikistan)”
This article was translated from Russian by (The restoration and reconstruction of the
Daniel C. Waugh. The author wishes to thank monumental clay sculpture of the Buddha in
Tat ’iana Zeimal’ for permission to use Nirvana from Adjina-tepa, Tajikistan).
photographs and drawings from her jointly Rossiiskaia arkheologiia 2003, No. 1: 134-144.
authored publication of Adjina-tepa. Litvinskii and Zeimal’ 1971
Boris A. Litvinskii and Tat’iana I. Zeimal’.
Adzhina-tepa. Arkhitektura, Zhivopis’,
About the author
Skul’ptura (Adjina-tepa. Architecture, Painting,
Sculpture) Moscow: Izd-vo. “Iskusstvo,” 1971.
Vera A. Fominikh has worked as an artist-
(Note: The book contains an extensive summary
restorer in the the Laboratory for the Scientific
in English, pp. 219-244.)
Restoration of Monumental Paintings in the
State Hermitage Museum since 1983, where she Taddei 1974
is now the lead senior restoration specialist. Maurizio Taddei. “A Note on the Parinirvana
For 17 years she participated in the Central Buddha at Tapa Sardar (Ghazni, Afghanistan).”
Asian expeditions of Boris Marshak, working in In: South Asian Archaeology 1973. Ed. by J. E.
Panjikent, Paikent, Samarkand and Dushanbe. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw and J. M. M. Ubaghs.
Since 1994 she is a member of the St. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974, pp. 110-115 and pls.
Petersburg Union of Artists. 58-59.
43
Mediating the Power of Dharma: The Mongols’
Approaches to Reviving Buddhism in Mongolia
Vesna A. Wallace
The University of Oxford
The methods of the Buddhist revival in Mongolia, strongholds of feudalism, damaging to the
which began in the late 1980s, demonstrate not national productive force. The MPRP produced
only what can happen to the Buddhist tradition feature films, portraying Buddhist ideas and
after seventy years of suppression, but also how practices as corrupt and shameless, while
the tradition copes with the challenges presented promoting the people’s revolution as kind,
to it. The features of the revival of Buddhist beneficial, and protective of the common people
cultural heritage in Mongolia also reveal the from the exploitation of high-ranking lamas. It
ways in which the contemporary Mongols see also printed its first anti-religious magazine and
the revitalization of the Buddhist knowledge and disseminated it among the lower ranking lamas.
practices as connected to the renewal of the Despite all of its efforts, it encountered strong
traditional values of the pastoral society and resistance from Mongolia’s ordained and lay
national identity. Buddhists, and it soon realized that the religious
Destruction of Mongolian Buddhism beliefs of the Mongolian people could not be
easily eradicated. One of the greatest obstacles
It was only in the late 1980s that the Mongolian the MPR government faced in its early attempts
Peoples’ Republic opened its door to the rest of to develop a revolutionary culture was the lack
the world and emerged from its long isolation of support from Mongolia’s youth. The
imposed upon it by Soviet policies. During the overwhelming majority of Mongolian young men
seventy-year-long subjection of Mongolia to the were trained in Buddhist monastic institutions,
Soviet Union and communist campaigns, and only a few thousand of them were attending
institutional Buddhism, along with other the newly established public schools (Archive
Mongolian religions, was destroyed. The 1936). Moreover, during the same period, the
systematic destruction of Buddhist institutions number of Mongolian men who constituted the
was carried out from 1921 until 1941 by the party’s cadres was considerably smaller than the
Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP), number of monks. To reverse this situation, the
which, in large part, adopted the religious MPR government established several goals —
policies of the Soviets. Prior to the formation of namely, to weaken economically Buddhist
the Mongolian Peoples’ Revolutionary monasteries, to decrease the number of monks,
government in Outer Mongolia, there were about and to attract Mongolia’s youth, the lower-
850 Buddhist monasteries with 3,000 temples, ranking monks, and the general public to
and nearly 100,000 Buddhist monks, who revolutionary activities. In order to achieve these
comprised about one-tenth of the Mongolian objectives, the MPR government designed a
population of that time. Initially, the MPRP’s series of strategic measures.
attempts to diminish the economic power of
Buddhist establishments were not violent in First, it imposed heavy taxes on the
nature. They primarily consisted of anti-religious monasteries. Due to the imposed taxation laws,
propaganda, which disparaged religious beliefs by 1938, only eleven monasteries remained
as “unrealistic, cruel, deceptive, and without open and the number of livestock owned by all
future,” while promulgating a revolutionary monasteries combined was significantly reduced.
ideology as “realistic, true, close to life, and The MPR government also imposed taxes on the
always supportive of workers’ rights” (Purevjav monasteries’ treasuries, and it demanded
and Damshjamts 1965, p. 179). The MPRP military taxes from the monks of a military age
carried out its anti-Buddhist propaganda through — that is, from the age of 18 to 45 — unless
film, radio, and printed materials, in which it they enlisted in military service. Likewise, it
accused Buddhist monasteries of being the last instituted a law that prohibited boys under the
45
continued to recite their daily mantras and read
secretly-kept Buddhist texts in the privacy of
their homes. Numerous philosophical, ritual, and
47
Conditions of Buddhist monks remain limited foreign origin of Mongolian Buddhism, disparage
as certain state laws that pertain to Buddhist contemporary Mongolian Buddhist lamas as
monastic institutions have remained unchanged incompetent, and hold them responsible for
since the communist period and have affected social problems in Mongolia.
the conditions of Mon- The government’s posi-
golian Buddhist monas- tion toward Buddhism as
teries. For example, in Mongolia’s national religion
addition to land taxes, is evidenced in a number
Buddhist monasteries are of instances. For example,
required to pay 20% taxes Gandantegchenlin
on donations received for Monastery in Ulaanbaatar,
the prayer readings which is the official,
requested by laity. representative body of
Another such law requires Mongolian Buddhism, has
Buddhist monks of military on various occasions
age to serve in the national performed religious ser-
army for a year. While at vices sponsored by the
48
only crushes obstacles in the form of enemies,
heretics, and demons but also enforces religious
and state laws. Through the renewed ritual
worship of Vajrapani Mountain, he has been
reinstated by the Mongolian government as the
protector of the Mongol state, and Mongolia has
been once again recognized as the land of
Vajrapani, which, together with Tibet, the land
of Avalokitesvara, and China, the land of
Manjusri, forms the unified landscape of the
three well known, Buddhist protectors (rigs gsum
mgon po) in the Mongols’ imagination (Barsbold
2004, p. 46).
The snow-capped Vajrapani Mountain is the
highest peak of the Khangai mountain range
Fig. 9. Vajrapani Mountain in July.
and is famous for the healing mineral springs
Mongolia’s presidents have also engaged in on its northern side, for 400 types of medicinal
the rites of mountain worship on behalf of the
Fig. 10. Statue of Vajrapani near the mountain.
Mongol state. In this post-
Soviet period of revitalization
of the Mongolian national and
Buddhist identities, Mongolia’s
former President Bagabandi,
like his predecessor, once
again publicly recognized the
Otgontenger mountain in
Zavkhan aimag of the mid-
western region of Mongolia as
a Buddhist holy site and
decreed that it is to be
ceremonially worshipped
every four years for the sake
of the protection of the
Mongolian State. The Otgon-
tenger mountain is also known
Photos copyright © 2008 Vesna A. Wallace
as Vajrapani Mountain due to
the widespread belief that the plants that grow there, for the
Buddha Vajrapani actually five kinds of purifying juniper
resides there [Fig. 9]. The incense believed to be infused
blue, wrathful form of by blessings of Vajrapani, and
Vajrapani, known as the Lord for the healing golden sand
of Secrets, was incorporated near the lake that surrounds
into the religious and political it. It is to this lush and pleasant
domains of the Mongols’ lives place that the Mongols invited
in the 16th century, and since Vajrapani to reside per-
then it has permeated manently among them and
Mongolian folklore, literature, where they began to worship
art, and rituals [Fig. 10]. him with offerings on behalf of
Vajrapani has been tradi- the state from 1779 until the
tionally considered by the communist time [Fig. 11]. In
Mongols as a powerful the year 2003, in the restored
guardian against the enemies
of the state and Buddha- Fig. 11. Offerings at Vajrapani
Dharma, as the one who not Mountain.
49
ceremonial worship, the former President as yet another attempt on the part of the
Bagabandi offered a large bowl of kumis Mongolian political leadership and intelligencia
(fermented mare’s milk) to the mountain on to reaffirm the inseparability of Mongolian
behalf of the Mongolian state. Having placed a Buddhist and national identities.
bowl of kumis on the lake surrounding the Similarly, Sharavjdorj, who converted to the
mountain, he and his retinue consisting of Nyingmapa (rNying ma pa) school of Buddhism
government officials and Buddhist monks waited while he served as Mongolia’s Minister of Defense
to see whether the bowl would float toward the until the winter 2007, has used his political
mountain or would return to the shore of the connections and his own funds to facilitate a
lake. If the bowl floats toward the mountain, it restoration of the sacred site of Shambhala and
is the sign that the Buddha Vajrapani accepted temples in the nearby Khamryn Khiid monastery
the offering, that the country will prosper and in Dorngovi aimag. Believed to be situated
its borders will be safe. In the summer of 2007, exactly below the Pure Land of Sukhavati, the
the current President Enkhbayar also Shambhala site is seen as the epicenter of
participated in the same ceremony, and in the spiritual energy, the future refuge of the
same year he commissioned a large thangka of believers and the sole connection to the Buddha-
the Buddha Vajrapani embroidered in silk, which Dharma at the time of the impending dangers
is to be displayed on the front side of the of the conflict of global proportions. Nowadays,
mountain in the repeated ceremony in 2010. as a constant flow of pilgrims from different
The work of embroidery and the donations of regions of Mongolia and even from other parts
the threads of silk have been requested from of the world rushed to Shambhala for the sake
the residents of Mongolia’s twelve districts of empowerment and merit for rebirth in
(aimags), whose participation in creating the Sukhavati, this isolated part of Mongolia has
image is to symbolize the unified effort of all been already transformed into an important
Mongolian people to preserve the Mongolian center of the Buddhist world.
Buddhist tradition and protect the state. The
commissioned image is to bring merit and The aforementioned events and re-emerging
security to the state and prosperity to the nation. views point to the fact that Buddhist ideals have
It depicts Vajrapani in his blue, ferocious form, already begun to enter Mongolian political
accompanied above by Avalokitesvara on his discourse as well as to inform the creation of
right side and Manjusri on the left, and by three identity in the modern Mongolian state in its
great Mongol khans below — Chinggis, Qubilai, search for moral politics.
and Ögödei, the three paradigmatic figures of Moreover, in contemporary Mongolia, one’s
stately strength and power. The figure of affiliation and loyalty to the Revolutionary Party
Chinggis Khan is placed directly below Vajrapani and one’s publicly professed Buddhist identity
in the center of the painting to
reinforce the traditional Mongolian
Buddhist view of Chinggis Khan as the
first Mongolian emanation of
Vajrapani, as the one who laid the
Copyright © 2004 Vesna A. Wallace
50
are no longer seen as contradictory. On the
51
pa) school of Mongolian Buddhism; and when
the Mongolian Gelukpa tradition is enfeebled,
Mongolia becomes subjugated by foreign
powers. Since their arrival in Mongolia, Tibetan
52
However, Buddhist monasteries and centers the Silkroad Foundation. I wish to thank
are no longer the sole agents in the dispensation Professor Julian Dierkes for organizing the
of Buddhist teachings; influential intellectuals, lecture.
artists, and a new class of successful
businessmen have been taking an active role in About the Author
reviving Mongolian Buddhism. Through their Formerly a professor of Buddhist Studies in the
efforts, Mongolian Buddhist art and Department of Religious Studies at the
comprehensible translations of Buddhist classics University of California, Santa Barbara, Vesna
have been made accessible. For example, the A. Wallace has recently been appointed to the
famous Mongolian author and social newly-created Numata Chair of Buddhist Studies
commentator Baabar, who was once an at The University of Oxford. She has published
archenemy of Buddhism and now considers several books and a series of essays on Indian
himself as Mongolia’s Buddhist variant of Martin Buddhism and has been conducting field and
Luther, organized a translation of the renowned archival research on Mongolian Buddhism since
Tibetan classic Lam Rim Chenmo into Mongolian the year 2000. She has widely lectured on
from various languages by bringing together a Mongolian Buddhism and is currently working
team of the best Mongolian translators. By the on two books related to Buddhism in Mongolia.
year 2007, with the financial support from She can be reached at <vesna.wallace@
Mongolian businessmen, he printed and gave orinst.ox.ac.uk>.
away 30,000 copies of the text with the hope to
deliver altogether 500,000 free copies to References
500,000 Mongolian households constituting the
Archive 1936
entire Mongolian society. Likewise, the nomads
and small town residents across the Mongolia’s The Archive of Public Security Organizations,
steppes and deserts have been offering their Fund of Religion. 1936. Ulaanbaatar.
resources and volunteer labor in building stupas Barsbold 2004
and temples in order to transform their home U. Barsbold. Otgontenger Uulyn Takhilga ba
regions into the restored territories of Dharma Ochirvaany Burkhan. Ulaanbaatar, 2004.
[Fig. 16]. In the meantime, newly proclaimed
Siddhas, yoginis and emanations of Buddhist Mongol Messenger 2003
deities have been emerging in various parts of The Mongol Messenger. 2003. Issue of February
the country, and the rumors of their 19, 2003.
extraordinary abilities have been publicized Purevjav and Damshjamts 1965
throughout Mongolia.
S. Purevjav and D. Damshjamts. BNMA-d Sum
These are only a few of many examples that Hiyd Lam Naryn Asuudlyg Shiydverlesen Ny.
evidence the endeavors of all strata of Mongolian Ulaanbaatar: Ulsyn Khevleliyn Khereg Erkhelekh
society to shape the Mongolian land, culture, Khoroo, 1965.
and national identity in accordance with their
Purevjav 1978
envisioning of Mongolian Buddhism. It remains
to be seen how the re-emerging Mongolian S. Purevjav. Mongol dakhi sharyn shashny
Buddhist tradition, which is caught in between khuraangui tüükh. Ulaanbaatar, 1978.
different political ideologies, modernity, and
foreign missionary zealots, will solve its
Copyright © 2008 Vesna A. Wallace
53
Tricky Representations: Buddhism in the
Cinema during Socialism in Mongolia
Manduhai Buyandelger
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Mass. (USA)
The socialist state regarded religion as an venues. The idea that all societies go through
obstacle to modernization and an opiate of the the same stages of development once
masses. From late 1937 through early 1939, propagated by the European enlightenment
Mongolia eliminated religion along with the theorists was reinforced in Mongolia as a part
intelligentsia, the upper classes, and political of socialist revolution in the 1921 and
leaders. In the span of about 18 months, 800 subsequent nation-building processes.
Buddhist temple compounds (5,953 buildings) Ideologically, religion was seen as a remnant
became ash heaps [Fig. 1]. Of 85,000 lamas, of the past and primitive superstition that
20,356 were killed and the rest were jailed, impeded modernization and progress. In order
sent to labor camps, or forced to adopt lay to succeed the socialist state needed devoted
professions. By 1939 there were no official and dutiful followers who believed in the
categories of religious practitioners registered ideology of socialism and nothing else. The state
in the census, and Mongolia became a classless sanctioned mass media and art to shape
and atheistic society (Baabar 1996). people’s minds, to produce culture that would
transform the populace from devoted Buddhist
to atheist citizens of a modernizing socialist
country.
Copyright © 2004 Daniel C. Waugh
55
meant to substitute for Mongol previously arrested had to be
shamanic spirit possession. released after only a year
The Buddhist missionaries also because of ‘unrest among the
replaced the functions of people’ over his incarceration”
shamans by incorporating the (Damdinsüren et al. 2005, p.
rituals of worship of mountain 102). Perhaps the most telling
cairns (ovoos) [Fig. 4], and by phrase between Stalin and
introducing various deities Genden that encapsulates the
who protect livestock and life. power of the Buddhist church
Buddhism also offered in- is the following. In an interview
so strong that the Revolutionary Mongolian the nation, allies with Chinese politicians and
government did not even consider abolishing it rich merchants. Most importantly, in the films
until the Soviet leaders pushed them to do so. on revolution, the lamas used the most sadistic
In his paper about the measures that the state tortures towards the revolutionaries. The most
took to pave its road to violence in 1937 and horrific image is one of lamas worshipping their
thereafter, anthropologist Chris Kaplonski banners with a heart that was pulled out while
(2008) notes that the Mongolian government the victim was still alive. The heart was still
considered abolishing the power of the Buddhist pounding as the lama-terrorist squeezes it in
church, but they were also afraid, to a certain his hands and then splashes the banner with a
extent, of the backlash it would cause. He pays stream of blood by breaking the heart of a
particular attention to anxieties that Buddhism victim.
was causing the Soviets and the fledgling By producing images of crueler and more
Mongolian Revolutionary Government. “In [a] hateful enemies, and by dehumanizing the
1934 meeting with Stalin, Prime Minister enemy, while humanizing itself, the state
Genden remarked that a lama who had been justified its violence. It cast itself as a vulnerable
56
rescuer of the people. But, as we learn from The scholars who had the deepest knowledge
oral history, the banner worship using the heart of history, the ones educated in the histories of
of a victim was the practice of the revo- European enlightenment, secularization, and
lutionaries themselves. Specifically, the glorious modern democracy, and who could contribute
warlord Khatanbaatar Magsarjav, who led the to literature, art, and filmmaking, had been
Mongolian People’s Army and who freed the persecuted. In the 1910s and early 1920s
western part of Mongolia from the Chinese and several dozen students were sent to study in
other counter-revolutionaries was indeed known Germany and France. They spent five to ten
for such practices. years there and became the most educated and
progressive professionals in Mongolia. Dressed
Literature, especially short stories and novels
in the latest fashions of the German upper-class,
depicting the socialist revolution, has utilized
groomed to perfection, and poised in front of
such images and motifs to exhaustion as they
the camera while holding a cane or a pipe, these
became almost standard ingredients in the
young professionals epitomized everything that
literature on revolution and state formation. Any
socialism considers to belong to the bourgeoisie
major diversion from those types of
who must be eliminated. In the 1930s almost
representations could be interpreted as a
all of them were purged. Religious practitioners
religious propaganda, and the producers and
were also persecuted and those remaining did
writers would be severely punished.
not dare to raise their voices. Courage was
At least partially for that reason, many writers necessary to produce films and books on religion
and scholars avoided the topic of religion, and even in a negative light. And individuals with
there is a dearth of representation of Buddhism such courage were rare. The two films that I
in Mongolian cinema, literature, and arts after discuss in this paper are exceptions. One is the
the 1950s. The other reason for decline of film Tsogt Taij, which is about the historical
religion in arts and cinema was the elimination past and which develops anti-religious
of the Buddhist clergy during the state violence propaganda in an unusual way, and the other
in the 1930s and 1940s. Simply put, how could is Awakening (Serelt, 1957), which juxtaposes
one represent religion during socialism if it was religion against modernity.
not supposed to exist any more? The problem Nationalism and religion: Tsogt Taij
was that the state was aware that religion
A powerful attempt to show the harm of
existed in the forms of beliefs, languages,
Buddhism was made by a famous Mongolian
memories, and hidden private practices far
scholar, writer, and filmmaker Rinchen Byambin
beyond its control. Yet the state could not allow
in his epic film entitled Tsogt Taij. The national
the representation of religion in post-
film studios, the Mongol Kino, were founded in
revolutionary, socialist, modernizing Mongolia.
1935 with Soviet technical assistance. The films
For one thing, there was a danger that such
were devoted to the themes of nationalism and
representations would awaken the memories of
heroism, and some were based on traditional
religion. And another thing, more importantly,
epics. Produced in 1945 right at the end of the
representing religion in modernizing Mongolia
World War II, the film Tsogt Taij is an anti-
would mean for the state to admit its failure to
Buddhist film that also redefines Mongolia’s
destroy it. Thus, anti-religious propaganda was
relationship with China, Tibet, and the Manchus,
needed, but in a way that would not provoke
and looks at Buddhism not as an enlightenment
memories of the past or much needed
project, but as a colonial tool. The film is a
spirituality, but only lead people to despise
historically-based fiction. It depicts the events
religion.
of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, when
Within such a narrow space as was allowed Mongolia was falling under the sway of the
for creativity, filmmakers or at least scholars Manchu Qing Dynasty. It is about a Mongolian
and historians needed to be especially prince who fought against Manchu en-
imaginative to come up with a suitable plot. croachment and against the Mongol princes who
Representing Buddhism in the historical past were converting to Buddhism in exchange for
would be the safest way, but there was also a political and economic powers granted by the
rather poignant condition that made the Manchus and the Tibetans, particularly, the
production of culture even more difficult overall. institution of the Dalai Lama.
57
The film fulfills the state order to present of the Yellow Hat sect. Importantly, only Tibetan
Buddhism in a negative light, but goes further Buddhism is cast in a negative light. The Red
in explaining the role of Yellow Hat Buddhism Hat sect in this film is not a religious identity,
that is set against the Red Hat Buddhism in but a form of cultural identity that is no different
Mongolia. The producer’s detailed knowledge from traditional Mongolian identity expressed
about Mongolian history was unequalled by through long songs, poetry, and wrestling. The
almost anyone in Mongolia. Rinchin was one of film shows no religious ceremonies,
the few scholars who had survived the practitioners, and doctrines associated with the
persecutions and he utilized his knowledge and Red Hat sect.
skills as a linguist, ethnologist, historian, and
Mongolia is presented as prey to the Manchus
writer. Rinchen unravels the magic of religion,
and Tibetans. Tsogt Taij interprets the image
its techniques and circumstances of getting into
of a Buddhist deity Manjusri as the
people’s minds, from his perspective as a
representation of the Manchu Emperor. He
defender of the Red Hat sect of Buddhism. The
warns the Mongols who had gathered in front
film is set specifically against the domination
of the monastery that while today they are
by the Yellow Hat sect of Buddhism but does
worshipping the deity Manjusri, tomorrow they
not have a strict atheist message.
will worship the Manchu Emperor. Tsogt Taij
In the film, the Tibetans, who are also fights against the establishment of the law that
interested in dominating Mongolia, conspire with states individuals who do not memorize the
the Manchus about their strategy to seize the sacred prayers will be punished with a fine of
Mongolian population using the power of
Buddhist deities. Each represents the
stereotypes of their identities. The Tibetan
missionary is sly, politically savvy, and uses
persuasive court speeches. The Manchu
warlords are aggressive and domineering.
Together, they are a union of military and
spiritual conquest.
Yellow Hat Buddhism arrives as the Manchus
defeat the last descendant of Chinggis Khan,
the Ligden Khan, who dies before getting
Chinggis Khan’s state seal to Tsogt Taij [Fig.
5], a prince who is fighting for the country’s
independence. The Mongol princes are divided
between Red Hat Buddhism and the followers Screen shot courtesy of John Wells, Mongolian Cinema/
Mongol Kino <http://www.kisetsuga.com/mongolkino/>.
58
presents the Buddhist lamas as vulgar, bored, about the betrayal of his son, he orders his son
shallow, and unkind to the populace. The to be beheaded. The young prince’s conversion
Buddhist Lamas and their Mongolian followers to Tibetan Buddhism and a withdrawal from the
do not have regard for the local culture, books, battle against Tibetans decides the faith of the
and artifacts; so they loot and destroy Mongols for the next few centuries. Without the
everywhere they go. prince’s reinforcements the Mongol army is
But it is the internal struggle among the defeated and the country falls under the away
Mongol aristocrats — the ambitious princes who of Buddhism and Manchu domination
fought for greater power on the grasslands — The most negative aspects of Buddhism are
which allowed the penetration of the Manchus represented through the institution of the Dalai
and Tibetan Buddhism. The disunity of princes Lama in Tibet. The Dalai Lama is a young boy
is represented by the struggle between Tsogt who is a captive in his own elaborate palace.
Taiji and the Gush Khan even though Tsogt’s When his advisor enters his chamber to inform
son Arslan is in a romantic relationship with him about the arrival of the Mongolian prince
Gush’s daughter Khulan [Fig. 7]. Once the latter (the son of Tsogt Taiji), the young Dalai Lama
is asleep in his bed. The advisor wakens him
and gives detailed protocol instructions for
converting the Mongol prince to Buddhism.
A young man will come towards you and
bow to you. You should say: ‘Did you have
a good journey?’ The man will come closer
and bow to you. Upon my signal you should
touch his head with your right hand, just
like this [and he showed how to do that].
Now, please tell me what will you do? asks
the advisor.
The young Dalai Lama repeats the
instructions. And in the next scene we watch
the enactment of the conversation, which
Screen shot courtesy of John Wells, Mongolian Cinema/
Mongol Kino <http://www.kisetsuga.com/mongolkino/>.
fights in his father’s army. As Tsogt Taij learns Fig. 8. The Tibetan princess presented to Arslan.
59
is the conversion of the Mongolian prince to family had been affected. The populace was
Tibetan Buddhism. subdued and terrified. The film was supposed
to enhance courage and patriotism and help get
By associating the arrival of Buddhism with
through the difficult time.
colonialism, warfare, and the erasure of Mongol
identity, this film achieves a persuasive anti- But the intriguing aspect of the film, and the
Buddhist propaganda. We see the destructive reason that I chose to discuss this particular
nature of Buddhism layer upon layer. To start, one and not any other is that the film celebrates
Buddhism is a source of individuals’ hardship Mongolian identity with long songs, folk tales,
and decline of economic condition, as the clergy poetry, and local intelligentsia. These attributes
and the Mongol elite who support Buddhism were also the targets of the socialist state. In
establish an order that allows the church to the film, Rinchen reminds the audience about
confiscate 3-5 head of livestock from every their Mongolian identity, while the Soviets had
individual who had not memorized prayers. already began their modernizing projects such
Buddhism is a source of family fights and as building schools, changing the Mongolian
destruction of relationships between parents alphabet, and clothes and dwellings. While
and children. Tsogt Taij loses his only son to Rinchen propagandizes against Buddhism, he
the enemy. The girlfriend of the Mongol prince, does it not in order to promote socialism or
Tsogt Taij’s son, renounces her father who joined modernity, but to re-establish national identity.
the Manchus and Tibetans. Buddhist monks The film was also an attempt to represent
erase Mongolian culture; they destroy the Mongolia as rich and cosmopolitan (with a
garden of Tsogt Taij’s palace, burn books, and Chinese gardener and a Muslim house
kill all the students. Finally, coupled with the attendant), not as primitive, stuck in a
Machus, Buddhism causes internal warfare timelessness, as was usual in the depiction of
among the princes, which leads to bloodshed Asia of that time.
among ordinary people [Fig. 9].
Awakening
60
One day, the boy’s sister, doctor by blaming her for the
Suren, becomes ill, and the death of their daughter.
Russian doctor and her Suren’s father runs to the
Mongolian assistant manage hospital and tries to stab the
to convince her to stay in their doctor with a knife, when
hospital. But the lama uncle Suren, who has gotten
gets angry at the parents and considerably better, gets up to
they bring Suren to the lama. save the doctor from her
The daughter ’s condition father’s attacks [Fig. 12].
worsens as the lama predicts Upon seeing the daughter that
that her days are numbered he had mourned for 49 days,
and interprets it as a con- the father loses con-
sequence of receiving the sciousness. After awakening,
treatment from the wrongdoer. the father runs back to the
The parents blame themselves lama’s felt tent and threatens
for letting their daughter stay to kill him for almost making
in the Russian hospital and the family bury their daughter
leave their daughter in their alive.
extra tent, as she passes out Suren becomes the Russian
in fever. In the meantime, doctor’s nurse, and the local
Suren’s boyfriend who was in Screen shot courtesy of John Wells, Mongolian
Cinema/Mongol Kino <http://www.kisetsuga. population now lines up to see
the Russian hospital, over- com/mongolkino/>.
the Russian doctor, while the
hears in a conversation Fig. 10. The lama uncle holding a lama receives no patients.
between Suren’s brother and stick for beating his disciple.
Being a coward, he attempts
the doctor that Suren wants to come to the to kill the doctor by following her during a
hospital, but her parents had given up on saving snowstorm and by causing an accident during
her. Suren’s boyfriend escapes the hospital and which the doctor and her horseman fall into a
gallops on a horse to bring her from her home ditch and their horse dies. But luckily, Suren’s
to the hospital. Upon leaving the tent where father, who was supposed to meet them, helps
Suren was lying on a bed, her boyfriend knocks them out and then captures the lama and takes
over the butter candle. The couple leaves on a him to the designated authorities.
horse to the hospital while the tent burns to
The representation of a lama is often comical
the ground. Suren’s family assumes that their
and ridiculous. The lama constantly eats and
daughter died and was burned with the tent
drinks while giving very little food to his
[Fig. 11]. The lama uncle tells them that
because of her sins, she is reborn as a lizard in
a desert — a
bad fate and a
lifetime of
suffering.
During the
49 th day of
mourning, the
lama uncle
provokes
Suren’s father
to seek re-
venge on the
R u s s i a n
Screen shots courtesy of John Wells, Mongolian Cinema/
Mongol Kino <http://www.kisetsuga.com/mongolkino/>.
Fig. 11. Suren’s father, distraught after Fig. 12. Suren stops her
hearing from the lama uncle about his father from killing the
daughter’s supposed death. Russian doctor.
61
apprentice. He is a womanizer and uses taking Acknowledgements
female patients’ pulse as a way of approaching
Special thanks to John Wells (who maintains
them. The lama is also brutal, as he always has
the website Mongolian Cinema/Mongol Kino
a stick next to him with which he brutally beats
<http://www.kisetsuga.com/mongolkino/> for
his disciple.
providing on short notice several screen shots
But the most powerful aspect is the film’s from the films discussed here.
plot which unravels the magical powers that
the lama claims to have. The lama is a charlatan About the author
and a fraud. That becomes clear to the main
heroes, who learn that their sick daughter Manduhai Buyandelger is Assistant Professor
neither died nor turned into a lizard, but was of Anthropology at MIT. She received her Ph.D.
being treated by the Russian doctor. in anthropology from Harvard University in 2004
and was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society
The film propagates the triumph of
of Fellows during 2004-2007. Her dissertation
biomedicine over traditional healing, the Soviet
research was on the resurgence of previously
teachings over Buddhist, and the power of the
suppressed shamanic practices after socialism
state over the clergy. Most importantly, the film
among ethnic Buryats of Mongolia. Her book
shows the changes in the people’s beliefs about
manuscript, “Tragic Spirits: Shamanism,
religion through the power of medicine. The film
Socialism, and Neoliberal Capitalism in
was made in 1957 for the celebration of the
Mongolia,” based on eighteen months of
40th anniversary of the October Revolution. It
dissertation research, will be published by the
was a token of gratitude to the Soviets for
University of Chicago Press. In 2008 at the time
bringing modernization, medicine, and anti-
of the parliamentary elections, she was in
religious teachings to Mongolia.
Mongolia doing research on the politics of
Whether the state was able to achieve the gender and technologies of election. Her
elimination of religion from people’s minds interests include politics, gender, repre-
might seem almost irrelevant today when sentation, shamanism, popular religion,
Buddhism has regained its strength after the memory, and media studies.
collapse of socialism. The propaganda movies
that presented religion in a negative light during References
socialism also reminded people what religion
was like. There is an ironic aspect to the state’s Baabar 1996
competition with religion for the minds of the Baabar. XX Zuunii Mongol: Nuudel Suudal, Garz
people. The state perceived that individuals can Olz (Twentieth-Century Mongolia, Nomadism
have only one religious identity. By trying to and Sedentarism, Losses and Gains).
eliminate religion, the state ended up Ulaanbaatar: State Photographic Center, 1996.
transforming itself into a religious entity. The Damdinsüren et al. 2005
state doctrines are in the history books,
S. Damdinsüren et al. Mongolyn tuhai BHK(b)H-
poetries, and national anthems, its rituals are
yn barimt bichig (1920 – 1952) (VKP(b)
festivals and national holidays, its magic is the
documents about Mongolia, 1920-1952), Vol.
inspirational speeches of its leaders adorned in
2. Ulaanbaatar: National Archives, 2005.
the power suits and broadcast through TVs and
media. But the more unexpected outcome was Heissig 1980
that religion remained active in the private Walter Heissig. The Religions of the Mongols.
sphere. That, however, did not prevent the London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,1980.
populace from worshipping the state and having
Chris Kaplonski 2008
several beliefs, not just one.
Chris Kaplonski. “Prelude to violence: Show
Note: This essay is based on a lecture co- trials and state power in 1930s Mongolia.”
sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation and the American Ethnologist 35/2 (2008): 321-337.
Institute of Asian Research at the University of
British Columbia and delivered at UBC on
November 9, 2007, as part of a series on “Tibet-
Mongolia Links in Religion and Medicine.”
62
The Tea Horse Road
Jeff Fuchs
64
as annual tributes were considered the minutest of towns, number in the dozens
“untouchable” even by bandits, as the and ensure Dakpa and I are never short on tea
repercussions would be murderous. Tea would distractions. To be considered a “true” Puer
travel beyond borders into lands that its requires that the tea be the Camellia Sinensis
harvesters would never see — India, nomadic Assamica variety (big leafed), that it be grown
tribal lands, and the vast steppes of Mongolia. and produced in Yunnan province, and that it
Along the Tea Horse Road’s winding length tea be sun dried. Puer is itself the prime tea-market
was wealth and a form of currency. In time it town of southern Yunnan where caravans would
would surpass porcelains and even silks in assemble to load their precious cargoes. The
economic value. Its unique stature in Asian “tea-belt towns” of Yunnan included as well
culture was assured due to its general Menglian, Menghai and Simao, and their
availability to all castes. Tea had originally been produce, shaped into cakes and often adorned
referred to as tu (bitter herb); its Mandarin with inscriptions, poems or ribbons, would make
up the bulk of teas destined
for the Himalayan regions and
the market towns along the
way.
Though at present, Shou,
artificially fermented (black)
Puer tea, is the most widely
available, the Sheng un-
fermented (green) Puer was
the tea that traveled. Here in
65
Tea’s journeys deep into the Himalayan armies of Qubilai Khan in the mid-13th century.
kingdoms and on to India could take up to six The Central Asian features and headscarves
months in bamboo holds, shuddering through worn tight which one sees today in Weishan,
heat waves, icy blizzards and flooded valleys. south of Dali, may be a legacy of those forces,
During these voyages tea often began to in which whole divisions were Muslims. Their
ferment, strengthening the flavours and descendants made the area famous, for it was
prematurely ageing the leaves, so the tea that they who formed caravans that became noted
made it to distant market towns was often a for discipline and being “on time” with their
potent dark variety, very different from that crucial shipments.
which began the journey. It was this tea that
The Wei and Yi inhabitants of Weishan
would become famous to nomads and traders
became known for their roasted or smoked teas
alike as Jia Kamo (Tibetan: strong/bitter tea).
that give off powerful wafts of woody flavor and
My own intended seven month passage along offer a relief from heat. In the Xiaguan/Dali
the entire Tea Horse Road would take me area, the higher altitudes and longer
through a dozen cultures, twice as many fermentation times create stronger varieties
regional dialects and into the lives of some of which would never be unwelcome in the
the last remaining makutos (Mandarin: Himalayas. While much of the brick tea that
muleteers and porters) and lados (Tibetan: ended up in the nomadic regions was a rough
muleteers). It would gradually take me from a mélange of stems and other vegetation, the
land of green heat into a land of endless ridges important thing was that there be flavor to wring
of grey stone — the Himalayas. Spiced and out of the tea during cooking.
pepper-laced teas would give way to potent
butter and salt tea: all lands that lie along the The trade routes controlled by the Nanzhou
Tea Horse Road are still inextricably linked to and Dali kingdoms had ancient roots, connecting
tea. Yunnan with the powerful Tibetan Tubo empires.
Some of the paths led directly between Yunnan
Alone now (Dakpa later would rejoin me), I and Lhasa, crossing what is now the northern
zigzagged through and over what was left of third of Myanmar. Just north of Dali, along the
trade towns on the road north from Puer to Dali, banks of the Yangtze near the town of Shigu,
passing the gentle crests of the Yuliang the Yunnan-to-Tibet Tea Horse Road divided into
Mountains. Fields of rice, corn, tobacco and tea two separate routes, both heading north into
nestle into neat geometric patterns in the Tibet and coverging near the Yunnan-Tibetan
hillsides – entire agricultural economies in plain border at Deqin. One path skimmed along the
view. While the market towns built by the Yi Yunnan-Burmese border past Judian and Weixi,
and Lisu peoples once anchored the Tea Horse and the other, further east, made its way
Road, now only the eldest of the elders through the famed market towns of Lijiang,
remembered the chimes and bells of the coming Shaxi and Gyalthang (present day Zhongdian).
caravans and wove both legend and fact into
passionate tales. No discussion was complete As I meandered further north from Dali
without multiple glasses, bowls, cups or pots through the Cangshan (Cang mountains) I was
of tea being shared, slurped and talked about. getting close to my adopted home of Zhongdian,
Indeed, the Tea Horse Road was not simply a also referred to recently as Shangrila. Leaving
trade route but a route that educated and the heat of the lowlands behind, my senses and
shared. As one observer has noted, “the traders sanity fared better in the cooling winds that
came back with tales of people, towns, announced the proximity of the Great Himalayan
languages, and of tea’s importance in even the Range. Along with the gusts came the
most distant of lands.” unmistakable knowledge that I had moved into
landscapes where winds, snow and the ancient
Dali once was at the center of the formidable
Khampa (eastern Tibetan) tribes resided.
Nanzhao Kingdom which for a time in the ninth
century extended its power north into Sichuan Northwest Yunnan has been both the
and controlled as well another important trade unofficial and official gateway into and out of
corridor that headed west into Burma and the Himalayas for travelers, traders and ancient
beyond. The Dali kingdom, which succeeded the armies alike. The Hengduan Mountains’ slow
Nanzhao, finally succumbed to the Mongol rise introduces the easternmost extension of
66
the Himalayas, through which until the mid- elders were still actively trading and traveling
20th century the only way to travel was by mule the Tea Horse Road into the mid-1950s. Unable
or on foot. As the people and land change so to write, they preserved their knowledge in
too did the Tea Horse Road. It was from Yunnan’s keeping with the rich Asian tradition of oral
northwest that caravans would embark upon narratives. These fearless muleteers were often
their most fierce battles with the elements paid not in silver or money but in tea. Tea was
through punishing terrain.
67
Passing caravans function day after day
would stop here to at the energy-sapping
pick up sacks of salt altitudes.
that would join their Nonethless, the
tea brethren to physical demands of
continue north and traipsing day in and
west into markets. day out above 4000
For a month, meters eventually
combatting frostbite, brought down Dakpa
snow blindness and with dehydration. To
hunger, our team continue in the un-
would plunge further yielding mountains
northwest along was too risky, and he
remnants of tracks wisely elected to stop
that at times seemed in one town, rest, and
to vanish on the then turn back. Our
mountain slopes. core team of six was
Forbidding and grand reduced to four.
swaths of rock gave The most brutal
way to more rock; travel along the
that in turn gave way entire route now
to strangely fertile unfolded against the
valleys far below our backdrop of the Great
mule team, as it Salween Divide [Fig.
negotiated paths 10]. It separates the
which often meas- highest major river
ured a meter or less flows on the globe,
wide [Fig. 7, previous the Yarlung Tsangpo
page]. In earlier (which becomes the
times — and the Fig. 8 (top). A netsang (Tibetan: “host”) hosts our team Brahmaputra), and
threat seemed far for an inevitable tea break near Dotok at an altitude of the glacier-fed Sal-
4600 m in the Nyanqen Tanglha Mountains.
from remote today — ween which flows
Fig. 9 (bottom). Our hosts pack our gear before sending
landslides, blizzards from the Qinghai
us off. Photos copyright © 2007 Jeff Fuchs
and disorientation Mountains to the
had wiped out entire caravans, and bandits north into the Bay of Bengal. The Nup, Shar,
lurked in strategic points along the route. and Tro passes, never predictable, were often
snow covered year round. The Salween Divide
Of vital importance both then and now was
the presence and generosity of netsangs (host
families) along the way [Figs. 8, 9]. Either
within villages or within a single nomadic family,
they provided supplies, grazing land and food
to caravans in return for goods such as tea,
Photo copyright © 2007 Jeff Fuchs
68
Traveling within the blue shadows of the
Nyanqen Tanglha Mountains our team of four
and two horsemen followed snaking rivers [Fig.
11]. Along them towns consisting of no more
69
Fig. 14. Ascending through freshly fallen
snow on a day that began in humid forests
and continued to a pass in blizzard
conditions at close to 5000 m.
As we journeyed through immense
landscapes, where nothing was heard
but the ever-present wind, days and
70
through the market hub of Gyanze, southwest While tea has survived intact and essential,
to the border town of Yadong on the Indian activities along the Tea Horse Road have long
border, and on to the trading towns of Kalimpong been given over to motor vehicles that now
and Gangtok in West Bengal and Sikkim surge through the mountains in a fraction of
respectively. On the way into Lhasa, many the time that it took the mule caravans. Many
caravans would stop at monasteries, bringing called the Tea Horse Road, the “Eternal Road,”
with them donations and even novice monks never believing that a time would come when
arriving to study. Market districts like old the bustle of trade and travel would end. One
Bharkor would have been lined with goods from elder tradesman called the Tea Horse Road “the
dozens of lands, and it was here that the great chain through the mountains,” a chain
caravans of Tea Horse Road would ultimately which had linked peoples, products and cultures
arrive. Horse markets, often located on the for over a thousand years and whose importance
outskirts of town, bubbled over with activity. lives on.
During the Song Dynasty (960-1127) rugged
little warhorses from Naqu become the prime
export heading east along a branch of the Tea
About the author
Horse Road back into Sichuan. The tea and
equine exchange reached a massive scale,
Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia,
increasingly regulated by government and
Jeff Fuchs has devoted himself to documenting
controlled by a few important clans of
indigenous cultures, oral histories and fast
merchants. While stalls selling bricks and woven
disappearing Asian traditions. His photos and
bamboo containers of tea still can be found in
stories have appeared in many newspapers and
Lhasa, confirming tea’s ability to endure, horses
magazines, and his photos have been exhibited
are rarely found anywhere today but in distant
on three continents. To view more of his elegant
towns.
photography, visit <www.jefffuchs.com>. His
It had taken the four remaining members of work has inspired programs on Chinese and
our team almost sixty days to reach Lhasa from Canadian television. His recently released book,
Zhongdian, about the same time it took the old The Ancient Tea Horse Road (Penguin-Viking
caravans. Unlike them though, we did not face Publishers, 2008), details his eight-month
a quick turn-around to retrace our steps after a groundbreaking journey chronicling one of the
few days of manic trading. With skin peeling world’s great trade routes. Fuchs is the first
and our bodies worn down by the elements into westerner to have completed both strands of
thin husks, we now could indulge in yet another the route stretching almost five thousand
type of tea in desperate quantities, this one kilometers through the Himalayas and a dozen
almost violently sweet. The Jia Kamo (bitter cultures. He divides time between his adopted
tea) had given way to Jia Ngamo (sweet tea), home in the eastern Himalayas and Canada and
and butter infusion had given way to a sugar may be contacted at <vandor81@
infusion. hotmail.com>.
71
Book notice Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology. Leskov’s task has involved
A. M. Leskov, The Maikop Treasure. Philadelphia: identifying and “reassembling” the collection,
University of Pennsylvania Museum of which, however, is unified first of all by its
Archaeology and Anthropology, 2008. ISBN having been in the hands of a single individual,
13:978-1-934536-04-0. x + 294 pp. not by the provenance and date of the objects
it contains. That said, much of the material is
Readers of this journal enjoyed a preview of from the Maikop region of the Kuban Peninsula
this volume in Dr. Aleksandr Leskov’s article and is to be identified with the Scythian culture
outlining the history of the collection which he of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Some
has, for want of a better term, called the Maikop objects date as late as the period of the Mongol
Treasure (The Silk Road 2/2 [2004]: 3-11; Empire. Unfortunately the exact provenance of
oddly, not cited in the book). At the time he the items is largely unknown and has to be
wrote for us, the publication of the catalogue established by scholarly hypothesis and
was still somewhat uncertain; happily it has analogies with similar material from
now appeared. This is a major work of scholarly documented excavations.
detection and analysis, which could have been The bulk of the book is an item-by-item
produced only by a senior scholar of great range description and analysis of the objects, with
and depth. Leskov is arguably one of the most illustrations (most in color) of each. While this
important archaeologists ever to have worked is essential for scholarly reference, most readers
in the rich territories of the early nomads north will wish to follow their perusal of the
and east of the Black Sea (see Aleksandr introductory essay by reading the final section
Naymark’s appreciation in ibid., pp. 12-16). of the book, “The Maikop Collection: A Historical
The book includes an introduction about the Overview,” in which Dr. Leskov draws on his
history of this collection, which he demonstrates knowledge gained from a long and distinguished
is that assembled by the French collector M.A. scholarly career devoted to the archaeology and
Merle de Massoneau. De Massoneau’s collection early history of the Black Sea steppes.
was subsequently broken up and sold piecemeal The book is beautifully produced, with good
over a longish period, the result being that the maps, bibliography and index.
objects are now scattered in several museums
in Berlin, New York, Philadelphia and Cologne, — Daniel C. Waugh
the largest number being in the University of
Plaque-appliqué, one of four. Gold, punched, die-formed. 11.2 cm. 5th century BCE. Antikenabteilung,
Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Inv. nos. 30.221e 1-4. Leskov catalogue no. 149, pp. 117-118.
The Silk Road 6/1 (2008) 72