Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 119

JUXE, 1929 ]
NOTES ON KHOTAN AND LADAKH
109
(3) The famous stone inscriptions from Lhasa. They contain remarkably few notes on Turkestan. (4) The geographical work on Tibet, the " 'a Dzam-glin-ye-shes", which contains also a chapter dealing with Turkestan. (5) The legends of the town of Rauruka, contained in the Divydvaddna, which have been preserved in Sanskrit as well as in Tibetan, seem to have been composed in Turkestan. The book was possibly put together from local tales.
Let me now give an abstract of the history of Turkestan, according to Chinese and other sources. In the second and third century B.C., the Yüeh-chih were the western neighbours of the Chinese, who were often molested by them. Therefore they were attacked and driven to the far west, until they reached Bactria. Their seats were taken by the Huns, wno were nr pleasanter neighbours of the Chinese, and virtually reigned over all Central Asia. To exert prergure on them, the Chinese sought the friendship of the Yüeh-chih, to whom they sent an envoy. Chang Khien (138 B.C.). The latter was taken prisoner by the Huns and kept for ten years. After his escape, he actually reached Bactria, but could not convince the Yüoh-chih of the advantages of a Chinese treaty. Although in this respect the object of Chang-Khien's journey was & failure, in other respects it was of the greatest importance. For the first time the Chinese heard of the existence of rich and cultivated lands in the far west, and their government resolved to found colonies in those districts.
First of all, the Huns were taken by storm, their country passed through, and in 107 B.O. the Chinese emperors concluded a treaty with the Wu-sun of the Ili valley, who were & tribe of the Yüeh-chih. All the lands east and west of the Alai mountains now accepted Chinese supremacy, and in 59 B.C. & general governor was appointed over all the western states of the Chinese dominiona, who reigned over the present districts of Russian and Chinese Turkestan. Although the Chinese connections with these western colonies were occasionally interrupted, we find a Chinese Governor still existing in 73 A.D. At that time Kuchd was his residence. If however we examine the archeological finds of Turkestan with a view to these early times, we must say that, except for a few coins, nothing has been preserved. Moet of the ancient coins in all the collections have been rubbed to the utmost degree and on most of them only two plain surfaces have been preserved. Nevertheless, among Sir Aurel Stein's ooins, brought from Yotkan, there is also a piece of tho usurper Wang-meng, coined in the years a.d. 14-19. Also, on p. 205 of Ancient Khotan, we read of a coin, which Burhell believes to be still older. Of this coin, Sir Aurel had brought only a single specimen from his second Turkestan expedi. tion. So I am all the more proud to be able to report that I got from Yotkan two perfect and one damaged specimen of the same coin. They were sent to Munich. Bushell says of this coin (Ancient Khotan, p. 206): “From style, material and script I would attribute it to the former Han Dynasty. The first character is certainly yil, which I take to stand for Yi-thien, Khotan; the second appears to be an archæio form of fang, meaning territory, quarter. This with some reserve, etc."
The Empire of the Kushanas. The sudden disappearance of the Chinese from Turkestan after the first century A.D. is due to the sudden rising to power of the Kush&pas, who are a tribe of the before montioned Yüeh-chih. About A.D. 50-60 Prince Kujula Kadphises had expelled the Parthians from the Indus Valley. His descendants added to his kingdom, until under the great emperor Kanishka it comprised the following territories : Northern India from Kashmir and the Punjab down to the frontiers of Bengal, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Western Ladakh with Baltistan, and portions of Eastern and Western Turkestan.
Regarding Turkestan, we may say with a great amount of certainty, that Kashgar, Khotan and Kuoha were parts of the empire. In favour of this view we may state that coins of