Kalai Kafirnigan

Kalai Kafirnigan
Kala-i Kafirnigan
Kalai Kafirnigan is located in West and Central Asia
Kalai Kafirnigan
Shown within West and Central Asia
Kalai Kafirnigan is located in Bactria
Kalai Kafirnigan
Kalai Kafirnigan (Bactria)
Kalai Kafirnigan is located in Tajikistan
Kalai Kafirnigan
Kalai Kafirnigan (Tajikistan)
LocationTajikistan
Coordinates37°53′51″N 68°15′46″E / 37.897429°N 68.262701°E / 37.897429; 68.262701
TypeBuddhist cloister

Kalai Kafirnigan, also Kala-i Kafirnigan was a Buddhist temple in the region of Tokharistan (Classical Bactria), dated to the 7th-8th century CE. Buddhism in Tokharistan is said to have enjoyed a revival under the Western Turks (known as Tokhara Yabghus in Tokharistan). Several monasteries of Tokharistan dated to the 7th-8th centuries display beautiful Buddhist works of art, such as Kalai Kafirnigan, Ajina Tepe, Khisht Tepe or Kafyr Kala, around which Turkic nobility and populations followed Hinayana Buddhism.[1]

  • Buddhist mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, Museum of National Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 7th-early 8th century.[1][2]
    Buddhist mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, Museum of National Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 7th-early 8th century.[1][2]
  • Female devotee in Kalai Kafirnigan. 7th-early 8th century.[1]
    Female devotee in Kalai Kafirnigan. 7th-early 8th century.[1]
  • Mural of a male figure
    Mural of a male figure

References

  1. ^ a b c Baumer, Christoph. History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 203–204. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2.
  2. ^ Litvinskij, B. A. (1981). "Kalai-Kafirnigan Problems in the Religion and Art of Early Mediaeval Tokharistan" (PDF). East and West. 31 (1/4): 35–66. ISSN 0012-8376.