Kalai Kafirnigan

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Kalai Kafirnigan
Kala-i Kafirnigan
Kalai Kafirnigan is located in West and Central Asia
Kalai Kafirnigan
Shown within West and Central Asia
LocationTajikistan
Coordinates37°53′51″N 68°15′46″E / 37.897429°N 68.262701°E / 37.897429; 68.262701Coordinates: 37°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]

  • Female devotee in Kalai Kafirnigan. 7th-early 8th century.[1]

  • 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.
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