National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
CH. IV
ANCIENT KHOTAN CAPITAL 55
ceeded in safely identifying all the sacred Buddhist sites
which Hsüan-tsang, my Chinese pilgrim guide, had visited
and described within the Khotan oasis. On ground con-
tinuously cultivated and irrigated for centuries nothing of
structures built with sun-dried bricks could of course sur-
vive except low shapeless mounds at the best. But there were
still traditions which indicated survival of ancient local wor-
ship at places where Buddhist sanctuaries had been re-
placed by Ziarats, or tombs of supposed Muhammadan
saints.
The site of the ancient capital of Khotan could indeed be
definitely located at the little village of Yotkan, about half-
way between the two rivers and some seven miles to the west
of the present chief place of the district. The digging carried
on there for some thirty-five years by `treasure-seeking'
villagers had revealed a `culture stratum' of completely
decayed matter buried under a very deep layer of alluvium.
Curiously enough this has been dug and washed mainly for
the flakes of gold leaf which at one time were rather plenti-
fully obtained from it. These were the relics of the rich gild-
ing which, according to the testimony of an early Chinese
pilgrim, had covered not only images but many parts of
Buddhist religious structures at the capital. In recent years
antiques such as ornamented fragments of pottery, terra-
cotta figurines, chiefly of monkeys, engraved stones and
coins had come to be counted as a kind of secondary by-
products of a saleable kind (Fig. 26) .
Interesting as it was to collect such small remains and to
survey the strangely revealed site which they indicated, yet
I felt glad when, after careful completion of all arrange-
ments for supplies and transport, I was free to start by
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