National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Sec. 1]   THE SITE OF FARHAD-BEG-YAILAKI   1251

led up straight to the edges of deeply eroded trenches, it is obvious that the track must be old and perhaps dating back to the time when the site was abandoned.

At F. ix the clearing of a dwelling which contained several rooms built with plastered rush-walls yielded only a few household implements of wood and clay. To the south-east of it small fragments of relievos, all in hard white stucco, were the only traces left of a completely destroyed shrine. About three-quarters of a mile due south from F. viii there survived the wall foundations of a shrine, consisting of a cella and passage, the walls of the latter built of clay. Behind the central statue base in the cella was found a painted panel, F. xi. i. 001, almost completely effaced, and the small fragment of a Brâhmi manuscript leaf. Among the remains of an adjoining monastic dwelling the clay walls of a large hall were still distinguishable, besides some smaller quarters. Still further to the south there was found, half-embedded in a dune near a ' Tati ' area, a small timber and wattle structure, from which the plain haematite seal F. x. 001 was recovered.

SECTION II.--THE SHRINE F. XII AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE SITE

The shrine F. XII, remarkable both for its position and for its remains, still has to be described. It was situated about half a mile to the south of F. x on the south-eastern slope of a high tamarisk-covered sand-cone, seen in Fig. 315. Both to the west and to the south of this there stretch ridges of close-set tamarisk-cones, while beyond these the dying streamlet from the Domoko-yar meanders across strips of level ground thickly covered with scrub and reeds. The little temple must have been built when the sand-cone was much lower ; for its floor, as seen in the plan, Plate 58, stood 20 feet above the level marked by an ancient rush fence traceable for about 24 feet near the south foot of the cone. The top of the latter now rose fully 18 feet above the temple floor. This height of sand had accumulated over the shrine since it was abandoned, and had helped partially to preserve it. Its walls, fully 42 feet thick and built of fairly uniform flat lumps of clay, still rose to a height of about 6 feet on the north-west ; elsewhere they were broken from about 4 feet. The little cella within measured just over 8 feet by w. ` Treasure-seekers ' had made an entrance into it from the east corner, and small fragments from stucco relievos and the cut-out head of a frescoed figure on the south-east wall (Fig. 314) attested their recent burrowing. But the sand, filling the cella and pouring in from the original entrance in the north-west wall (Fig. 312), had fortunately prevented further destructive burrowing.

On clearing, the interior proved to have contained on the south-east a colossal stucco image probably of a standing Buddha, now completely broken except for remains of one foot, and five smaller standing figures in stucco elsewhere. Small platforms about 6 inches high along the northeast and south-west walls retained the broken-bases for two statues on each side. But of these only one was found still standing to the waist, at a height of over 4 feet (Fig. 296) ; the rest of these four statues had crumbled away completely. The surviving portion of the statue, which probably represented a Bodhisattva, showed the hips and legs covered with a dark red robe. This had a light blue border below and was ornamented with a large rectangular pattern of dark green, edged with chains of blue dots. Above the missing feet the robe left uncovered a deep-blue under-garment in rich folds. The reed-bundles of the framework protruded at the waist. The space left available on the north-west wall by the side of the entrance was occupied by a stucco image of which only the lower portion of the legs with the feet survived (Figs. 312, 313). Above this the framework of wood and reeds was exposed up to the height of the waist. The robe, still seen from the knees downwards, showed rich ornamentation in colours, representing textile designs whether woven or embroidered. The ground-colour of the garment was a rich Pompeian red. Over this there were shown in

7 u 2

Ruined structures to south.

Temple on tamarisk-cone.

Remains of stucco images.

Textile designs of robe.