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Ancient Khotan : vol.1 |
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the reign of Wên-ch'êng Ti (452–466 A.D.) we hear of an embassy sent by the king of Su-lê
to the Imperial court to present a sacred relic, the reputed dress of Buddha which proved
incombustible⁴. Early in the following century Kāshgar figures among the numerous territories
of Eastern Turkestān, which the Annals of the Liang Dynasty and the Pei shih mention as
subject to the Yeh-ta or Hephthalites. By the middle of the fifth century this race, of probably
Turkish origin, had founded a powerful empire in the Oxus Basin, whence they carried their
conquests down to Gandhāra and beyond the Indus in the south, and as far as Khotan and
Kara-shahr in the east⁵.
Dominion
of the
Western
Turks. Between the years 563 and 567 the empire of the Hephthalites succumbed to the attack
of the Western Turks (called T'u-chüeh by the Chinese) under their great Khākān Istāmi, the
Dizabul or Silzibul of the Byzantine historian Menander, whose aid Khusrû Anûshirwān, the
Sassanian, had called in against these dangerous foes of his dominion⁶. All the territories
north of the Oxus previously subject to the Hephthalites now passed under the sway of the
Western Turks. Soon their power extended also over the old Hephthalite possessions south of
the river and beyond the Hindukush, which the waning strength of the Sassanians proved
helpless to retain. From their encampments placed in favourite valleys of the T'ien-shan north
of Kuchā and Kāshgar the Khākāns of the Western Turks exercised their sway over dominions
probably exceeding in extent even those of the Hephthalites⁷. The Chinese records show that
the subject states were left in charge of their hereditary local rulers, but each under the control
of a Turkish Tudun, who watched over the collection of the tribute⁸. There can be little
doubt that the political conditions of Kāshgar, and probably of most states in Eastern Turkestān,
were of the type here indicated.
Establish-
ment of the
T'ang
Dynasty. The establishment of the T'ang Dynasty, 618 A.D., marks the beginning of a new and
glorious epoch in the history of Chinese relations with the 'Western regions'. During the reign
of its founder Kao-tsu (618–626 A.D.), and during the first years of his energetic successor T'ai-
tsung (627–649 A.D.), the struggle with the Northern Turks, whose attacks threatened the very
existence of the empire, prevented the prosecution of a vigorous policy westwards. While that
struggle lasted the Chinese court was eager to seek the help of the Western Turks, who were
then united under the rule of a powerful Kagan (Khān), called T'ung shih-hu in the T'ang
Annals⁹. He was still reigning when Hsüan-tsang, in 630 A.D., passed through the vast region
which acknowledged his sovereignty. The gracious reception which he accorded to the pilgrim
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724
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