Serindia : vol.3 / 86 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0086	Serindia : vol.3
セリンディア : vol.3

1915 to Turfān, Kuchā, and other oases along the south foot of the T'ien-shan to convince myself
how common such marks of ancient local worship are at points near canal-heads, there appropriately
designated by the name of Su-bāshi, 'the water head'.⁴ That the limpid stream which cascades
down over the boulder-strewn slopes of the Ara-tam orchards deserved such local worship can easily
be seen from the map; for apart from creating that profusion of fruit-trees and vines over some
hundreds of acres at its very debouchure, it irrigates the fields of Tāsh-ara, and further down the
long-stretched belt of village lands above and below Karmukchi.⁵

Buddhist
temple
ruins. The ruined shrines of Ara-tam are divided into two main groups, both situated to the west of
the Wang's garden palace and, as seen in Fig. 192, close to the foot of the steep outermost range
of hills. The group which comprises the temple ruins marked A. I, II in the plans of Plates 47,
48, besides some smaller and badly decayed structures, occupies the top of the easternmost
among a row of small gravel-covered hillocks, about 300 yards distant from the Wang's seat. The
top of this hillock, seen in Fig. 256, rises to a height of about 120 feet above the level of the nearest
irrigated ground. Along its south foot there extends a broad gravel terrace, partially seen on the
extreme left of Fig. 192, and about 40 feet above the ground-level. Near its eastern edge were
found the remnants of a few small cellas built of sun-dried bricks almost completely decayed. From
this terrace a narrow flight of stairs, built over a substructure of boulders and preserved only in its
upper portion, led up to the platform, partly artificial, occupied by the main temple A. I (Fig. 256;
Plate 47). The walled-up portion of the platform at the south-west corner rises about 16 feet above
the natural slope.

Ruined
temple A. I. The ruined temple contained, besides an outer hall measuring about 33½ feet by 20 inside, an
oblong cella, 23¾ feet by 13, and two flanking rooms apparently approached from without. The
walls, varying in thickness from 1 foot 8 inches to 2¾ feet, were built both here and in the shrine
A. II of sun-dried bricks in rather friable clay, about 12″ × 6″ × 4½″. These were set horizontally,
the broad and narrow sides facing outwards in alternate layers. The whole interior of the ruin was
covered with débris to a height of over 3 feet. Over this a partition wall of later date was found
to have been built within the cella, thus proving renewed occupation after the shrine was abandoned.
This is also suggested by the designation Köne-karaul, 'the old guard-post', now borne by this
group of ruins.

Remains
from dé-
bris in A. I. The clearing of the interior of A. I brought to light within the cella a horseshoe-shaped image
base 14 inches high and a mass of painted fragments from stucco relievos, all much broken. As
seen from the specimens A. I. 001–12 in the Descriptive List below,⁶ these fragments must have
belonged mainly to small relievo images decorating the cella walls. The lower portion of a life-size
stucco figure found in front of the eastern end of the base was badly decayed and had lost most of
its painted surface; but the folds of a robe could still be distinguished. Of the frescoes once
ornamenting the cella walls only very scanty remains survived among the débris (see A. 001;
I. 0013). Plentiful pieces of completely charred woodwork were found within A. I and A. II, thus
proving that both shrines had been destroyed by fire. But the poor preservation of the remnants
of stucco relief and the almost complete decay of the wall plastering showed clearly the even more
destructive effect of atmospheric conditions at this site. Snow was said to fall at Ara-tam in the

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