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67-535: Qizil may refer to: Kizil Caves , in Baicheng County (Bay), Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China Qizil, Iran , a village in Kermanshah Province, Iran [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

134-541: A cupola . The back wall had a well-preserved scene of a Jataka story, the Rudrayana Legend from the Divyavadana , with king Rudrayana observing the dance of his Queen Chandraprabha, who appears nude except for thin veils and jewelry. During the dance, the king had a premonition that his wife would soon die, and she asked to become a Buddhist nun. The style and attitudes of the figures are generally Indian, such as

201-520: A "Classical" stage. Their style is very elegant and "painterly", with sophisticated shading of the bodies to express sculptural volume. The lines are refined and subtle, the colors blend softly. This style is also characteristically Indian, and may be related to Gandhara or Kashmir . This early style is exemplified by the Cave of the Hippocampi (Cave 118), and may form a distinctive school. This contrasts with

268-507: A central column incorporating a niche for a statue of the Buddha, which is a representation of the stupa . The so-called "central pillar" which appears on a plan is actually not a pillar at all but only the rock at the back of the cave, into which was bored a circular corridor allowing for circumambulation . A large vaulted chamber is located in front of the "central pillar" column and a smaller rear chamber behind with two tunnel-like corridors on

335-417: A chronology which has some significant differences with the chronology previously proposed by Su Bai. Japanese teams of Nagoya University (日本名古屋大学) tested in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2011 the following caves: 8 , 171 , 224 , 13, 67, 76 , 77 , 92, 205 . Many of the results remain inconclusive, sometimes even contradictory, and the historical period in question is rather too short in relation to

402-414: A great number of paintings, but was careful to make records before doing so in order to retain their archaeological value, and to photograph or draw them before cutting them out, out of fear that they could be destroyed upon removal or during transport. He used a canvas to take quite precise records of the paintings. For example, Grünwedel recounts how he discovered a very interesting mural with warriors in

469-472: A near-naked woman seated to his left. They wear heavy round earrings with a central rosette design. The modeling of the faces reminds of the statuary of Hadda in Gandhara . The picture is elaborately framed by five successive decorative borders with naturalistic vine rinceau , suggestive of Roman art. The colors of the murals are various shades of brown, with smatterings of light green, but no blue, defining

536-450: A niche for a statue of the Buddha, which is a representation of the stupa . There are three other types of caves: square caves, caves "with a colossal image", and monastic cells (kuti). Around two-thirds of the caves are kutis which are monks' living quarters and store-houses and these caves do not contain mural paintings. Chronology remains the subject of debate. In the typical "central pillar" design, pilgrims can circumambulate around

603-425: A painter wearing a tunic similar to those of the donors on the other side, but whose head only remained. Cave 83 (Treasure Cave C) is part of the compact group of the four "Treasure Caves" (82, 83, 84, 85) located at the entrance of the central valley. It is a relatively small square cave (3.6x3.6m), with a podium in the middle, probably for a statue or a stupa . Here the ceiling has collapsed, but probably formed

670-407: A period from 300 to 500 CE, and is characterized by Gandharan themes and orange and green hues, having a strong flavour of India: female dancers and musicians are often naked or half-naked with full breasts. The art of these paintings is quite refined, and forms the "Classical" period of the art of Kizil: the shades are delicate, the lines are fine and elegant, the colors blend progressively to give

737-652: A saint or an image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary . Often this is performed three times, as a reference to the Trinity . In the Tridentine Rite the elements of Bread and Wine are also incensed before the Consecration by encircling them, twice counterclockwise, once clockwise. This incensing was accompanied with Latin prayer. In Romania , there is an Easter custom to process around the church three times by singing priests leading

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804-565: A sense of texture and volume. The paintings of Bamiyan in northern Afghanistan are generally considered as the precussors of the art of the Kizil Caves. Towards the end of the period, the influence of the art of Gandhara is considered as a consequence of the political unification of the area between Bactria and Kucha under the Hephthalites , which lasted from 480 to 560 CE, or a few decades later. The earliest paintings at Kizil belong to

871-515: A slightly personal style, sometimes called "Special Style" ( Sonderstil ). The first style is only found in Kizil, except for one cave in nearby Kumtura : the Cave with the cupola . The second style is called "Indo-Iranian style II", and cover most of the other caves of Kizil, which use strongly contrasted colors and strong line strokes, using browns, oranges and greens and especially a vivid lapis-lazuli blue. The name "Indo-Iranian" again broadly denotes

938-516: A structural scheme which remained influential throughout the 20th century. It is essentially based on the definition of two schools of art, "Style 1" and "Style 2". Style I, qualified as "Indo-Iranian", derives from the Art of Gandhara , and murals tend to have dark cinnabar backgrounds with green and orange color schemes and natural shading, and the architecture tends to consist in squarish caves with cupola ceilings. Style II derives from Sasanian art , and

1005-588: A wealthy center of trade and culture. Kucha was part of the Silk Road economy, and was in contact with the rest of Central Asia, including Sogdiana and Bactria , and thus also with the cultures of India, Iran, and coastal areas of China. Early visitors are known, such Maes Titianus . Since the 2nd century CE, under the auspices of the Han dynasty and the Kushan Empire , numerous great Buddhist missionaries passed through

1072-553: Is characterized by a strong contrast between brilliant green-blue pigments. Architecturally, the caves of Style II have a central stupa-pillar surrounded by a circular corridor for circumambulation . According to Grünwedel, Style II was before the 8th century CE. After Grünwedel, Albert von Le Coq and Ernst Waldschmidt proposed dates, based in the epigraphic inscriptions found in the caves. They proposed to date Style I from 500 to 600, and Style II from 600 to 650 CE. These chronological guidelines remained extremely influential throughout

1139-551: Is done in complete silence and also performed on holy days such as the birth and ascension of Bahá'u'lláh as well as the birth and martyrdom of the Báb. The Bönpo in the Tibet traditionally circumambulate (generally) in a counter-clockwise direction, that is a direction that runs counter to the apparent movement of the Sun . Candidates for the three principle degrees of Freemasonry circumambulate

1206-483: Is performed during wedding ceremonies, the four rounds of pheras symbolize a sacrosanct bond in the form of circumambulation of a purifying object, in this case the holy book, Sri Guru Granth Sahib . In the Catholic Church , a priest sometimes circumambulates an altar while incensing it with a thurible . Also, at some Catholic shrines, it is a tradition to circle the cult object of the place, usually relics of

1273-452: Is provided with a red border all around, and an ample green dress. Their hair is cut straight to the nuque, a hair style also referenced for the people of Kucha in the contemporary Chinese chronicles Jin Shu . A kneeling monk appeared next to the top left corner of the main mural, in a red robe and with ocher shorn hair, engaged in shaping a ceremonial jar with a hammer, while behind him appeared

1340-679: The Cave above the cave of the coffered ceiling (Cave 171) , or the Cave of the Niche (Cave 27). According to the Chinese chronicles of the Jin dynasty (265-316 CE), there were already a thousand Buddhist stupas and temples in Kucha by the 3rd century CE. The earliest painted caves at Kizil are thought to be Cave of the Hippocampi (Cave 118) and Treasure Caves C and B (Caves 83 and 84 respectively). Cave 118, possibly

1407-834: The Cave of the Painters (207) . Intending to remove it, he first made a precise drawing. But once the drawing was made, the mural disintegrated upon removal and was lost, except for a few fragments still in-situ . Altogether, the Third German Expedition still removed many paintings, and shipped almost 120 crates of murals to Berlin. Grünwedel published the result of his explorations in 1912 in Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch Turkistan, Bericht über archäologische Arbeiten von 1906 bis 1907 bei Kuča, Qarašahr und in der Oase Turfan . Grünwedel discovered that

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1474-614: The Hephtalites , and no influence from East Asia. The Kizil Caves were designated by the Germans by a series of names, and have been separately numbered by the Chinese. A correspondence chart has been produced by Rhie. Some very early caves, now numbered 90–17 to 90–24, have been discovered since the 1990s in the lower parts of the cliff at the entrance of the central valley. These caves were square or rectangular with barrel-vaulted ceilings, but without any decorations. A notable feature of

1541-560: The Simsim caves . The Kizil Caves are "the earliest representative grottoes in China". At the time the caves were created, the area of Kucha was following the orthodox Sarvastivadin school of Hinayana Buddhism , although an early and minority Dharmagupta presence has also been noted. The simpler square caves may have been established by the Dharmagupta from the 4th century CE or earlier, while

1608-494: The Third German Turfan Expedition (December 1905 – July 6, 1907). Albert von Le Coq was also part of the third German expedition and was under the direction of Albert Grünwedel, but only remained until June 1906, when he had to leave for British India due to a heavy illness. The caves were photographed, drawings were made, and large portions of the murals were removed and sent to Germany. Grünwedel removed

1675-627: The Tribhanga posture of the dancer, of the way the King is seated. The flutering ribbons of the diadem worn by the king however, were adopted from Iranian royal symbolism. In this cave, the frames of the paintings, especially the vine rinceaux, are probably derived from Roman art of the 1st century CE. This cave may be slightly earlier then Cave 84. The mural was sent to Berlin by Grünwedel (Ref: MIK III 8443). These paintings are soft and delicate: volumes are defined by gradations of shades and colors, not by

1742-744: The UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site. The Kizil Caves complex is the largest of the ancient Buddhist cave sites that are associated with the ancient Tocharian kingdom of Kucha , as well as the largest in Xinjiang. Other famous sites nearby are the Kizilgaha caves , the Kumtura Caves , Subashi Temple and

1809-800: The chuppah and much Jewish dancing at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs is done by moving in a circle. According to the Mishnah in Tractate Middot 2:2, when a person ascended to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on the Three Pilgrimage Festivals in the time of the Temple 's existence, they would circumambulate counter-clockwise. Someone who had something bad happen to them would circumambulate clockwise so that when someone saw them going in this unusual direction

1876-478: The "central pillar" caves, which flourished from the mid-6th century CE, can rather be associated with the Sarvastivadin school. There are 236 cave temples in Kizil, carved into the cliff stretching from east to west for a length of 2 km. Of these, 135 are still relatively intact. The earliest caves are dated, based in part on radioactive carbon dating, to around the year 300. Most researchers believe that

1943-737: The 20th century, as late as the 1980s. Various attempts at radio-carbon analysis were made over the years, with various degrees of success, but with the main effect of pushing back the dates of the first caves to circa 300 BCE, and challenging the German classification according to styles and colors schemes. In 1979, a Chinese institute (文物保护科学技术研究所, Wenwu baohu kexue jishu yanjiusuo ) carbon-tested caves 63, 47 , 13. In 1979–1981, Su Bai (宿白) of Beijing University (北京大学历史系考古教研室, Beijing daxue lishi xi kaogu jiaoyanshi ) made an influential carbon-testing campaign for caves 47 , 3, 38 , 6, 171 , 17 , 190, 8. Based on these dates and on an analysis of

2010-470: The Buddha of the future Maitreya in the Tusita Heaven . Below this is a depiction of Mount Sumeru surrounding by various Nagas, figures of devotees, and animals. Small figures of kneeling devotees in tunics , about 40 centimeters tall, some armed with a dagger, appear next to the left and right corners of the back-wall mural: probably noble and wealthy Kuchean donors of the 4th century CE. One of

2077-702: The Buddha, and are an artistic representation in the tradition of the Hinayana school of the Sarvastivadas . Carbon-testing and stylistical analysis helped determine three main periods in the paintings at Kizil, which cover a period from 300 CE to 650 CE. The early art of Kizil correspond to the Western school of art in the Tarim Basin , and mainly displays influences from Gandhara and the Iranian world, particularly influence from

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2144-519: The Cross services are celebrated. The priest along with altar servers process around the interior of the church visiting each of the 14 stations. On Palm Sunday in the churches of many Christian denominations , members of the congregation, oftentimes children, are given palms that they carry as they walk in a procession around the inside of the church. In the Church of Pakistan , a united Protestant Church ,

2211-489: The German mission, from September 1, 1907, over a few days, and Charles Nouette took many beautiful and informative photographs . Albert von Le Coq came back to Kizil and surrounding areas in 1913–1914, heading the Fourth German Expedition, removing many paintings, including those Grünwedel had left in place, but generally taking much fewer records than his predecessor. In 1912 Grünwedel proposed in 1912

2278-530: The Hippocampi (Cave 118) was visited and photographed by the Third German Expedition of 1906–1907 , and by the French expedition of Paul Pelliot in 1907. Large portions of the murals were removed and sent to Germany, especially by von Le Coq in 1914, who removed the lunettes and the sides of the vault. The cave consists of a rectangular room (3.6 x 4.8 meters), the entrance being on the long side, and

2345-610: The Kaaba, while supplicating to Allah. Judaism uses circumambulation in the Hakafot ritual during the Festival of Sukkot culminating in seven Hakafot on Hoshanah Rabbah , the end of the Festival. They are also performed during Hakafot on Simchat Torah , where Jews often dance circling the Torah Scrolls. Traditionally, Jewish brides circumambulate their grooms during the wedding ceremony under

2412-753: The Kizil Caves were essential in the understanding of the development of Buddhist art , and suggested some forms of Western artistic influences as well: For years I have been endeavouring to find a credible thesis for the development of Buddhist art, and primarily to trace the ancient route by which the art of imperial Rome, etc..., reached the Far East. What I have seen here goes beyond my wildest dreams. If only I had hands enough to copy it all, [for] here in Kizil are about 300 caves, some of them containing frescoes, all of them very old and fine." The French explorer Paul Pelliot and his photographer Charles Nouette , who were in Kucha from January 1907, visited Kizil soon after

2479-626: The Kizil murals is the division into diamond-shaped blocks in the vault ceilings of the main room of many caves. Buddhist scenes are depicted inside these diamond-shapes in many layers on top of one another to show the narrative sequences of the scenes. The pigments in the painting of the Kizil Caves have been analysed by X-ray diffraction analysis . The reds are primarily vermilion and red lead , which today are greatly discolored, and red ocher . Blue pigments are from lapis lazuli . Green pigments are from copper hydroxy chloride minerals such as atacamite . Brownish-black pigments are PbO2, obtained from

2546-783: The Tarim Basin on their way to China, such as the Parthian An Shigao , the Yuezhis Lokaksema and Zhi Qian , or the Indian Chu Sho-fu (竺朔佛). Culture flourished, and Indian Sanskrit scriptures were being translated by the Kuchean monk and translator Kumarajiva (344–413 CE), himself the son of a Buddhist man from Kashmir and a Kuchean princess, sister of the King. The 1st Style, sometimes called "First Indo-Iranian style" to denote influences from India and Central Asia, covers

2613-590: The architecture of the caves (from the simpler to the more sophisticated), Su Bai proposed an influential dating scheme, pushing back the dates of the first caves to circa 300 CE. In 1989–1993, Huo and Wang (中国社会科学院考古研究所, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo ) tested the following caves: 224 , 76 , 4 , 8 , 34, 68, 77 , 98, 104 , 114 , 117, 118 , 119, 125, 129 , 135, 162, 171 , 180, 189, 196, 198 , 206 , 212 , 219 , 227 , 27, 39, 48 , 60 , 69 , 84 , 91, 92, 99, 123 , 139, 161, 165, 178 , 207 . They proposed

2680-472: The artistic influence from India, combined with important influences from Central Asian and the Iranian world. This style is further divided in three broad periods. Finally, a third Uighur-Chinese style appears in only two caves at Kizil. The Kingdom of Kucha , the most populous oasis in the Tarim Basin, occupied a strategic position on the Northern Silk Road, which brought it prosperity, and made it

2747-573: The caves meaningless. Most researchers now use an approach combining artistic and architectural analysis together with carbon-dating, as a way to approach a reliable nomenclature, as proposed by Marylin Martin Rhie from 2001. In 1906, the German expedition team of Albert Grünwedel explored the Kizil Caves. Albert von Le Coq , who worked under the direction Grünwedel, had to leave in June 1906 due to health problems. Grünwedel generally photographed and copied

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2814-520: The caves were probably abandoned sometime around the beginning of the 8th century, after Tang influence reached the area. Documents written in Tocharian languages were found in Kizil and a few of the caves contain Tocharian and Sanskrit inscriptions which give the names of a few rulers. Many of the caves have a central pillar design, whereby pilgrims may circumambulate around a central column incorporating

2881-451: The ceiling from the side walls. The general style appears to be early, and possibly derived from Kashmir and Cave 24 at Bamiyan . The lunettes bordering the ceiling display ornate Buddhist scenes. The right lunette is difficult to identify, but seems to represent a king or a Bodhisattava bending towards a warrior figure. The bottom portion shows a palatial scene, with a figure on a couch surrounded by devatas . The left lunette shows

2948-449: The ceiling of which forms a transverse barrel vault. In front of the cave, which is accessible through a door, there used to be an equally wide open space, perhaps adorned with paintings, with remains of a pyramid roof. The two rooms are separated by a 1-meter-thick wall. The model for this kind of vaulted cave can be found in Bactria at Kara Tepe , dating from the 2nd-3rd century CE. In

3015-685: The creation of the first cave paintings at Kizil. The main representative caves of this style are the Cave of the Hippocampi (Cave 118), the Cave of the Painters (Cave 207), the Peacock Cave (Cave 76), the Overpainted Cave (Cave 117), the Cave of the Statues (Cave 77), and the Cave of the Seafarers (Cave 112). The small group of the Treasure Cave (Cave 83, 84) is considered as contemporary, but in

3082-458: The donors holds three burning incense cones. He is dressed in a bordered and turned-up, collarless tunic with close-fitting sleeves. The tunic, which reaches slightly above the knee, is belted. The pants are of the same color and have the same border. He wears gray calf boots with cruciate ligaments that run under the sole. The figure behind holds a wreath and a kind of censer, is dressed in a black belted lap jacket with tight-fitting sleeves, which

3149-404: The dōshi enters the zendō with the third rolldown. After offering incense and bowing at the altar, the dōshi walks around the zendō behind the meditators, in what is called the kentan (検単), inspection of the sitting platform . As the dōshi passes, each resident raises their hands in gasshō (合掌) without bowing. This joins the dōshi and sitters in mutual acknowledgement. In Lavan Pheras, which

3216-402: The earliest of the three, is located deep inside the central valley. Cave 83 and 84 are located at the entrance of the same valley. These caves have simple architectural structures, together with paintings in a clear style, reflecting Indian influences. Noble or wealthy Tocharian donors from Kucha , wearing tunics, sometimes appear kneeling at the side of devotional paintings. The Cave of

3283-630: The faithful on Palm Sunday carry palm branches into the church as they sing Psalm 24 . Tawaf (طواف) is one of the Islamic rituals of pilgrimage . During the Hajj and Umrah , Muslims are to circumambulate the Kaaba ( most sacred site in Islam ) seven times, in a counter-clockwise direction. The circling is believed to demonstrate the unity of the believers in the worship of God, as they move in harmony together around

3350-410: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qizil&oldid=977001727 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves were inscribed in 2014 on

3417-404: The middle of the back wall of the main cella stands a large painting (3.42 m wide and 2.16 m high), with an unidentified scene of a King with attendants, possibly "The skill and music in the heavenly palace" (天宫伎乐). The attitudes and postures of the figures remind the reliefs of 3rd–4th century CE Nagarjunakonda . A king is seated at the center, with numerous attendants surrounding him, especially

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3484-488: The murals in Kizil is the extensive use of blue pigments, including the precious ultramarine pigment derived from lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. In the classification of the art of the region by Ernst Waldschmidt , there are three distinct periods: the murals from the first phase are characterized by the use of reddish pigments, while those from the second phase used bluish pigments in abundance. The earlier paintings reflect more Greco-Indian or Gandharan influences, while

3551-629: The murals, before removing those he considered essential. Most of the fragments removed are now in Museum of Asian Art (formerly Museum für Indische Kunst) in Dahlem , Berlin. Other explorers removed some fragments of murals, that may now be found in museums in Russia, Japan, Korea and United States. Although the site has been both damaged and looted, around 5000 square metres of wall paintings remain, These murals mostly depict Jataka stories, avadanas , and legends of

3618-478: The oxidation of red lead. White pigments were mainly obtained from gypsum . A broad classification of styles, formalized by Le Coq and Waldschmidt in 1933, has been generally accepted. The first style is called "Indo-Iranian style I", and cover all the early caves with delicate tone-on-tone paintings, using browns, oranges and greens. The name "Indo-Iranian" broadly denotes the artistic influence from India, combined with elements of Iranian art, that presided over

3685-527: The painting over the exit is related to the Tusita Heaven and the future Buddha Maitreya . The Kizil Caves were first discovered and explored in 1902–1904 by the Ōtani expedition , a Japanese expedition under Tesshin Watanabe (渡辺哲信) and Kenyu Hori (堀賢雄), funded by Count Otani , but the expedition left hurriedly after four months of exploration in the area of Kucha, following a local earthquake. The Kizil caves were then explored by Albert Grünwedel , head of

3752-586: The people, just before finishing Easter Liturgy. It symbolizes the funerary procession of the burial of Jesus Christ. Circumambulation is common in many Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox services. In the Coptic tradition, during the liturgy , the priest circles the altar while an acolyte ( altar boy ) holds a cross high on the opposite side. This is also a common practice in Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Methodist churches during Lent when Stations of

3819-692: The person could tell them what was wrong (i.e., they were a mourner or were excommunicated) and the person encountering them would pray for them in the name of "the One who dwells in this House." Followers of the Baháʼí Faith perform circumambulation of both the Shrines of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh during their lesser pilgrimage to Haifa and Bahjí , in Palestine. While circumambulating, observance of these Manifestations of God

3886-497: The second ones show Iranian ( Sassanian ) influences. Later caves seem to have fewer legends and/or jatakas, being replaced by the repetitive designs of numerous small Buddhas (the so-called thousand Buddha motif), or sitting Buddhas with nimbuses. The paintings of the first two phases showed a lack of Chinese elements. The last phase, the Turkic-Chinese period, is most in evidence in the Turfan area, but in Kizil only two caves showed Tang Chinese influence. Another characteristic of

3953-496: The sharp limit of a line. Overall, "the brush has the priority over drawing". Circumambulation Circumambulation (from Latin circum around and ambulātus to walk ) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā ). It is also present in other religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In many Hindu temples,

4020-413: The shrine is called the Pradakshina path. Also called pradakṣina or caṅkramaṇa in Sanskrit . In Zen Buddhism , jundō (巡堂) can mean any ritual circuit or circumambulation. At Tassajara each morning, the officiating priest (導師 dōshi ) visits four different altars on their way to the zendō , to make bows and offerings of incense. This jundō begins with the first rolldown of the han , and ends as

4087-415: The sides linking these spaces. In the front chamber, a three-dimensional image of Buddha would have been housed in a large niche serving as the focus of the interior, however, none of these sculptures have survived at Kizil. The rear chamber may feature the parinirvana scene in the form of a mural or large sculpture, and in some cases, a combination of both. The "central pillar" layout is possibly related to

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4154-426: The so-called "orange and green" style. The center of the ceiling has motifs of the sun and moon, two monks, and a bird flying with a human figure in its claws. The sides of the ceiling are composed of diamond-shaped mountains, around which are naturalistic motifs of humans, animals, lakes and trees, a possibly Near-Eastern design which was generally adopted in later caves at Kizil. A band of fantastic animals separated

4221-429: The spiritual concept of transition through levels in life into bodily movements by the worshipers as they move inwardly through ambulatory halls to the most sacred centre of spiritual energy of the deity. It is done in a clockwise direction and in an odd rather than even number of times. Circumambulatory walking around the shrine, by keeping time, is a common form of Hindu prayer. The ambulatory pathway made of stone around

4288-412: The structural design of Kara Tepe in northern Bactria . The program of the paintings in the "central pillar" caves generally follows a fixed arrangement: the walls of the main cella show sermons of the Buddha, the ceiling has rhomboid vignettes alluding to Jatakas , the central niche has the scene of the Indrasala Cave . The back room or corridor has scenes related to the Parinirvana , and finally

4355-427: The style of the following stage, as seen in the panels in the cella of the Cave of the Statues , such as the " Cowherd Nanda ", which is much bolder, using intense colors (but still browns, greens and oranges only), thicker lines and simpler patterns. Early inscriptions in Tocharian , an Indo-European language using a derivation of the Indian Brahmi script is used in several early paintings on tablets, as found in

4422-400: The temple structure reflects the symbolism of the Hindu association of the spiritual transition from daily life to spiritual perfection as a journey through stages. Passageways for circumambulation are present through which worshipers move in a clockwise direction, starting at the sanctuary doorway and moving inward toward the inner sanctum where the deity is enshrined. This is a translation of

4489-488: The uncertainty margin of Carbon 14 datation, to provide a meaningful segmentation of the caves. Most narrow Carbon dates given for the Kizil Caves refer to a 68% probability level (1σ), which implies a significant level of uncertainty, and when dates are adjusted to the 95% probability level (2σ) as standard archaeological practice requires, then the timespan between the earliest and lowest dates becomes so large (about 200 to 300 years), as to make individual comparisons between

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