Shanshan
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Shanshan (Chinese: 鄯善; pinyin: Shànshàn; پىچان) was a kingdom located at the north-eastern end of the Taklamakan Desert near the great, but now mostly dry, salt lake known as Lop Nur.
The kingdom was originally an independent city-state, known in local Gandhari documents as Kroraïna (Krorayina, Kröran) – which is commonly rendered in Chinese as Loulan. The Western Han dynasty took direct control of the kingdom some time after 77 BCE, and it was later known in Chinese as Shanshan. A local variety of Gandhari was used in the kingdom for administrative, literary, and epigraphic purposes.[1]
Location
The kingdom of Kroraïna (Loulan), later Shanshan, was probably founded at a strategically located walled town, near the north-west corner of Lop Nur, next to the then outflow of the Tarim River into Lop Nur (40° 9’ N, 89° 5’ E). The site of Kroraïna covered about 10.8 hectares (27 acres) with a Buddhist pagoda about 10 metres (33 feet) high, numerous houses, and irrigation ditches.[2]
The kingdom included the city of Charklik (near the modern town of Ruoqiang to the south-west of Lop Nur), Cherchen (later Qiemo), as well as Niya, further to the south-west.[3]
Buddhism in Shanshan
An inscription in the Kharoṣṭhī script was found at Endere, originally written around the middle of the 3rd century CE. The inscription describes the king of Shanshan as a follower of Mahāyāna Buddhism — one who has "set forth in the Great Vehicle."[4] The king whom this refers to was probably Aṃgoka, who was the most powerful king of Shanshan. According to Richard Salomon, there is every reason to believe that Mahāyāna Buddhism was prominent in Shanshan at this time and enjoyed royal patronage.[4]
More evidence of the official adoption of Mahāyāna Buddhism in Shanshan is seen in a letter inscribed in wood, which dates to several decades later. The letter describes the Great Cozbo Ṣamasena as one who is "beloved of men and gods, honoured by men and gods, blessed with a good name, who has set forth in the Mahāyāna."[5]
Notes
- ↑ Salomon, Richard (2007). "Gāndhārī in the Worlds of India, Iran, and Central Asia". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 21: 179–192. ISSN 0890-4464. JSTOR 24049371.
- ↑ Hill (2015), Vol. I, p. 90.
- ↑ [1] Draft annotated translation of the Weilüe by John Hill
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 31
- ↑ Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 32
Further reading
Shanshan, Wikipedia
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