King Sophagasenus & The Kapisa Valley (206 BC)

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"Sophagasenos also spelt Sophagasenus or Sophagasenas (Sanskrit: Subhagasena) was a local King ruling in Kabul and Kapisa valley (Paropamisade of the classical writings) during the last decade of 3rd century BC..... Sophagasenus finds reference only in "The Histories" of Polybius. The identity of Sophagasenus is not clear. Many historians believe that Sophagasenus was a princely scion of the Mauryas of Magadha but others believe him to have been a non-Mauryan local ruler from the area he ruled i.e. from Kabul/Kapisa land. ....."

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"The Diadochi (Greek: Διάδοχοι, Diadokhoi, meaning "Successors") were the rival generals, families and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for control over his empire after his death in 323 BC. The Wars of the Diadochi mark the beginning of the Hellenistic period......."Ian Mladjov's Resources......diadokhoi195nbc.jpg.......https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/imladjov/home

"We do not know who the Sophagasenus was. "After Asoka's death ( 304–232 BC)...... the interest of his successors, west of Indus must have disappeared because when later on (~206 BC), Antiochus III, 6th successor of Seleucus entered the Indus valley, he was resisted not by Mauryas but by a local ruler named Subhagasena..." . One quite agrees with Dr Thapar, Dr Rawilson and other scholars as quoted above that the ancestry of Sophagasenus is unclear and uncertain and in no can it be linked to Maurya rulers of Magadha on the basis of flimsy and unreliable evidence of Taranatha who is a careless and untrustworthy writer of comparatively recent times.....http://www.liquisearch.com/sophagasenus/differing_opinions_on_the_antecedents_and_ancestry_of_sophagasenos

"Tāranātha (1575–1634) was a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. Taranatha was born in Tibet, supposedly on the birthday of Padmasambhava. His original name was Kun-dga'-snying-po, the Sanskrit equivalent of which is Anandagarbha. However, he adopted Taranatha, the Sanskrit name by which he was generally known, as an indication of the value he placed on his Sanskrit scholarship in an era when mastery of the language had become much less common in Tibet than it had once been. He was also paying homage to his Indian teacher, Buddhaguptanatha.... His best known work is the 143-folio History of Buddhism in India of 1608,which has been published in English. His other major work, The Golden Rosary, Origins of the Tantra of the Bodhisattva Tara of 1604 has also been translated into English.....

"...the story of Taranatha and one of his teachers named Buddhaguptanatha. .......Buddhaguptanatha (1514-1610? AD) was an Indian Buddhist yogin who also held and practiced several Hindu yogic traditions. Taranatha apparently discovered this fact while Buddhaguptanatha was in the midst of bestowing a series of empowerments that he himself had received from his guru, Shantigupta. Taranatha was particularly challenged by the idea that his teacher also practiced Hinduism. Sensing his student’s sectarian reaction Buddhaguptanatha became upset and abruptly left Tibet leaving the series of empowerments incomplete. It is humbling that even for a teacher as great as Taranatha, the notion of “pure” Buddhism being mixed with Hinduism was a challenge- that on some level his own sense of distinction got the better of him. ".....http://ganachakra.com/tag/buddhagupatnatha/.....Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center, the North American Dharma Center of His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

"Polybius, the Greek historian, makes reference to Sophagasenus in context with Antiochus III’s expedition across the Caucasus Indicus (Hindu Kush Mountains) in around 206 BC. Having crossed the Caucasus Mountains, Antiochus moved up to Kabul and met Sophagasenus the King with whom he renewed league and friendship he had made previously. and received more elephants until he had one hundred and fifty of them altogether. He then returned home via Arachosia, Drangiana and Karmania. No other source except Polybius makes any reference to Sophagasenus."

"Polybius (Greek: Πολύβιος, Polýbios; c. 200 – c. 118 BC) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 264–146 BC in detail....... Polybius' Account of Antiochus III by T. S. Brown.....Phoenix......Vol. 18, No. 2 (Summer, 1964), pp. 124-136

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Map showing Bactra (Modern day Balkh, Afghanistan) (here indicated as Bactres), the capital of Bactria......208–206 BC

"The Siege of Bactra lasted from 208 to 206 BC. After defeating the Bactrians at the Battle of the Arius the Seleucids besieged the capital of Bactria until news from the west of his dominions and lack of progress against the city led Antiochus to negotiate peace with Euthydemus and lift the siege. In the peace that was agreed Antiochus recognized Euthydemus as an ally, and he gave one of his daughters as a wife to the Bactrian king."

"Bactrian campaign and Indian expedition of Antiochos III.......The year 209 BC saw Antiochus in Bactria, where the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I had supplanted the original rebel. Antiochus again met with success.......Euthydemus was defeated by Antiochus at the Battle of the Arius but after sustaining a famous siege in his capital Bactra (Balkh), he obtained an honourable peace by which Antiochus promised Euthydemus' son Demetrius the hand of one of his daughters......Antiochus next, following in the steps of Alexander, crossed into the Kabul valley, reaching the realm of Indian king Sophagasenus and returned west by way of Seistan and Kerman (206/5). According to Polybius:.....'He crossed the Caucasus (Hindu Kush) and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus (Subhashsena in Prakrit) the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him.".........Polybius 11.34, Antiochus Moves from Bactria Through Interior Asia

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"From around 180 BCE the Greco-Bactrian ruler Demetrius, conquered the Kabul Valley and parts of northwestern India. Demetrius helped established an Indo-Greek kingdom from the Hindu Kush to Mathura, which was to last in parts until the end of the 1st century BCE, and under which Buddhism was able to flourish. In particular, one of the successors of Demetrius, the Indo-Greek "Saviour king" Menander (Pali: Milinda) was a strong benefactor of the Buddhist faith at that time.".....http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?50541-Indian-faction/page4

A 15th century reconstruction (by Nicolaus Germanus) of a 2nd-century map (by Ptolemy)....Click on the map to enlarge

"Paropamisadae (Greek: Παροπαμισάδαι) is the Bactrian pronunciation of the Old Persian word Para-upari-sena (I.e "beyond the raised land"), which was then hellenized by the Greeks to Paropamisus (Greek: Παροπαμισσός) and is the old Iranian word for the district of Gandhara in western Pakistan, centered upon the cities of Peshawar and Charsadda. Upari-Sena (I.e "raised lands"), in Old Persian, refers to the Hindu-Kush mountains. Para-upari-sena (I.e "beyond the raised lands"), refers to the Peshawar Valley which is situated immediately beyond these mountains and is the location of Gandhara.....The Paropamisadae was located north of Arachosia and Drangiana, east of Aria, south of Bactria, and west of Kashmir. There were two main rivers flowing through the land, the Coas or Cophen (Κωφήν) and the Dorgamanes (Δοργαμάνης) or Orgomanes (Ὀργομάνης) farther north......The major cities of the land were the city of Ortospana (Ὀρτοσπάνα) or Carura (Κάρουρα), probably identifiable with Kabul, Gauzaca (Γαύζακα), probably modern Ghazni, Capissa (Καπίσσα) in the northeast, and Parsia (Παρσία), the capital of the Parsii."

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

August 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Uddiyana Kurukulla & Vashya-Karma Magic

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Uddiyana Kurukulla or Uddiyanodbhava, the Kurukulla who comes from Uddiyana. ...a female, peaceful to semi-wrathful Yidam.

Uddiyan od bhava.....bhava (not bhāva) is the continuity of life and death.....Sanskrit: bhāva, 'state, condition'......When Buddha was dying, his last utterance in this world was,'APPO DEEPO BHAVA' -- 'Be a light unto yourself.' .....bhav(a): mental attitude, feeling, purity of thought.....

Kurukulla or Kurukulle (Tibetan: ཀུ་རུ་ཀུ་ལླེ་, Wylie: ku ru ku lle, ZYPY: ku ru ku le.....(Skt. kurukullā; Tib. རིག་བྱེད་མ་, rikjéma; Wyl. rig byed ma) ....

"Buddhaguptanatha (1514-1610 ?)...about 1580 AD Buddhaguptanatha locates Urgyan (Uddyana) in Ghazni, about 50 miles south of Kabul in modern Afghanistan, which is in contrast with the traditional location of Urgyan in the Swat area......Tāranātha (1575–1634) gives a detailed description of the country and Dumasthira, the capital city of Uddyana....the focal location of the magic dakini women.........Buddhagupta describes the women of Uḍḍyāna as being of the various types of ḍākinīs, all posessing different types of magical abilities.".... They are powerful in their exercise of mantras and they know how to both help and hinder with them. They are skilled in adopting various physical forms and they have the ability to work with the mystic gaze.....They displayed various magical abilities involving birds and my master, Buddhaguptanatha, saw these miracles with his very own eyes and he told me of them. He said that previously when he was in Upper Hor [Muslim territories]… he was fully protected by the mantras that he had received from those dakinis in Urgyan, as well as by his own physical powers. Urgyan is surrounded to the east, the south and the west by three large lakes. When he crossed over the pass he came into the Hor Mleccha land of Balkh [northern central area of modern Afghanistan]......"Buddhaguptanatha and the Late Survival of the Siddha Tradition in India D Templeman

"Kurukullā is possibly an Indian tribal deity who was assimilated by Buddhists. She became associated with Tārā and is sometimes called Red Tārā. Incidently she was also adopted into the Hindu pantheon. In many ways she is similar to the ḍakiṇī figures such as Vajrayoginī. ....Kurukullā is particularly associated with the Red Rite, the Tantric Rite of Fascination or Subjugation (vaśikaraṇa). She is red in colour, dancing on a red lotus and as Lokesh Chandra says "she beams with love in all the freshness of youth". The Red Rite is on the mundane level associated with attracting lovers, and on the transcendental level relates to the Sameness Wisdom of Amitābha. Her seed syllable hrīḥ emphasises her relationship to Amitābha. There are some variations in her iconography but she is always shown with a pulled back bow and arrow both covered in flowers. The flowery arrow will remind westerners of Cupid, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Eros, who is depicted as a cherub who goes about shooting people with arrows that make them fall in love. She also often holds an elephant goad and a noose, both of which are used to help to subjugate lovers. ....http://www.visiblemantra.org/kurukulla.html

"Kurukulla Abhisheka.....Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has invited Kurukulla into the Shambhala mandala as an adornment for this stage in the community’s growth. A retinue practice, the Kurukulla Sadhana is done incidentally, at times when we need to enact a karma to benefit the world or to increase the effect of that activity within our life. The Sakyong wishes for his students to make a personal relationship with the Kurukulla sadhana, but there are no mantra requirements nor is there a number of sessions to do...... The Kurukulla abhisheka is open to practitioners who have established the Werma Sadhana as their main practice for more than one year. It is also open to all Vajrayogini sadhakas in the Shambhala mandala who have a connection to the Sakyong..... Kurukulla is a well-known dakini, or female wisdom deity, in the Tibetan and Indian tradition. She is a central figure associated with the activity of magnetizing people, wealth, and energy to virtuous dharmic endeavors. Kurukulla practice has a specific role to play in our community: to draw people with a connection to warriorship to Shambhala. The Werma and Shambhala Sadhanas will remain the central liturgical practices in the Shambhala tradition, and the Kurukulla sadhana will play the role of a "retinue practice" ­- assisting the community’s primary purpose of creating enlightened society......Kurukulla belongs to the padma family of deities, which includes Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, Padmasambhava, Hayagriva, and the other deities mentioned in Jamgön Mipham Gyatso’s short chant entitled Great Clouds of Blessings: Supplication for Magnetizing the Phenomenal World, which is practiced daily at our land centers. Often she’s referred to as Padmadakini, which reflects her connection to the padma family and is her name when she manifests as one of the four wisdom dakinis in the retinue of Vajrayogini. Her name in Tibetan is Rikchéma (rig byed ma), which literally means ‘she who gives knowledge’."......http://www.karmecholing.org/program.php?id=5315

"Kurukulla was likely an Indian tribal deity associated with magical domination. She was assimilated into the Buddhist pantheon at least as early as the Hevajra Tantra, which contains her mantra. Her function in Tibetan Buddhism is the "red" function of subjugation. Her root tantra is the Arya-tara-kurukulle-kalpa (Practices of the Noble Tara Kurukulla)..... It was translated by Ts'ütr'im jeya, a disciple of Atiśa."....Shaw, Miranda (2006). "Kurukulla: Red Enchantress with Flowered Bow". Buddhist Goddesses of India. Princeton University Press.

"One Buddhist Dakini originating from the country of Uddiyana is the goddess Kurukulla. The name Kurukulla is translated into Tibetan as Rigjyedma (rig-byed-ma), “she who is the cause knowledge.” She is associated with a king of Uddiyana named Indrabhuti...... there exists a sadhana text attributed to him for the red Kurukulla......she is generally known as the Uddiyana Kurukulla. Most modern scholars believe this indicates that Kurukulla was originally a tribal goddess, much like the Hindu goddess Durga had been in India, who later, because of her popularity, became associated with the Buddhist great goddess Tara. For this reason, Kurukulla is often called the Red Tara (sgrol-ma dmar-po) or Tarodbhava Kurukulla, “the Kurukulla who arises from Tara.”......KURUKULLA: The Dakini of Magic and Enchantments by John Myrdhin Reynolds

"Gods and goddesses are frequently described with objects of power known as "attributes." Often, they are depicted wielding weapons. ....One of the 12 Nidanas, or "links of dependant arising," on the outer ring of the Wheel of Existence depicts a man pierced through the eye by an arrow. This imagery symbolizes the power of our senses as vectors of attraction (and also, repulsion.) The hum of the nearly invisible swift-flying arrow does not afford any warning, and the accomplished archer can let loose a multitude of death- dealing points in a single encounter. Gods whose domains are the realm of the senses all wield the bow. Consider Artemis and Eros (Diana and Cupid, to the ancient Romans,) Kama the Hindu god of desire, and the Buddhist deity, Kurukulla. ".....http://www.khandro.net/mysterious_objects.htm

"A text like the Arya Tara Kurukulla Kalpa contains many ritual practices of lower magic to accomplish specific goals..... In one Kurukulla Sadhana found in the Sadhanamala(No. 72), there occurs a list of eight great siddhis or magical powers acquired through her practice:....the power to be invincible in battle with a sword......the power to remove ordinary lack of sight by using a magical ointment.....the power to be swift of foot .....the power to become invisible......the power of rejuvenation and long life.....the power to levitate .....the power to move freely through solid walls.....the power to have command over the spirits of the underworld (patala)."....http://vajranatha.com/teaching/Kurukulla.htm

Sadhana texts speak of the four magical actions or magics:
1. White magic or Shantika-karma (zhi-ba’i ‘phrin-las) has the function of calming and pacifying conditions and healing. White Tara is an example of a deity that specifically has this white function.
2. Yellow Magic or Paushtika-karma (rgyas-pa’i phrin-las) has the function of increasing wealth, prosperity, abundance, merit, knowledge, and so on. Vasundahara and Jambhala are examples of deities with these functions. Hence they are yellow in color.
3. Red Magic or Vashya-karma (dbang gi phrin-las) has the function of bringing people under one’s power, of enchanting, bewitching, attracting, subjugating, magnetizing them. This is the primary function of Kurukulla and hence her red color.
4. Black Magic or Raudra-karma (drag-po’i phrin-las) has the function of destroying evil and obstructions to the spiritual path. This is the specific function of many wrathful manifestations such as the Dakini Simhamukha who is dark blue in color.
http://www.khandro.net/mysterious_objects.htm

"......her association with the magical function of enchantment (dbang gi ‘phrin-las) or the bewitching of people in order to bring them under one’s power (dbang du bsdud). More than any other figure in the Buddhist pantheon, Kurukulla becomes the Buddhist goddess of love and sex, corresponding to the Western gooddesses Aphrodite and Venus. She is depicted as a voluptuous and seductive nude sixteen year old girl. Among the attributes she holds in her four hands, four arms being her most common manifestation, are the flower-entwined bow and arrow, reminiscent of the Western Eros and Cupid, although as the goddess of witchcraft, she is more akin to Diana.".....http://vajranatha.com/teaching/Kurukulla.htm

"....the chief canonical source for the goddess, found in the Tantra section (rgyud) of the Kangyur, is the Arya Tara Kurukulla Kalpa (‘Phags-ma sgrol-ma ku-ru-ku-lle’i rtog-pa), “The Magical Rituals for the Noble Tara Kurukulla.” This text was translated into Tibetan by Tsultrim Gyewa, a Tibetan disciple of the great Indian master Atisha (982-1054). ".........http://vajranatha.com/teaching/Kurukulla.htm

"There is also a two-armed white form of Kurukulla known as Shukla Kurukulla in the Sadhanamala (No.185). She has a single face that is calm and beautiful and the Buddha Amitabha adorns her crown. Her two hands hold a mala or rosary and a bowl full of lotus flowers. Her two legs are in vajrasana position.......in Hinduism for her name is found among the one thousand epithets of Mahadevi in the Lalita-sahasra-namah. She is represented as a dancing beautiful maiden or kumari. "...........http://vajranatha.com/teaching/Kurukulla.htm

Drupon Rinchen Dorje......http://tempxyp2440ym0wn.blogspot.com/2011/05/white-kurukulle-wisdombliss-empowerment.html

"The Hevajra Tantra, a yoginītantra of the anuttarayogatantra class, is believed to have originated between the late 8th and the late 9th or early 10th centuries......another lineage, mentioned by Kongtrul, goes from Vilāśyavajra to Anangavajra to Saroruha and thence to Indrabhuti."....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevajra

Yantra-Mantra Tantra and Occult Sciences......By Bhojraj Dwivedi

"The Goddess Kurukulla is invoked for the controlling activities of subjugating, magnetizing, and attracting. She is extremely seductive: her red color and subjugating flower-attributes emphasize her more mundane activity of enchanting men and women, ministers and kings, through the bewitching power of sexual desire and love (Skt. vashikarana). ".....http://www.bhsmc.org.tw/en/node/276

"...an interesting Dakini... she shoots flowers and is another form of TARA : Kurukulla, the "Enchantress"......deity in Hindu and Buddhist Tantra who is often invoked in works of subjugation, enchantment and magnetising people to you. Her name is Kurukulla (pronounced "Koo-roo-koo-lay" according to Jason Miller). In Buddhism she is an aspect of Tara who is often called the "Red Tara" and is considered the heart of Tara herself. In Hindu Tantra she is said to contain the energies and presence of the Mahavidyas Tara, Tripura Sundari (in her maiden form as "Bala Tripura Sundari") and Matangi. She is the combined energy of these three goddesses. Many Tantriks also believe that she is an aspect of the Mahavidya Chinnamasta. The *Lalita Sahasranama Stotram* mentions her name as one of the many names of the goddess Lalita Tripurasundari and in the Sri Vidya Tradition she is associated with the energies of the Full Moon. The Tantraraja Tantra gives a theory of 15 Lalita Nityas which are energy rays of the goddess Lalita connected with the lunar phases and Tara Kurukulla is said to be the mother of these energies. In the Shaktisamgana Tantra she is the fourth Nitya and a mantra is given for her......."Kuru means "harsh sound," and kulla means "family." ......http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=2149.10;wap2

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

August 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Gendün Chöphel (1903–1951) & the White Annals

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"Gendün Chöphel (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་འཕེལ, Wylie: dge 'dun chos 'phel) (1903–1951) was a Tibetan artist, writer and scholar. He was born in 1903 in Rabkong, Amdo. He was a creative and controversial figure and he is considered by many to have been one of the most important Tibetan intellectuals of the twentieth century......Gendün Chöphel was a friend of Rahul Sankrityayan. His life was the inspiration for Luc Schaedler's film The Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet and The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chophel. He is best known for his collection of essays called Grains of Gold: Tales of a Cosmopolitan Pilgrimage, written during his time in India and Sri Lanka in between 1934 and 1946. These essays were critical of modern Hinduism, Christianity, and British imperialism. While condemning places and events like the Black Hole of Calcutta and the Goa Inquisition, he praised certain British colonial practices like the abolition of sati.".....Wiki

White Annals (Wyl. deb ther dkar po) - an unfinished work on the early history of Tibet by Gendün Chöpel..........Dge-'Dun-chos-'phel, A-mdo, The White Annals, translated by Samten Norboo, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 1978.........Dan Martin, Tibetan Histories: A Bibliography of Tibetan-Language Historical Works, London: Serindia, 1997, pp.178-179

"Gendün Chöphel assisted the French scholar Jacques Bacot in the translation of several Dunhuang manuscripts from the Tibetan dynastic period. In these pages he read songs of the ancient Tibetan kings; these songs would inspire some of the poems in his unfinished history of early Tibet, the White Annals (Deb ther dkarpo)."......http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductExtract.asp?PID=19454

"In recent history, there has been no more famous Tibetan poet than Gendun Chopel (Dge 'dun chos 'phel, 1903-1951). He attracted acclamation and excoriation over the course of his short and controversial life, But both his devoted advocates and his bitter adversaries agreed on one thing: he was a consummate poet. In a culture where poetry is considered the highest form of human language, Gendun Chopel is revered as Tibet's greatest modern poet.".....http://www.wisdom-books.com/

"... H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche told me the story of a Buddhist teacher who was described in a historical treatise by Gendun Chophel. There was once a yogin (Rinpoche never gave the name) who wandered through Afghanistan and some of what is now Iran, and after some time started to teach. According to Rinpoche, this very realized teacher interchanged Buddhist philosophical terms such as Dharmakaya and nature-of-mind with Allah when he taught as a means to appeal to his audience. The sensitivity and depth of his teachings were eventually recognized by an elder Sufi teacher who came to name this Buddhist as his successor. "......Buddhism, Islam, and appearance....http://ganachakra.com/tag/buddhagupatnatha/........Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center, the North American Dharma Center of His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

"Gendun Chopel began to publish articles questioning traditional Tibetan views on history, world geography, and the origin of Tibetan writing. He wrote bitingly satirical poetry aimed at his compatriots, with quite some self-mockery thrown in as well. He studied Sanskrit with Indian pandits, and met several Western Tibetologists, becoming the first Tibetan scholar to study the ancient historical manuscripts from the Tibetan Empire (7th-9th century) found in the Central Asian oasis of Dunhuang, just three decades previously. He consulted with a Chinese researcher in Kalimpong, and translated parts of the Tang Annals into Tibetan, as a source of comparison.".......http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

"In India Gendun Chopel, who had most likely given up his monastic vows before leaving Tibet, composed his own commentary on the Art of Love, based on several classical Sanskrit sources, as well as his own experience. He also smoked heavily and drank, and wrote a long sad poem of exile. ".........http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

" .....he went to live for two years with the family of the Russian painter and explorer Nicolas Roerich (1874-1947) at their avant-garde Urusvati Institute in Kulu–Manali. There he assisted Nicolas' son George (1902-1960) with the English translation of the Blue Annals (deb ther sngon po) by Go Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel ('gos lo tsa ba gzhon nu dpal, 1392-1481), one of the major Tibetan historical works, reading through and discussing the entire text with him. The result of their fruitful collaboration was a book of some 1275 pages, published in Calcutta, in 1949."..............http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

"The Roerichs were ardent supporters of the peoples of Central Asia, being especially enthused by the Mongol-Tibetan Buddhist alliance. The father, Nicolas, was a famous artist who had designed the costumes and scenery for the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's seminal production, The Rites of Spring, staged in Paris in 1913, with Nijinsky as choreographer, and Diaghalev as impresario. In Kulu, the close-knit family held open house to Mongolian pilgrims and travelers. During his stay in Kulu, Gendun Chopel is said to have read widely, including, Sufi mysticism, Russian orthodox Christianity, and possibly some Western philosophers."..............http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

"Gendun Chopel gained an intimate knowledge of Sanskrit poetry by translating into Tibetan Kãlidasa's classic play, Sakuntalã, several chapters of the Bhagavad Gitã, and portions of the Hindu epic the Rãmãyana, and he read the devotional poetry of Tulsidã. He is also said to have translated Dariçlin's Mirror of Poetry from Sanskrit into Tibetan, although this work was lost. He assisted the Russian Tibetologist George Roerich in the translation of the important, and unreadable, fifteenth-century history of Tibetan Buddhism, the Blue Annals ."....http://www.wisdom-books.com

"Gendun Chopel was a familiar figure in Kalimpong, where he went to escape the hot summers, and to work with Tharchin Babu in his Mirror Printing Press, helping with the Tibetan language Mirror newspaper, where several of his articles were published. In the 1940s, Kalimpong – the gateway between India and Tibet – became a hotspot for exiled political figures from the Land of Snows. Gendun Chopel fell in with radical Tibetans who were working for the future of what they called the ‘Real Tibet', and who were advocating immediate reforms, or even the overthrow of the Ganden Podrang (dga' ldan pho brang) government of the Dalai Lamas. These included Baba Puntsok Wangyel ('ba' ba phun tshogs dbang rgyal, b. 1922), Changlochen Kung Sonam Gyelpo (lcang lo can kung bsod nams rgyal po, b. 1898), and Rabga Pomdatsang (rab dga' spom mda' tshang), to name but the most well-known. Gendun Chopel joined them...".....http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

"He visited and made studies of most of the important Buddhist archaeological sites in India, writing a guidebook that is still used by Tibetan pilgrims today. And he studied Sanskrit erotica and frequented Calcutta brothels, producing his famous sex manual, the Treatise on Passion ('Dod pa'i bstan bcos), written entirely in verse."..........http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductExtract.asp?PID=19454

"Once back in Lhasa, Gendun Chopel was courted by all and sundry for his knowledge of the outside world, and for his new ideas with regard to Tibet. The progressive families amongst the nobility supported him and provided for his frugal needs. He was consulted on every subject, and began to teach grammar and art to a number of notable individuals, including two Nyingma lamas, Lachung Apo (lha chung a pho, 1905-1975) and Dawa Zangpo (zla ba bzang po, 1916-1958). At the same time he began to put together his research notes gathered over twelve years of study and exploration, and to write a political history of Tibet, his unfinished White Annals (deb ther dkar po). His celebrity piqued the interest of the British representative in Lhasa, Hugh Richardson (1905–2000), who began to take even greater notice of the person he named “Chopel-la.” Richardson had both a professional and personal interest in the Amdo scholar, for he knew – more or less – about the political maneuverings of the progressive Tibetans in Kalimpong, and had also developed, in the latter years of his sojourn in Lhasa, a strong interest in ancient Tibetan history. He knew of Chopel-la's excellent reputation among the Western Tibetologists with regard to this new and exciting area of study."......http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

"In 1946, a violent confrontation erupted between two Dalai Lama regents, the Fifth Reting, Tubten Jampel Yeshe Tenpai Gyeltsen (1912-1947) and the Third Taktrak, Ngawang Sungrab Tutob (1874-1952)..... Gendun Chopel became a target for ecclesiastical extremists and conservative nobles. He was arrested, whipped, and falsely accused of producing fake banknotes, of being a communist spy, and of being paid by the Guomindang, among other things. He was thrown into prison, first at Nangtseshak (snang rtse shag), the city court of Lhasa and the central jail, and then at Shol (zhol) at the foot of the Potala Palace. His research materials written during twelve years of exile in India were stolen and never returned."....http://www.treasuryoflives.org/

"After his release from a Tibetan prison a couple of years later, either in 1949 or 1950, he re-established himself as a scholar. He was given a flat on the Barkor, just south of the Jokhang, a yearly stipend, with the order to resume work on the White Annals, which he did not do. There he lived with a woman from Chamdo and began to teach once again. He also started to drink much more heavily than usual, although it is said that he remained lucid and unaffected by the alcohol. The teachings he gave to his Nyingma student, Dawa Zangpo, on Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy, became the basis for Gendun Chopel's great philosophical work, the Adornment for Nāgārjuna's Thought (klu sgrub dgong rgyan). "........http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

"Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen.....the one-time regent of the present (14th) Dalai Lama. He was forced out of office and was succeeded in the beginning of 1941 by Taktra Rinpoche. He died in 1947 in the prisons of Lhasa's Potala....His jailor also allegedly reported that his testicles were bound and beaten until he died of the pain.....Defenders alleged that his imprisonment was partly the result of his attraction to the teachings of the Nyingma lineage, a politically sensitive orientation."...Gyatso, Lobsang. Memoirs of a Tibetan Lama Snow Lion Publications. Ithica: 1998. Page 235

"In September 1951, Gendun Chopel watched through heavy eyelids from the rooftop of his apartment on the Barkor, as the advance guard of Chinese soldiers from the People's Liberation Army walked the streets of Lhasa, and he knew that his hopes and those of the progressive Tibetan intelligentsia had been dashed to the ground. He said of himself, ‘a priceless lapis lazuli vase has been dashed against a stone.' He and all his dreams for a future Tibet, integrated into the modern world yet retaining its own cultural identity and history, were broken. The next month Gendun Chopel developed severe edema, possibly a result of cirrhosis of the liver. He died in the middle of October, 1951."..........http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gendun-Chophel/P219

Lopez Jr., Donald S. (2006). The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Choephel. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Schaeffer, Kurtis R; Kapstein, Matthew T; Tuttle, Gray, eds. (2013). "Tibetans Addressing Modern Political Issues". Sources of Tibetan Tradition. Columbia University Press.

Chöphel, Gendün (2006), Clarifying the core of Madhyamaka: Ornament of the thought of Nagarjuna. (2nd ed.), Arcidosso, GR, Italy: Shang Shung Publications

Chöphel, Gendun; Hopkins, Jeffrey (1993), Tibetan Arts of Love, Snow Lion Publications,

Chöphel, Gedun (2009). In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Choephel, a Bilingual Edition, edited and translated by Donald S. Lopez Jr. University of Chicago Press.

Bogin, Benjamin; Decleer, Hubert (1997), "Who was 'this evil friend' ('the dog', the 'fool', 'the tyrant') in Gedun Choephel's Sad Song?", The Tibet Journal 22 (3): 67–78

Dhondup, K.: "Gedun Choephel: the Man Behind the Legend". Tibetan Review, vol. 13, no. 10, October 1978, p. 10–18.

Huber, Toni (2000). Guide to India, a Tibetan Account By: Gendun Choephel. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives. pp. 162pp.

Lopez, Donald S. (Jr.) (2007). The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Choephel. University Of Chicago Press.

Roerich, George N. and Gedun Choephel (Translator) (1988). The Blue Annals by Gö Lotsawa. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976, Reprint in 1979.

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

August 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Buddhagupta-natha & Dumasthira, Oddiana (1580 AD)

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"Buddhaguptanatha (1514-1610 ?)...about 1580 AD Buddhaguptanatha locates Urgyan (Uddyana) in Ghazni, about 50 miles south of Kabul in modern Afghanistan, which is in contrast with the traditional location of Urgyan in the Swat area......Tāranātha (1575–1634) gives a detailed description of the country and Dumasthira, the capital city of Uddyana....the focal location of the magic dakini women...."

"Buddhagupta-natha travelled to Uḍḍyāna in the north-west and beheld many miracles. While there, he visited the capital Dhuma-sthira and many sacred sites in the surroundig regions, such as the place where there is a reflection in the shape of a horse, known to be an emanation of the Master Ashva-ratna (Paramaśva), the place were Master Lawapa threw back a rain of stones sent by the ḍākinīs, and the temple that houses the personal Heruka statue of Master Padma-vajra. He visited most of the places associated with the former Māha-siddhas of great fame.......Buddhagupta describes the women of Uḍḍyāna as being of the various types of ḍākinīs, all posessing different types of magical abilities. A girl that he met upon the road threw a handful of sand into a rivers water. The flow of the water was cut off and she crossed safely. Thereafter the water resumed its flow. Another woman transformed herself into a bat and flew off into the sky, later to land safely in a far-off field. However, Tāranātha muses whether or not such occurences might not be beyond the scope of vision of rather more ordinary beings. While in Dhuma-sthira, Buddhagupta experienced the occurrence of signs of success in his practice and for three days and nights everything shone forth as the maṇḍala of Vajrayoginī."..... http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Buddhagupta-natha

"Buddhaguptanatha was remarkable. He travelled on foot to Iran, Balkh in the north of Afghanistan, Kashgar in Central Asia, Multan, Kabul, Khorasan, Badakshan, Qusht and the lands of the Mughals....."....Buddhaguptanatha and the Late Survival of the Siddha Tradition in India.....by David Templeman

"Buddhaguptanatha (16th C. AD).....for example, unequivocally states that Oddiyana is located to the west of Swat, in the vicinity of Ghazni, 50 miles south of Kabul...."......Historical Dictionary of Tibet.....By John Powers, David Templeman...Page 489

"Buddhagupta natha was, we should first look at his name. While the Buddha part tells us something about his spiritual affiliation, it is the nath part that we should discuss first. He belonged to what is known as the ‘Nath’ or ‘Gorakhnathi’ tradition of Shiva worship......Naths tend to wear white clothing and are identified by what is called the kanphata, the split ear, with an ivory ring thrust into the lobe. Naths have a tremendous tradition of pilgrimage and of scholarship. They practise a type of Hatha Yoga which, in its externals, is similar to the Tibetan yogic tradition. The Nath understanding of the physical and psychological structure of the body is much the same as that found in Buddhist tantric practices, with its focus on the ‘moon channel,’ ‘sun channel,’ bindu drops, et cetera. ....

"The Nath tradition is a heterodox siddha tradition containing many sub-sects. It was founded by Matsyendranath and further developed by Gorakshanath. These two individuals are also revered in Tibetan Buddhism as Mahasiddhas (great adepts) and are credited with great powers and perfected spiritual attainment. Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, is the centre of Nath sampradaya.....The establishment of the Naths as a distinct historical sect purportedly began around the 8th or 9th c. AD......Gorakshanath is considered by many to have been the most influential of the ancient Naths. He is also reputed to have written the first books dealing with Laya yoga and the raising of the kundalini-shakti......".....Mahendranath (1990), Notes on Pagan India......Historical Dictionary of Tibet.....By John Powers, David Templeman...Page 489

".....about 1580 AD Buddhaguptanatha locates Urgyan in Ghazni, in modern Afghanistan, which is in contrast with the traditional location of Urgyan in the Swat area. Here, Taranatha gives a detailed description of the country and Dumasthira, the focal location of the magic dakini women:.....[Dumasthira]… is surrounded by mountains, valleys and dense forests and it sits in the midst of all of them. Going from east to west directly, it measures about two days’ journey and from south to north is about four days. Dumasthira is the only city in Urgyan. It’s the size of a small Indian city......There are four ways that lead out of the central area and the outer lands of Urgyan are also very extensive. It is in Muslim control, and even today, in the central part, there is not the slightest vestige of the order of Buddhist monks any longer. There are, however, groups of fully renunciate yogis, upasakas [lay people] and tirthikas [Jainas], as well as the Muslims there......It appears that most of the women of this town are of the dakini family and that they are fully accomplished in their spiritual practice. They are powerful in their exercise of mantras and they know how to both help and hinder with them. They are skilled in adopting various physical forms and they have the ability to work with the mystic gaze.....They displayed various magical abilities involving birds and my master, Buddhaguptanatha, saw these miracles with his very own eyes and he told me of them. He said that previously when he was in Upper Hor [Muslim territories]… he was fully protected by the mantras that he had received from those dakinis in Urgyan, as well as by his own physical powers. Urgyan is surrounded to the east, the south and the west by three large lakes. When he… crossed over the pass he came into the Hor Mleccha land of Balkh [northern central area of modern Afghanistan]......"Buddhaguptanatha and the Late Survival of the Siddha Tradition in India D Templeman

"... Above is a picture I took at an exhibition of Indian Sufi art titled Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam that was held at the Brooklyn Museum of Art from June to September of 2009......The painting depicts three sufi mendicants and one Buddhist yogin (practicing what I would assume is a Vajrayana completion-stage yoga based upon his asana as well as the use of the meditation belt)...... I was convinced that an interfaith meeting of some sort was underway...."..http://ganachakra.com/tag/buddhagupatnatha/.....Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center, the North American Dharma Center of His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

"I brought the Sufi image with me to India to show H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche as he has a passionate interest in history, especially regarding the overlap between Buddhism and Islam. By most accounts Vajrayana (tantric Buddhism) was born somewhere in or around the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan. Other portions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and northern Central Asia figure largely in the development and dissemination of tantric Buddhism. Many great buddhist teachers spent time in this region- generally refered to as Uddiyana. Such illustrious figures include the Mahasiddhas Tilopa and Kambala, and more recently Orgyen Rinchen Pal (1230-1309 CE) who brought to Tibet a unique system of meditation based upon the Kalachakra Tantra. It is also said that Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) was said to be born somewhere within the Swat valley- the same valley that over the past year has seen terrible devastation in relation to the war in Afghanistan......In response to the photo of the painting that I brought, H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche told me the story of a Buddhist teacher who was described in a historical treatise by Gendun Chophel. There was once a yogin (Rinpoche never gave the name) who wandered through Afghanistan and some of what is now Iran, and after some time started to teach. According to Rinpoche, this very realized teacher interchanged Buddhist philosophical terms such as Dharmakaya and nature-of-mind with Allah when he taught as a means to appeal to his audience. The sensitivity and depth of his teachings were eventually recognized by an elder Sufi teacher who came to name this Buddhist as his successor. "......Buddhism, Islam, and appearance....http://ganachakra.com/tag/buddhagupatnatha/........Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center, the North American Dharma Center of His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

"Taranatha gives us a wonderful description of Dumasthira (the ‘smoky place’), which was the capital city of Urgyan. Urgyan has taken on an almost mythical quality over the centuries since yogi-siddhas first ‘colonised’ it in the 4th and 5th centuries. It is the site par excellence in siddha biographies. Here, we have a wanderer visiting it in about 1580 and still discovering its magical qualities! Buddhaguptanatha locates Urgyan in Ghazni, in modern Afghanistan, which is in contrast with the traditional location of Urgyan in the Swat area."....https://undumbara.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/buddhaguptanatha-and-the-late-survival-of-the-siddha-tradition-in-india-d-templeman/

"After this long and intense exposure to Shri Singha, Vairotsana was finally prepared to meet the adiguru of the Dzogchen tradition, the nirmanakaya emanation of Vajrasattva, Garab Dorje himself. This apocryphal encounter occurred in a cremation ground called Dumasthira, the place of fire and smoke, and Vairotsana emerged from the meeting with the transmission of the entire 6,400,000 Dzogchen verses and a body of light."......Original Perfection by Keith Dowman...Page 15

"...I am reminded of the story of Taranatha and one of his teachers named Buddhaguptanatha. Buddhaguptanatha (1514-1610? AD) was an Indian Buddhist yogin who also held and practiced several Hindu yogic traditions. Taranatha apparently discovered this fact while Buddhaguptanatha was in the midst of bestowing a series of empowerments that he himself had received from his guru, Shantigupta. Taranatha was particularly challenged by the idea that his teacher also practiced Hinduism. Sensing his student’s sectarian reaction Buddhaguptanatha became upset and abruptly left Tibet leaving the series of empowerments incomplete. It is humbling that even for a teacher as great as Taranatha, the notion of “pure” Buddhism being mixed with Hinduism was a challenge- that on some level his own sense of distinction got the better of him. ".....http://ganachakra.com/tag/buddhagupatnatha/.....Repa Dorje Odzer (Justin von Bujdoss) is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center, the North American Dharma Center of His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

Click on the map to enlarge

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

August 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Kushan Empire Mint Cities

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The Mint Cities of the Kushan Empire: Balkh, Surkh Khotal, Kapisa (Begram), Peshawar (Puskavalait), Taxila, Kanishakapura, Sagala (Sialkot), Mathura....by Robert Bracey........http://www.academia.edu/2078818/The_Mint_Cities_of_the_Kushan_Empire

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Balkh......Capital of Bactria in the Greco-Bactrian Period......Greco-Bactrian Kingdom‎: ‎256–125 BC..... 36.8N 66.9E......Balkh is a major urban site .....on the Oxus River...a major citadel...constant occupation from the Greco-Bactrian to the Timurid period...here the Greco-Bactrian King Euthydemus was beseiged by the Seleucid king Antiochus III and it was probably the capital of Bactria.....Coins of the Kushanshahs (dynasty which followed the Kushans in Bactria) minted coins from Balkh.......The YungDrung (swastika mark) is not encountered on Kushan coins, but it is an element on Kushanshah coins......It is likely the Kushan principal mint had been located in Balkh through the second and early 3rd Century AD.....Page 121......The city and the coin in the Ancient and Early Medieval Worlds......http://www.academia.edu/2078818/The_Mint_Cities_of_the_Kushan_Empire

"French Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel associated Shambhala with Balkh, also offering the Persian Sham-i-Bala, "elevated candle" as an etymology of its name. In a similar vein, the Gurdjieffian J. G. Bennett published speculation that Shambalha was Shams-i-Balkh, a Bactrian sun temple."....http://www.snipview.com/q/Greco-Bactrian_Kingdom?alt=Greco-Bactrian

Surkh Kotal..... 36.03N, 68.55E ....Surkh Kotal was a major site of direct importance to the Kushan dynasty is beyond doubt. It is the site of a bagolago, a dynastic shrine associated with the period from Wima Kadphises to Huvishka.....other Bactrian sites, such as Surkh Khotal should be considered as candidates for a mint....it was a prominent site for travelers between Bactria and Gandhara....

"Surkh Kotal / Atashkadeh-ye Sorkh Kowtal......on the road to Balkh (Mazar-e-Sharif), are the ruins of the Atashkadeh-ye Sorkh Kowtal (also spelt Surkh Kotal), a 1st century CE Zoroastrian fire temple believed to have been built by the Kushan emperor Kaniska I (c. 50 - 120 AD) whose statue was found within the temple......The ruins have since been plundered, statues stored in a museum smashed by the Taliban, and artifacts looted.....Built on the top and side of a hill, the temple complex would have been a imposing site, before its destruction, towering over the vast valley plains below. It was accessed by a long flight of steps leading to a stairwell, above which was a monumental stairway some fifty five metres high, rising in four flights, flanked by four terraces, to the temple on top of the hill.....The stairs led to a temple containing a 11m. x 11m. sanctuary - a cella - in which there was a platform flanked by four columns, and on which rested a fire altar. "......http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/balkh/balkh2.htm

Kapisa (Begram)...35N 69.2E.....The site of Begram, excavated by Charles Masson in the 1830's.....produced enormous number of Kushan coins mostly as surface finds....'implies that most copper coinage from Wima to Kanishka II was issued from the Begram region....Begram remained under Kushan control even after Bactria as a whole was lost tot he Sasanians....

Peshawar (Kanishakapura) (Puskavalait)....Charsada 34.1N, 71.7E.......Ancient Pushkalavati. A source of radio carbon dates associated with Kanishka coins. Ali (2004) records a substantial number of coins in the Peshawar Museum as originating from Charsada including some parcels of Vasudeva II. There are coins from Soter Megas to Kipunadha including a large number of drachms of Kanishka. The later coins are mostly Vasudeva II.....Buddha roamed through this country with Ananda...King Chi-ni-chia (Kanishka) will raise a stupa.....(Chinese accounts)....an important mint for the Kushan Emperors....

Taxila...'Archaeologically Taxila is the most extensively excavated city site of the subcontinent'. A substantial number of Kushan coins have been found at the site along with preceding and following dynasties....Gold Mint was located at Taxila and Peshawar....excavated by John Marshal & Archaeological Survey of India 1913-1934.....at some point the advance of the Kushan Shahs (or Shaper II or the Kidarites) must have driven the Kushans from Taxila.....

Sagala (Sialkot)....the modern town of Sialkot is equated with the capital of the Indo-Greek King Menander, Sagala, as mentioned in the Milindapanho....

Mathura....(Mat)... 27.5N, 77.2E......Located on the western bank of the Yamuna River....Early excavations at Mathura concentrated on the recovery of sculpture and inscriptions, of which there are an enormous number. No site location has yielded as many dated inscriptions as Mathura, most of them relating to the period from Kanishka I to Vasishka......

...http://www.academia.edu/2078818/The_Mint_Cities_of_the_Kushan_Empire

Archaeological Sites yielding Kushan Coins.....http://www.kushan.org/sources/coin/sites.htm

"The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation,a possibly Iranian or Tocharian, Indo-European nomadic people who settled in ancient Bactria. The Kushans at first retained the Greek language for administrative purposes, but soon began to use an Iranian Bactrian language closely related to the modern Afghan languages, absorbing the coinage system, Greco-Buddhist religion and art, and the Central Asian tribes that had previously conquered parts of the northern central Iranian Plateau once ruled by the Parthians."

"The Yuezhi or Rouzhi (Chinese: 月氏; pinyin: Yuèzhī, Wade–Giles Yüeh-chih) were an ancient Indo-European people originally settled in an arid grassland area spanning the modern Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu. After the Yuezhi were defeated by the Xiongnu, in the 2nd century BC, a small group, known as the Little Yuezhi, fled to the south, while the majority migrated west to the Ili Valley, where they displaced the Sakas (Scythians). Driven from the Ili Valley shortly afterwards by the Wusun, the Yuezhi migrated to Sogdia and then Bactria, where they are often identified with the Tókharoi (Τοχάριοι) and Asioi of Classical sources. They then expanded into northern South Asia, where they became unified under one of their five leading branches, who founded the Kushan Empire. The Kushan empire stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain at its greatest extent, and played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and the transmission of Buddhism to China."...Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (1999). The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC.

Bagolago is a Bactrian term.....the Bagolago at Mat (Mathura)......equivalent Prakit term 'devakula' appears in the inscriptions....the Mat site is one of three certain complexes (others are Surkh Khotal and Rabat) which are part of the same sort of ritual activity....There may be many more similar sites....as many as eight sites.......There is no way for certain what a Bagolago was....The sites have several features in common. They are not public spaces...have an association with water...had erections of both Kings and Gods....unclear if the kings attended the gods or vice-versa.....there served some dynastic purpose but terms such as 'dynastic shrine' or 'dynastic cult' may be too strong....the presence of the Bagolago at Mat emphasizes the importance of Mathura....Mathura was the capital of Surasena which the Kushans ruled....http://www.academia.edu/2078818/The_Mint_Cities_of_the_Kushan_Empire

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

August 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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