Robert Göbl & Bactrian/Kushan Coinage (171 BC - 232 AD)

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GÖBL, ROBERT, Austrian numismatist (b. Vienna, 1919-1997)...... University of Vienna, Professor of Ancient Numismatics and the Pre-Islamic History of Central Asia

Gold coin of Kanishka I, with a depiction of the Buddha, with the legend "Boddo" in Greek script

Göbl’s acquaintance with Franz Altheim made him interested in the coinage of the Sasanians......at the University of Vienna. He also took over from Pink the Numismatischer Lehrapparat, which had been founded by Wilhelm Kubitschek at the Department of Ancient History, Epigraphics and Classical Archeology....His mentor in studying numismatics was Karl Pink.... In 1973, Göbl published his Sasanidischer Siegelkanon, which has become a tool for the analytical classification of Sasanian seal stones. This contribution was closely connected to the recording of a large hoard of clay sealings from Taḵt-e Solaymān, which were assigned to Göbl for classification by the Deutches Archäologisches Institut....Some of his lectures have been published in his Antike Numismatik, which is an analytical handbook on ancient numismatics."........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gbl-

Gold dinar, c. 195 AD.....Crowned, diademed king standing facing, nimbate, holding trident and sacrificing at altar at left,......Bactrian legend around: þAONANOþAO BA ... ZOΔηO KOþANO......(King of Kings Bazodeo Kushan) .....Reverse: Two-armed Shiva standing facing, holding trident and diadem, Bull Nandi left behind,Bactrian legend left: OηþO, tamgha at right........Göbl 504

Bactria: Eucratides I, Silver tetradrachm, c. 171-145 BC......Helmeted and diademed bust of king facing right, bead and reel border around, the helmet plumed and decorated with the ear and horn of a bull / Dioscuri riding horses prancing right, carrying spears and palms.......Greek legend: BAΣIΛEΩΣ MEΓAΛOY EYKPATIΔOY (of Great King Eucratides)

"Kushan coinage......In the coinage of the North Indian and Central Asian Kushan Empire (approximately 30-375 CE) the main coins issued were gold, weighing 7.9g., and base metal issues of various weights between 12g and 1.5g. Little silver coinage was issued, but in later periods the gold used was debased with silver.......The coin designs usually broadly follow the styles of the preceding Greco-Bactrian rulers in using Hellenistic styles of image, with a deity on one side and the king on the other. Kings may be shown as a profile head, a standing figure, typically officiating at a fire altar in Zoroastrian style, or mounted on a horse. The artistry of the dies is generally lower than the exceptionally high standards of the best coins of Greco-Bactrian rulers. Continuing influence from Roman coins can be seen in designs of the late 1st and 2nd century CE, and also in mint practices evidenced on the coins, as well as a gradual reduction in the value of the metal in base metal coins, so that they become virtual tokens. Iranian influence, especially in the royal figures and the pantheon of deities used, is even stronger. Under Kanishka the royal title of "King of kings" changed from the Greek "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ" to the Persian form "ϷAONANOϷAO" (Shah of Shahs).......Much of what little information we have of Kushan political history derives from coins. The language of inscriptions is typically the Bactrian language, written in a script derived from Greek. Many coins show the tamga symbols as a kind of monogram for the ruler. There were several regional mints, and the evidence from coins suggests that much of the empire was semi-independent.".......MacDowell, David W., "Mithra": "Mithra's Planetary Setting in the Coinage of the Great Kushans", in Études Mithriaques: 1975

Coin of Kaniska Kushan, Late or Early 2nd c. A.D.......The view that the halo is the Hvareno of the Persians et Zoroastre and by Dhalla, the great authority on Zoroastrianism, who records the fact that "the Magi had established themselves during the Parthian period (248 B.C.-A.D. 222) in large numbers in eastern Asia Minor, Galatia, Phrygia, Lydia and even in Egypt and that the kings of Cappadocia, Pontus and Bactria honoured the 'Glory’.” ....http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Zarathushtrian/halo_its_origin.htm

"Kushan Dynastic Ring.....Gold finger ring from Ancient India. Kushan period, early 3rd century AD. Solid gold ring, of typical Roman shape, fabricated rather than cast......portraits of Septimius Severus (laureate head left) and Julia Domna (draped bust right with elaborate coiffure), beneath which is a Gupta Brahmi inscription in a characteristic square-serif style: Damputrasya Dhanguptasya ([Seal of] Dhangupta son of Dama). ....The use of gold, the method of fabrication, and the fine quality of the engraving all suggest than the owner was a person of significant wealth and position....There was a tradition in north West India for Greek rulers to adopt Indian names. King Menander was called Milinda, .....Demetrios is called Dattamitri, Appollodotus is Apaladatas, Azes is Aya, Azilezes is Ayilisha, and Gondophares is Devarata Gudupphara. Therefore, it is not unlikely that the Damaputrasya on this ring meant the son of Dama or, more appropriately, the son of Domna -- Julia Domna herself whose picture is in situ..... The important person, the owner of the ring, thus associates himself with the Roman imperial family.".....http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=115376

"The patronage of Buddhism by the Kushan rulers is attested by the appearance of Buddha among the divinities portrayed upon the coinage of Kanishka. This image may celebrate the Third Buddhist Conference, which, according to Buddhist tradition, was convened during this reign. One should not, however, suppose that the Kushans themselves professed Buddhism, and the predominance of coin types reflecting a variety of Iranian religion suggests that they practiced an eclectic form of Zoroastrianism. Specific to that faith were renderings of three of the six Amahraspands (see AMƎŠA SPƎNTA), Šaoreoro (Šahrewar), Ashaeixsho, and Manaobago, if the last two are correctly identified with Ardwahišt and Wahman. At the same time, representations of “pagan Iranian” or possibly Mithraic deities, such as Mithra, Nana, Vərəƒraγna (Orlagno, Wahrām “Mars”), and Tīr “Mercury” (not Tistriya “Sirius,” as later conceived) are prominent. The figuring of Vēš “Vayu” in the form of the Brahmanical Śiva was already mentioned. Several classical deities appear, including Serapis (Göbl, p. 69; photo no. 185) and Heracles. Again, there are several enigmatic figures such as Mozdooano (probably not identical with Ahura Mazdā) with his two-headed horse. Ahura Mazdā, the supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, is in fact a rare type, if reported specimens are genuine at all (Göbl, p. 65)."...........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

"One of the most famous ancient coins, the massive gold 20-stater of Eucratides, now in the collection of the National Library in Paris, was surely also the largest gold coin minted in antiquity. It may well have been a victory medal to celebrate Eucratides's conquest of "India," presumably some land south of the Hindu Kush, perhaps Gandhara....Eucratides was the last Greek king to rule at Ai-Khanoum, which was overrun most probably by the Yuezhi, the tribes that later coalesced into the Kushans. "...http://coinindia.com/galleries-eucratides1.html

"Göbl’s interest in ancient oriental numismatics extended beyond the geographical limits of the Sasanian state. Prompted by Franz Altheim, he published in 1957 an article about Kushano-Sasanian coinage that eventually became the groundwork for his Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien (4 vols, Wiesbaden, 1967), a major contribution that revived a fascinating chapter in Asian history and that will undoubtedly remain as one of the milestones in the study of Oriental numismatics. Roman Ghirshman (q.v.) arranged for Göbl’s participation at the second Kanishka conference, which was held in London in 1960. This conference induced Göbl to make the coinage of the Kushans the central part of all his future research. In 1984, he published his monograph on the system and chronology of Kushan coinage, in which he gave an in-depth commentary on its controversial chronology. He published another study of the subject, DONUM BURNS: Die Kušānmünzen im Münzkabinett Bern und die Chronologie (Vienna, 1993), which he considered his “Kushan testament.” At the request of the present writer, however, he made further studies of the chronology problem following the publication of the Rabatak inscription in 1996."......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gbl-

"In 1962, Ghirshman brought Göbl to Afghanistan as a UNESCO field expert in order to arrange the coin collection at the Museum of Kabul. During the course of his stay Göbl also traveled to Pakistan and discovered that some of the inscriptions of the Tochi-Agency kept in the Museum of Peshawar were not written in Mongolian, as had previously been presumed, but in Bactrian. Helmut Humbach read the bilingual texts, and the double datings included in them from then on formed a central point in Göbl’s argument for considering year 1 of Kanishka’s rule to be 232 AD"..........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gbl-

"The Kushan religious pantheon is extremely varied, as revealed by their coins and their seals, on which more than 30 different gods appear, belonging to the Hellenistic, the Iranian, and to a lesser extent the Indian world. Greek deities, with Greek names are represented on early coins. During Kanishka's reign, the language of the coinage changes to Bactrian (though it remained in Greek script for all kings). After Huvishka, only two divinities appear on the coins: Ardoxsho and Oesho.".....wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_coinage

"A tamga or tamgha "stamp, seal" (Mongolian: tamga, Turkish: damga) is an abstract seal or stamp used by Eurasian nomadic peoples and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the emblem of a particular tribe, clan or family. They were common among the Eurasian nomads throughout Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages (including Alans, Mongols, Sarmatians, Scythians and Turkic peoples).....Similar "tamga-like" symbols were sometimes adopted by sedentary peoples adjacent to the Pontic-Caspian steppe both in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Archaeologists prize tamgas as a first-rate source for the study of present and extinct cultures."......Yatsenko, S. A., "Tamga-signs of Iranic-speaking peoples of antiquity and the early medieval period"....Moscow (2001).

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

May 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Kushan King Huvishka (140–180 AD): Ardoxsho & Iranian Deities

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Kushan, Huviska, Gold Dinar, 7.92g, 21 mm, Ardoxsho (Lakshmi)

The Iranian entities depicted on coinage include:
Αρδοχþο (ardoxsho, Ashi Vanghuhi)....."Ashi Vanghuhi or 'the good Ashi1' is a feminine impersonation of piety, and she is, at the same time, the source of all the good and riches that are connected with piety. She is described, therefore, as a goddess of Fortune and Wealth.....In the younger Avesta, Ashi is unambiguous a divinity, particularly so in the hymn (Yasht 17) dedicated to her. This hymn also contains older material, and many of the verses of Yasht 17 are also found in Yasht 5, the hymn nominally invoking "the Waters" (Aban), but actually addressed to Aredvi Sura Anahita.....http://www.avesta.org/ka/yt17sbe.htm
Aþαειχþo (ashaeixsho, Asha Vahishta).....In the Younger Avesta, this figure is more commonly referred to as Asha Vahishta (Aša Vahišta, Arta Vahišta), "Best Truth". The Middle Persian descendant is Ashawahist or Ardwahisht; New Persian Ardibehesht or Ordibehesht. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and thought to have been composed by the prophet himself, it is seldom possible to distinguish between moral principle and the divinity."

"The Kushan religious pantheon is extremely varied, as revealed by their coins that were made in gold, silver, and copper. These coins contained more than thirty different gods, belonging mainly to their own Iranian, Greek, and Indian worlds as well. Kushan coins had images of Kushan Kings, Buddha, and figures from the Indian and Iranian pantheons.... Greek deities, with Greek names are represented on early coins. During Kanishka's reign, the language of the coinage changes to Bactrian (though it remained in Greek script for all kings). After Huvishka, only two divinities appear on the coins: Ardoxsho and Oesho."...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire

"....the northern regions of the Kushan empire, around Kapisa, Balkh, and beyond....with the collapse of the Sasanian empire after the Muslim conquest, once again Iranian craftsmen together with others from the Near East moved to the relative safety of the mountains of Kashmir (Goetz, 1952, p. 81). ....Kashmir was never conquered by a Muslim army, but Islam was introduced to the region by one Šāh Mirzā or Šāh Mir, a Muslim adventurer who entered the court of the local raja in 1315 AD.....Sasanian Empire (224–651 a.d.)...Arab forces, united under Islam, defeated the Sasanian armies in 642. The last Sasanian ruler, Yazdegerd III, died in 651.."......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kashmir-v-arts

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"Huvishka (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, "Ooishki") was the emperor of the Kushan Empire from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 140 AD) until the succession of Vasudeva I about forty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura. Mathura represented the southernmost extent of the Empire and, like much of the Indian Subcontinent, had been ruled via a series of subordinate rulers. These rulers, the ksatraps, maintained a certain amount of autonomy up under Kanishka, but they vanish from records in Huvishka's reign, while Huvishka patronised both Buddhist and Brahmin institutions in the town.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huvishka

"Huvishka was the son of Kanishka. His reign is also known as the golden age of Kushan rule. The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha Amitabha, on the bottom part of a 2nd-century statue which has been found in Govindo-Nagar, and now at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka", and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahāyāna Buddhism. A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schøyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has "set forth in the Mahāyāna.".....Compared to his predecessor Kanishka, Huvishka seems to rely less on Iranian deities (which are much less numerous in his coinage), and more on India ones, such as war divinities of Shivaism."......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huvishka

"Ashi (aši) is the Avestan language word for the Zoroastrian concept of "that which is attained." As the hypostasis of "reward," "recompense," or "capricious luck," Ashi is also a divinity in the Zoroastrian hierarchy of yazatas......In the younger Avesta, Ashi is unambiguous a divinity, particularly so in the hymn (Yasht 17) dedicated to her. This hymn also contains older material, and many of the verses of Yasht 17 are also found in Yasht 5, the hymn nominally invoking "the Waters" (Aban), but actually addressed to Aredvi Sura Anahita. Both Aredvi Sura and Ashi are divinities of fertility, but other verses that have martial characteristics (see below) appear out of place in a hymn to "the Waters".....As the divinity of fortune, Ashi is characterized as one who confers victory in time of battle (Yasht 17.12-13). She is also closely connected to Mithra, whom she serves as charioteer (Yasht 10.68). In the hymn to Sraosha, the divinity of obedience receives ashiio (of uncertain meaning) as a stock epithet."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashi

"Robert Göbl ( 1919 - 1997) has postulated a division of the Kushan empire after Vasudeva into a “Shivaite” northern part and an “Ardoxshian” southern part (according to his outdated chronology as late as in the 4th century AD). This idea has been further emulated by Martha Cartha but now in context with the Sassanian conquest of the northern part at c. 230 AD.".........http://www.academia.edu/9061915/Kanishka_in_Context_with_the_Historical_Buddha_and_Kushan_Chronology

....http://www.academia.edu/9061915.....Kanishka_in_Context_with_the_Historical_Buddha_and_Kushan_Chronology......Hans Loeschner, Kanishka in Context with the Historical Buddha and Kushan Chronology....published in “Glory of the Kushans –Recent Discoveries and Interpretations”, pp. 137-194 edited by Professor Vidula Jayasval, Banaras Hindu Universiy (Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2012

"Robert Göbl’s interest in ancient oriental numismatics extended beyond the geographical limits of the Sasanian state. Prompted by Franz Altheim, he published in 1957 an article about Kushano-Sasanian coinage that eventually became the groundwork for his Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien (4 vols, Wiesbaden, 1967), a major contribution that revived a fascinating chapter in Asian history and that will undoubtedly remain as one of the milestones in the study of Oriental numismatics. Roman Ghirshman (q.v.) arranged for Göbl’s participation at the second Kanishka conference, which was held in London in 1960. This conference induced Göbl to make the coinage of the Kushans the central part of all his future research. In 1984, he published his monograph on the system and chronology of Kushan coinage, in which he gave an in-depth commentary on its controversial chronology. He published another study of the subject, DONUM BURNS: Die Kušānmünzen im Münzkabinett Bern und die Chronologie (Vienna, 1993), which he considered his “Kushan testament.” At the request of the present writer, however, he made further studies of the chronology problem following the publication of the Rabatak inscription in 1996.".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gbl-

"Huviška reigned for at least 33 years and perhaps longer, no improbable figure for a dynasty of notably long-lived rulers.......Although he is not mentioned in the inscriptions there, it appears that the temple of Surkh Kotal was restored in his time; and, among the sculptures found, a headless figure wearing a cloak with fur-lined reverses (Schlumberger, Pl. VI, facing p. 442) seems identical with the rendering on one of the coin portraits, and so identifiable as Huviška. Apart from the passing references in the Kashmir history Rājataraṅgiṇī, the numismatic and epigraphic evidence is the only source for Huviška, and nothing is known of the political history of his time. However, the sumptuous gold coinage indicates a period of spectacular prosperity, based no doubt on trade of the Silk Route, which could have continued until the outbreak of the smallpox epidemic that spread to the Roman empire with the “plague of Marcus Aurelius” in 166 C.E.".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/huviska

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

May 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Kundalvana, Kashmir: Kanishka & The Fourth Buddhist Council (72 AD)

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King Kanishka....Emperor of the Kushan dynasty...... 127–151 AD

"Kanishka's reputation in Buddhist tradition is based mainly that he convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir...... Images of the Buddha based on 32 physical signs were made during his time....He provided encouragement to both the Gandhara school of Greco-Buddhist Art and the Mathura school of Hindu art (An inescapable religious syncretism pervades Kushana rule)...... Kanishka personally seems to have embraced both Buddhism and the Persian cult of Mithra."

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"The Fourth Buddhist Council was held at Kundalvana, Kashmir in 72 AD under the patronage of Kushan king Kanishka and the president of this council was Vasumitra, with Aśvaghosa as his deputy. This council distinctly divided the Buddhism into 2 sects Mahayan & Hinayan.".... http://www.gktoday.in/buddhist-councils/

"Another Fourth Buddhist Council was held in the Sarvastivada tradition, said to have been convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka, in 78 AD at Jalandhar or in Kashmir. It is said that Kanishka gathered five hundred Bhikkhus in Kashmir, headed by Vasumitra, to systematize the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma texts, which were translated from earlier Prakrit vernacular languages (such as Gandhari in Kharosthi script) into the classical language of Sanskrit. "

"Manendar also called Millinda (165-145 B.C ) haf definitely incorporated into his kingdom Gandhra and some parts of the Punjab and made Sialkot as a capital......The Sakas who followed the Greek controlled a much larger part of northh-west india,including Gandhara,the swat vally and possible a part of kashmir .the sakas were overthrown in india by kushanas in the begining of the first century A.D. Under the later,small and fragmented atates were once again united .Their empire included not only the regions of northern and north-western indian but also of central Asia and Afganistan......According to kalhana among the kushan rulers whose sway extended to kashmir included Juska and Kanishka.Each one of them founded here a town after his name ,these were called Huskapura (Uskar),Juskapura(Zukur) and kanishka pura (kanispura) respectively......Kaniska is identified with the well-know kushan ruler of india of the same name.According to a Buddhist tradition he convened the fourth Buddhist council at a place called Kundalvana in kashmir,although some scholars opine that it was held at Jallundar in the Punjab."

"Ashoka called the Third Buddhist Council in 252 BC at Pataliputra and it was there that the Buddhist became divided into two sects—the Hinayana and the Mahayana.
Kanishka called the Fourth Buddhist Council at Kundalvana near Srinagar and Vasumitra was believed to have acted as President.:

"During the first to mid-third centuries CE, the empire of the Kushans (Mid. Pers. Kušān-šahr) represented a major world power in Central Asia and northern India. They were able to contend on equal terms with Parthia, and at times even gained the upper hand over these western neighbors. Their history has, however, until recently received minimal attention from Classical historians. This is because apparently their existence has been explicitly noted only once in Classical literature, by Bardaiṣan (see BARDESANES) of Edessa in his Book of the Laws of Countries, where he speaks of the “Laws of the Bactrians who are called Kushans” and remarks (allegations not yet confirmed elsewhere) on the luxurious lifestyle and promiscuous morals of their women. It is probable, too, that the celebrated allusions in Prologue 41 and 42 of Pompeius Trogus to the “Asiani (who became) kings of the Tochari” (Reges Thocarorum Asiani), is a reference to the Kushans. Other mentions in Classical literature from the Imperial period of “the Bactrians” (Bactriani) may also sometimes cover notices of the Kushans." ...http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

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"In general, the Kushan rulers seem to have acquired a reputation for humane and tolerant rule, an attitude that the religious eclecticism of their later coinage seems to substantiate. On the coinage of Vima Kadphises, however, only one deity is represented. This was the figure of the Hindu god S´iva, often accompanied by his vehicle, the bull Nandi. He was rendered with two or four arms, ithyphallic, and later frequently triple-faced, with some or all of his customary attributes: the trident (triśula) often with attached axe-blade, the water-pot, and the animal-skin. The Śiva image appears in every succeeding Kushan reign, and we know that his name in Bactrian, for the Kushans, was OHÞO Vēš, corresponding to the Iranian wind-god Vayu. Since Śiva “the Destroyer” had clearly some aspects of an underworld god, one may understand this aspect of the identification. On the Kushano-Sasanian coins with Pahlavi inscriptions, the corresponding deity seems to be Mithra, whose cult—at least when introduced into the Roman world—has likewise an esoteric character."........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

"A recent article by Harry Falk (p. 126) reinterprets a passage of the early Sanskrit astronomical text Yavanajātaka, by Sphujiddhvaja, to signify that a Kushan Era commences 149 years after the start of the Śaka Era. Since the Śaka Era began in 78 CE, this Kushan Era would begin in 227 CE (78 + 149 = 227). It is now generally agreed, as we have seen, that at or about the year 100 of the era of Kanishka, a new count was begun by the succeeding Kushan rulers. Thus the era indicated by the Yavanajātaka should be this second Kushan Era, and the original era founded by Kanishka would be 100 years earlier. Thus the era of Kanishka would begin in 127/8 CE."..........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

Gold coin of Kanishka I, with a depiction of the Buddha, with the legend "Boddo" in Greek script

"The patronage of Buddhism by the Kushan rulers is attested by the appearance of Buddha among the divinities portrayed upon the coinage of Kanishka. This image may celebrate the Third Buddhist Conference, which, according to Buddhist tradition, was convened during this reign. One should not, however, suppose that the Kushans themselves professed Buddhism, and the predominance of coin types reflecting a variety of Iranian religion suggests that they practiced an eclectic form of Zoroastrianism. Specific to that faith were renderings of three of the six Amahraspands (see AMƎŠA SPƎNTA), Šaoreoro (Šahrewar), Ashaeixsho, and Manaobago, if the last two are correctly identified with Ardwahišt and Wahman. At the same time, representations of “pagan Iranian” or possibly Mithraic deities, such as Mithra, Nana, Vərəƒraγna (Orlagno, Wahrām “Mars”), and Tīr “Mercury” (not Tistriya “Sirius,” as later conceived) are prominent. The figuring of Vēš “Vayu” in the form of the Brahmanical Śiva was already mentioned. Several classical deities appear, including Serapis (Göbl, p. 69; photo no. 185) and Heracles. Again, there are several enigmatic figures such as Mozdooano (probably not identical with Ahura Mazdā) with his two-headed horse. Ahura Mazdā, the supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, is in fact a rare type, if reported specimens are genuine at all (Göbl, p. 65)."...........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

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" The Surkh Kotal temple (“Kanishka’s Victory Temple”) was restored in the year 31, presumably under Huvishka, but here the inscription does not name the ruler. Kanishka and Huvishka are also mentioned in the Kashmir chronicle, the Rajātaranµgiṇī, and credited with the foundation of the cities Kaniṣkapura, Juṣkapura, and Huṣkapura (Stein, tr., 1900, I, p. 30)."............http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-i-history

"Surkh Kotal (Persian: سرخ‌کوتل‎; Pashto: سور کوتل‎), also called Chashma-i Shir or Sar-i Chashma, (Chashma Spring means Water Spring in Persian and Urdu)....is an ancient archaeological site located in the southern part of the region of Bactria, about 18 km north of the city of Puli Khumri, the capital of Baghlan Province of Afghanistan."

" Despite of the cultural dominance of Buddhist religion coins with Buddha on the reverse have only been issued by Kanishka, probably in connection with the Fourth Buddhist Council (in the Mahayana tradition) in Kashmir: At the time of King Kanishka, five hundred years after the Buddha’s Nirvā na, an Arhat came from the country of Kashmir and went about converting men. He claimed to have been one of the five hundred who formed the Council summoned by King Kanishka......As noted above, Buddhism was introduced to Central Asia already earlier: A remarkable Buddhist coin / medal attributed to early first century AD was found in a tomb at Tillya Tepe (the “Gold Hill”), west of Balch / Bactria........On the obverse a naked ithyphallic god (probably Shiva) is turning the Wheel of Dharma with surrounding Kharoshthi inscription dharmacakrapravartana....(“the turning of the Wheel of Dharma”) and on the reverse there is a standing lion with the triratna / nandipada symbol and Kharoshthi inscription sihavigadabhaya (“fearless lion”). The religious and in this context cultural variety was greatly reduced during the reign of Vasudeva I leaving Shiva with his bull as the dominant reverse type, remaining the major coin type in the northern part of the Kushan empire and of the later Kushano-Sasanian kingdom...".....http://www.academia.edu/9061915/Kanishka_in_Context_with_the_Historical_Buddha_and_Kushan_Chronology......Hans Loeschner, Kanishka in Context with the Historical Buddha and Kushan Chronology....published in “Glory of the Kushans –Recent Discoveries and Interpretations”, pp. 137-194 edited by Professor Vidula Jayasval, Banaras Hindu Universiy (Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2012

Buddhism: A Modern Perspective......edited by Charles S. Prebish

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

May 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Yagnobi Sogdian, Ancient Tagzig and the Yaghnob Valley

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"The country of Olmo Lungring where Tonpa Shenrab descended from the celestial spheres and took up incarnation among human beings as an Iranian prince. The mysterious land of Olmo Lungring (`ol-mo lung-rings) or Olmoling (`ol-mo`i gling) is said to be part of a larger geographical region to the northwest of Tibet called Tazig (stag-gzig, var. rtag-gzigs), which scholars identify with Iran or, more properly, Central Asia where in ancient times Iranian languages such as Avestan and later Sogdian were spoken. According to the “gZer-mig” the traditional etymology of the name Olmo Lungring is as follows: “`ol” means “unborn”, “mo” “undermined”, “lung” “the prophetic words of Shenrab”, and “rings” “everlasting compassion”. According to the “gZi-brjid”, Olmo Lungring was also known as Shambhala in Sanskrit and it continues to be known by this name among Tibetan Buddhists even today. Moreover, it is said that in ancient times it encompassed fully one-third of the known world a statement which could apply to the historical Persian empire."..... OLMO LUNG-RING: THE IMPERISHABLE SACRED LAND.....by Vajranatha......http://www.surajamrita.com/bon/Shambala.html

"The Sogdian language was an Eastern Iranian language spoken in the Central Asian region of Sogdiana, located in modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (capital: Samarkand; other chief cities: Panjakent, Fergana, Khujand and Bukhara). Sogdian is one of the most important Middle Iranian languages, along with Bactrian, Khotanese Saka, Middle Persian and Parthian. It possesses a large literary corpus. The language is usually assigned to a Northeastern group of the Iranian languages, although this is an areal rather than genetic group. No direct evidence of an earlier version of the language ("Old Sogdian") has been found, although mention of the area in the Old Persian inscriptions means that a separate and recognisable Sogdiana existed at least since the Achaemenid era (559-323 BC)......Like Khotanese, Sogdian possesses a more conservative grammar and morphology than Middle Persian. The modern Eastern Iranian language Yaghnobi is the descendant of a dialect of Sogdian spoken around the 8th century in Ustrashana, a region to the south of Sogdiana."

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"The economic and political importance of Sogdian guaranteed its survival in the first few centuries after the Islamic conquest of Sogdiana in the early eighth century AD. A dialect of Sogdian spoken around the 8th century in Ustrashana (capital: Bunjikat, near present-day Istaravshan, Tajikistan), a region to the south of Sogdiana, developed into Yaghnobi language and has survived into the 21st century. It is spoken by the Yaghnobi people."

"The Yaghnobi, who have inhabited the high mountain valley of Yaghnob in west-central Tajikistan for centuries, have been identified as descendants of the ancient Sogdians. The kingdom of Sogdiana existed from before the sixth century BC until the Arab conquests of the eighth century AD..... The region to the south of Sogdiana, Ustashana (also called Sorushna) was also populated by Sogdian speaking people (Negmatov, 1999). Its capital, Bunjikat, was near present day Istravshan in northwest Tajikistan (Bosworth, 2005). The dialect of Sogdian spoken in Ustrashana in the eighth century has been identified through lexical and phonological similarities as the language from which modern Yaghnobi has descended.....https://yaghnobi.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/history-of-the-yaghnobi-people/#more-106

"After the Sogdians were defeated by Arab invaders at the battle of Mount Mugh in 722 AD, many of them fled Arab domination to live in the high mountain valleys (Whitfeld, 2005). According to Belyakov (2003) the village of Pskon in the Yaghnob valley became a de facto capital for the Sogdian refugees. It appears that the Sogdian refugees remained fairly isolated from outside authority and influence, although significant numbers were subject to forced conversion to Islam. Eventually all of the Yaghnobi adopted Islam, but they also retained Zoroastrian beliefs which continue to be a part of their religious practice (Gunya, 2002)....During 1970 and 1971 the Soviet authorities forcibly deported the entire population of the Yaghnob valley to the cotton plantations in the area of Zafarbod."........https://yaghnobi.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/history-of-the-yaghnobi-people/#more-106

"MUGH, MOUNT (Kuh-e moḡ ‘Magus Mount’), site of the 7th-8th-century refuge of the rulers of Penjikent in Sogdiana, where an important archive of documents written in Sogdian was discovered in 1930s. The castle was built on a mound overlooking the confluence of the Zerafshan (Zarafšān) and the Qom rivers, at a height of 1500 m above the sea level and 150 m above the running waters. Its location is some 120 km east of Samarkand and 60 km east of Penjikent. It consisted of a walled structure rectangular in shape and surrounding a courtyard, and a two-story building upon a platform in its northeastern corner...The famous archives consisting of seventy-four documents in Sogdian, one in Arabic, one Turkish runic script, and several in Chinese are now preserved in the St. Petersburg branch of the Oriental Institute of the Russian academy.".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mugh-mount

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"Some of the Sogdian traders who plied their trade along the Silk Roads between China and Asia Minor and even resided in China, came from the Yagnobi region of Sugd. The Yagnobi Sogdians have special links to Zoroastrianism. They left behind a legacy including Avestan texts written in Yagnobi Sogdian..... Even today, names like Rustam, a legendary Aryan / Iranian name, are common among the Yagnobi. The Yagnobi language spoken today is a dialect of the ancient Sogdian language which died out some time after the 10th century AD. ".....http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/tajikistan/page2.htm

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"Sugd / Sogdiana - Tajikistan Region.....The land of ancient Sughdha (Sugd) and its Zerafshan River valley, straddles the border of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Sughdha is the second nation mentioned in the Avestan Vendidad.......In Tajikistan, the ancient land of Sughdha form present day Sugd (Sughd) province. Sugd province includes the Yagnobi river valley as well as the Fergana / Syr Darya valley in the north. "......http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/tajikistan/page2.htm

The Sogdian site of Bunjikath near Shakhristan, was the 8th-century capital of the kingdom of Ushrushana.....Bunjikath....(Ancient Penjikent)......Built in the 5th century on the banks of the Zerevshan River, it was abandoned in the 8th. The city was built by the Sogdians and was the capital of Panch and its rulers. Most of the antiquities are now in The Hermitage in St Petersburg......The Principality of Ushrusana (also spelled Usrushana and Osrushana) was a local Iranian dynasty of Sogdian origin, which ruled the Ushrusana region from an unknown date to 892 AD......

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

April 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Anahita & Artaxerxes II (Persia: 404-359 BC)

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"The earliest dateable and unambiguous reference to the iconic cult of Anahita is from the Babylonian scholar-priest Berosus, who – although writing over 70 years[η] after the reign of Artaxerxes II Mnemon[θ] – records that the emperor had been the first to make cult statues of Aphrodite Anaitis and place them in the temples of many of the empire's major cities, including Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis, Damascus and Sardis.[c1] Also according to Berosus, the Persians knew of no images of gods until Artaxerxes II erected those images.[c1][λ] This is substantiated by Herodotus, whose mid-5th-century-BCE general remarks on the usages of the Perses, Herodotus notes that "it is not their custom to make and set up statues and images and altars, and those that make such they deem foolish, as I suppose, because they never believed the gods, as do the Greeks, to be the likeness of men.".....Boyce, Mary (1975), "On the Zoroastrian Temple Cult of Fire", Journal of the American Oriental Society

The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia by Esther Jacobson....In her book “The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia: A Study in the Ecology of Belief,” Esther Jacobson writes that it has been suggested goddess Anahita “must have been purely Iranian in origin, since her name is not attested to in Indo-Iranian texts...",,,,.The Official Site of Sheda Vasseghi Page Liked · January 8 · Edited ·

"Artaxerxes II Mnemon ....... King of Persia from 404 BC until his death in 358 BC. He was a son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis..... Artaxerxes II is said to have more than 115 sons from 350 wives......Much of Artaxerxes's wealth was spent on building projects. He restored the palace of Darius I at Susa, and also the fortifications; including a strong redoubt at the southeast corner of the enclosure and gave Ecbatana a new apadana and sculptures. He seems not to have built much at Persepolis.....In 386 BCE, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in the Treaty of Antalcidas he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia and Aeolis on the Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland. In 385 BCE he campaigned against the Cadusians.....Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with the Egyptians,".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artaxerxes_II_of_Persia

"The Old Iranian name of Paktra, which the classical writers named it Bactria and their language was known as Bactrian, and after invasion of Iran by Arabs in 7th century CE it has come to be called Balkh; A northern province of Turkistan in modern Afghanistan, which boarders to the north, the river Oxus and the former USSR.....Not much has been known about this empire, only some coins and a little bit of writing and occasional archaeological artifacts. Much of the work on excavations of Bactrian artifacts has been done by French Archaeologists. Historians find remote references in other people's records about the kingdom....It was from Bactria that came prophet Zarathushtra (Zartosht/Zardosht). Another source of spiritual home that made Bactria sacred was a great temple of the ancient Iranian goddess, Anahit (in Pahlavi or Middle-Persian) and Anahita (Ânâhitâ) in the Avesta hymns....The temple was so rich that often it attracted the needy Syrian kings who sat out to plunder it. In her name and honor, in Armenia, girls prostituted themselves. Anaitis was a Scythian goddess, but she is identified also as Assyrian Mylitta, the Arabian Alytta and the Greek Venus Urania. Artaxerxes Mnemon, one of the emperors of Achaemenid dynasty was among her devotees. She is also associated with the Persian Mithra. Her association with Zoroaster adds to her popularity".....History of Balkh (Bactria)....By: Ramin Javid-Moshref....http://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/balkh.php

"Artaxerxes II's devotion to Anahita is most apparent in his inscriptions, where her name appears directly after that of Ahura Mazda and before that of Mithra. Artaxerxes' inscription at Susa reads: "By the will of Ahura Mazda, Anahita, and Mithra I built this palace. May Ahura Mazda, Anahita, and Mithra protect me from all evil" (A²Hc 15–10). This is a remarkable break with tradition; no Achaemenid king before him had invoked any but Ahura Mazda alone by name although the Behistun inscription of Darius invokes Ahuramazda and "The other gods who are"......The temple(s) of Anahita at Ecbatana (Hamadan) in Medea must have once been the most glorious sanctuaries in the known world.[π][c2] Although the palace had been stripped by Alexander and the following Seleucid kings,[c3] when Antiochus III raided Ecbatana in 209 BCE, the temple "had the columns round it still gilded and a number of silver tiles were piled up in it, while a few gold bricks and a considerable quantity of silver ones remained." ".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anahita

"Artaxerxes II, (flourished late 5th and early 4th centuries bc), Achaemenid king of Persia (reigned 404–359/358)......He was the son and successor of Darius II and was surnamed (in Greek) Mnemon, meaning “the mindful.” When Artaxerxes took the Persian throne, the power of Athens had been broken in the Peloponnesian War (431–404), and the Greek towns across the Aegean Sea in Ionia were again subjects of the Achaemenid Empire. In 404, however, Artaxerxes lost Egypt, and in the following year his brother Cyrus the Younger began preparations for his rebellion. Although Cyrus was defeated and killed at Cunaxa (401), the rebellion had dangerous repercussions, for it not only demonstrated the superiority of the Greek hoplites used by Cyrus but also led the Greeks to believe that Persia was vulnerable.".......http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36748/Artaxerxes-II

"Under Artaxerxes an important change occurred in the Persian religion. The Persians apparently did not worship images of the gods until Artaxerxes set up statues of the goddess Anāhitā in various large cities. Inscriptions by all former kings named only Ahura Mazdā, but those of Artaxerxes also invoked Anāhitā and Mithra, two deities of the old popular Iranian religion that had been neglected."........http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36748/Artaxerxes-II

"Further evidence for this king’s building activities, with which the inscriptions are chiefly concerned, is found in the several inscriptions at Hamadān, ancient Ecbatana....It is notable that Artaxerxes in his inscription invokes Mithra and Anāhitā as well as Ahura Mazdā. This agrees with Berossus’ remark.....that under Artaxerxes II, idols (especially those of Anaitis) were introduced for worship throughout the empire.".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artaxerxes-ii-achaemenid-king

"Artaxerxes.....(died 359 B.C.E.)......By Plutarch.....Written 75 A.C.E.......Translated by John Dryden.......The first Artaxerxes, among all the kings of Persia the most remarkable for a gentle and noble spirit, was surnamed the Long-handed, his right hand being longer than his left, and was the son of Xerxes. The second, whose story I am now writing, who had the surname of the Mindful, was the grandson of the former, by his daughter Parysatis, who brought Darius four sons, the eldest Artaxerxes, the next Cyrus, and two younger than these, Ostanes and Oxathres. Cyrus took his name of the ancient Cyrus, as he, they say, had his from the sun, which, in the Persian language, is called Cyrus.......http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/artaxerx.html

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"The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC), also called the First Persian Empire or Medo-Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia in Iran, founded in the 6th century BC by Cyrus the Great. The dynasty draws its name from a hypothetical king Achaemenes, who would have ruled the Persis region between 705 BCE and 675 BCE. The empire expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world, which at around 500 BCE stretched from parts of the Balkans (Bulgaria) and Thrace-Macedonia in the west, to the Indus valley in the east......The historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their daily lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange, some being employed by, or allied to the Persian kings. The impact of Cyrus the Great's Edict of Restoration is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts and the empire was instrumental in the spread of Zoroastrianism as far east as China. Even Alexander the Great adopted some of its customs, venerating the Persian kings including Cyrus the Great, and receiving proskynesis as they did, despite Macedonian disapproval"..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire

"What is the etymology of the Persian word for "sun"?.......the origins of the Persian (specifically Farsi) word خورشید (khorshid)?...... it doesn't seem to be an Indo-European (or Turkic or Semitic, for that matter) word. I know that Persian also uses a cognate to the Hindi word आफ़ताब (aaftaab, which I assume originally came from Persian), and that Офтоб (aftab) is more common in Tajik, but even in other Indo-Iranian languages such as Kurdish (which has a cognate to aftab), and the Indo-Aryan languages of South Asia, خورشید isn't reflected......Where did this word come from?......Best Answer: khorshid ("the Sun" from Avestan hvarə-xšaēta "radiant Sun")......Further research turns up that "hvarə" is cognate with Vedic Sanskrit "súvar" where the connection to Proto-Indo-European *sāwel- is self-evident. ".....https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110218210127AAIP8uc

"Cyrus, as a word in English, is the Latinized form of the Greek Κῦρος, Kȳros, from Old Persian 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš. According to the inscriptions the name is reflected in Elamite Kuraš, Babylonian Ku(r)-raš/-ra-áš and Imperial Aramaic kwrš. The modern Persian form of the name is Kourosh.....The etymology of Cyrus has been and continues to be a topic of discussion amongst historians, linguists, and scholars of Iranology. The Old Persian name "kuruš" has been interpreted in various forms from "the sun", "like sun", "young", "hero" to "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest" and the Elamite "kuraš" has been translated as one "who bestows care".".....Schmitt, Rüdiger (1996a), "Cyrus i. The Name", in Yarshater, Ehsan, Encyclopaedia Iranica 6, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 515–16

"The Aryans and the Iranians of Bactria, had a lot in common. They spoke the same language, worshiped the forces of nature, such as: Varuna, the shining Vault of Heaven; Mithra, the friendly light of the sun; Vayu; the wind that pushes aside the storms and clears the heaven; Yama, the primeval man, reigning over the blessed souls in paradise. The powers of nature, to them, were the signs of something far more deeply interfused. In their ceremonies they also drunk the sacred Juice, Soma. These two races slowly drifted apart as time went on, for not known reasons. Although the history of early Bactria is vague, the historians gather that as early as the second millennium BC, a powerful confederacy, centered in Bactria existed in South Central Asia. The confederacy was created to survive the influences of powerful neighbors such as the Persians, the Medes and the non-Aryans (An-Iranian)."......http://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/balkh.php

"Russian-French archaeologist Roman Ghirshman notes in his 1962 book entitled “Persian Art” that during the Iranian Parthian Empire under the Arsacids (247 BCE – 224 CE) from among the Iranian trinity -- Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Anahita -- "the cult of Anahita took the lead. All the Iranian temples mentioned in the historical texts were dedicated to her."....Roman Ghirshman (1895 – 1979) was a Russian-born French archeologist who specialized in ancient Iran. He was mainly interested in the archeological ruins of Iran, specifically Teppe Gian, Teppe Sialk, Bagram in Afghanistan, Bishapur in Fars, and Susa."

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

April 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Ziji: Chapter 30......Prince Trishang of Tazik

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"The subject of the Four Transcendent Lords is described in detail in chapter 30 of the Ziji (gZi brid) with the story of the death of Prince Trishang of Tazik. The Four Lords are the principal deities in the funeral ritual for the prince....."........http://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=51

"...in the text (p. 961), he tells us how to get to Stag-gzig (=Ta-zig) country. Starting from Ladakh you travel a great distance, and in the northwest is Mo-ta-na, a part of Du-ru-ka. To the south of Mo-ta-na is Thod-dkar country, and outside of (or ‘beyond’) Thod-dkar is Ta-zig or Stag-gzig country. (Note: This does seem to place Stag-gzig in the northern part of present Afghanistan and Pakistan".......https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

"...If we follow the scheme of the Eighteen Great Countries, and assume that ’Ol-mo-lung-ring is, as many later sources say, in some way identical with Stag-gzig, we see that Stag-gzig is to the west of Tibet, and is bordered by the smaller areas of Gilgit and Yavana (Bactria). This would point to an area stretching from present-day north Pakistan to Takhar (equivalent to Tibetan Tho-gar, which shouldn’t be confused with the Thod-dkar which borders China, although both names seem to come from a single ethnonym, and are in fact occasionally confused in Bon sources) in northeastern Afghanistan, and possibly including areas still further to the south."....https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

".... ’Ol-mo-lung-ring is located to the northwest of western Tibet (where Ti-tse/Ti-se is) and rather to the north of a mysterious country called Dmu (Persia, perhaps?). It is cut by both the Nine Dark Mountains (on which, more soon) and the rivers Pag-shu and Si-ti, which we might very well identify as the Oxus (Vakṣu) and Sitā ....rivers. Here we seem to be dealing with an area that stretches from the Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan, circling (to the right or the left of) the Pamirs, and touching on, but not actually including, the Tarim Basin."........https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

"... the Mdo-’dus says that ’Ol-mo-lung-ring is cut by the rivers Pakshu (Oxus) and Si-ta .......".......https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

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The Tibetan texts "Ziji" (gZi brid) and "Zermig" (gZer mig)(Piercing Eye)...... Two biographies of Shenrab Miwo (Mibo)

"The work of Shenrap still exists in Tibet in the form of 400 volumes, but it has undergone heavy Buddhist editing." ......... (Trungpa: Shen = divine,heavenly,ally..... Rap = Supreme One.... Miwo = Great Man)......(Chogyam Trungpa: 1978..pg 220)

"... the teachings of Yungdrung Bon did not solely originate in Zhang-zhung, but were said to have been brought from Tazik, that is, Iranian speaking Central Asia......Shenrab Miwoche..... incarnated as a human being in the country of Olmo Lung-ring ..... in Tazik or Central Asia. In this mysterious land at the center of the world, which was in later Indo-Iranian tradition identified with Shambhala..."....Ancient Tibetan Bonpo Shamanism ....John Myrdhin Reynolds, aka Vajranatha......http://vajranatha.com/articles/traditions/bonpo.html?showall=1

" ....all the various sources we have brought forward point to a location for ’Ol-mo-lung-ring not precisely in Persia, but in the lands between northern Persia and the (changing) western borders of Tibet."..... ...https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

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"...This Bon historical-geographical work would make a fascinating study in its own right, but here we will limit ourselves to what it has to say relevant to ’Ol-mo-lung-ring and the three Zhang-zhungs. It says (p. 945) that Innermost Zhang-zhung is more than three months journey to the west of Mount Ti-se, close to Me-sag-gi Par-sig (?some part of Persia, evidently) and the area which includes Badakhshan (Bha-dag-shan) and Balkh (Bha-lag). ".....https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

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".....On the tomb of Cyrus and Pasargadae.......viewed from an aerial perspective, the tomb of Cyrus really does look quite a bit like the map of ’Ol-mo-lung-ring. .......https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

Bsod-nams-don-grub, “Stag-gzig dang Gna’-rabs Bod-kyi ’Brel-ba’i Skor la Dpyad-pa” (‘Investigation into the Ancient Historical Connections between Persia and Tibet’), Bod-ljongs Zhib-’jug, 3rd issue for the year 1992, pp. 25-34.

"Many modern Tibetan nationalists, both inside and outside Tibet, strongly reject, or simply ignore, the idea of Bon’s extra-Tibetan origins, since this doesn’t fit well with the uses they want to make of Bon. "....https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

"There is another earlier Chos story, starting with the history by Nyang-ral at the end of the 12th century, that at least one kind of Bon (Nyang-ral calls it ‘outbreak Bon of the sky’) had its Tibetan origins with a teacher who came from a place to the west of Tibet (a place he locates on ‘this’ side of O-rgyan, and the other side of Kashmir, thus seeming to place it in the present-day Buner valley, while other later Chos sources locate it either in Stag-gzig or in between Sog-po and Stag-gzig, making for a rather complicated discussion that will not be pursued further here) in the time of Dri-gum-btsan-po, and although quite evidently polemically motivated, a number of centuries later than the events described, and not portraying the geography in the same way as Bon sources, this sort of statement might at the very least be taken as an outside source of verification, however hostile it may be, of the nearly universal account of Bon’s extra-Tibetan origins held by Bon historians of the past. Even the nineteenth-century guide to Mt. Ti-se by the Bonpo Dkar-ru Grub-dbang, who was born (in 1801) in the vicinity of that mountain, and evinces in his book very little interest in ’Ol-mo-lung-ring, nevertheless says that Lord Shenrab came to Mt. Ti-se from ’Ol-mo-lung-ring in Stag-gzig and subsequently returned there (Norbu & Prats 1989: 42-53).".........’Ol-mo-lung-ring, the Original Holy Place.....by Dan Martin....https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

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"....Buner District (Pashto: د بونیر ولسوالی‎) is a district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.....Buner which until 1969 was part of Swat.....It is a small mountain valley, dotted with villages and divided into four sub-divisions. The Mora Hills and the Ilam range divide it from the Swat Valley, the Sinawar range from Yusafzai, the Guru mountains from the MARDAN valley, and the Duma range from the Puran Valley.......

’Ol-mo-lung-ring, the Original Holy Place.....by Dan Martin....https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/-ol-mo-lung-ring#_ednref24

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

April 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Tadzhik, Tadjik, Tajik...Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring

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"Tajik is occasionally written as Tadzhik or Tadjik, a transcription of the Russian spelling."

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"Tajik, also spelled Tadzhik, sometimes called (before the 20th century) Sart, the original Persian-speaking population of Afghanistan and Turkistan. The Tajiks constitute almost four-fifths of the population of Tajikistan. In the early 21st century there were more than 5,200,000 Tajiks in Tajikistan and more than 1,000,000 in Uzbekistan. There were about 5,000,000 in Afghanistan, where they constituted about one-fifth of the population. Another 40,000 lived in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in China......The name Tajik refers to the traditionally sedentary people who speak a form of Persian called Tajik in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and who speak the modern Persian language in Afghanistan."

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"Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring is a non-dual spiritual realm (plane or dimension) of the Bon tradition which resides beyond dualism. It is understood to be a timeless perfected realm where peace and joy are the very fabric of being. This country-name rTa-gzig is believed to be a form of the name Tajik; while the Ol-mo-lung-ring is believed to be a form of the name of the city Olmaliq (now reckoned as being within Uzbekistan, but formerly included within Tajikistan)."

"The Tajiks were the heirs and transmitters of the Central Asian sedentary culture that diffused in prehistoric times from the Iranian plateau into an area extending roughly from the Caspian Sea to the borders of China. They built villages of flat-roofed mud or stone houses and cultivated irrigated fields of wheat, barley, and millet. Their gardens were famous for melons and a variety of fruits. Their crafts were highly developed, and their towns along the caravan routes linking Persia, China, and India were centres of trade. Turks subsequently migrated westward into the area inhabited by the Tajiks. The latter became Turkicized in their culture, though many retained their Iranian language......http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581024/Tajik

"Mount Garmo (Tajik: Қуллаи Гармо, Qullai Garmo, Russian: пик Гармо, pik Garmo) is a mountain of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, Central Asia, with a height reported to be between 6,595 metres and 6,602 metres....Formerly in the Soviet Union, Garmo forms part of the Akademiya Nauk Range....A Russian expedition to the region in 1928 made the first ascent of Lenin Peak and also measured the height of what is now officially called Ismoil Somoni Peak, which may have been mistakenly identified with Garmo although it lies some sixteen kilometres to the north of the present Garmo."

"The Beyul realm of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring is fabled to be located to the west of Mount Kailash and shaped like an eight-petaled lotus and divided into four regions: inner, middle, outer and boundary area. The sky of this realm is likened to an eight-spoked wheel (refer Dharmachakra) and the land itself is fragrant and coloured by beautiful flora and landscaping, chorten and snow-capped mountains.......Central to Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring is Yungdrung Gutsek, a pyramidal-shaped mountain serving as axis mundi with nine Yungdrungs....(sauwastika) ascending like a staircase evocative of the Nine Ways (or stages) of Bon. The four faces of the pyramidal mountain, face the four cardinal directions. At the corner-joints of Yungdrung Gutsek (cross-quarter directions) four rivers flow from simulacra of archetypal thoughtforms:
from the simulacrum of a snowlion the river Narazara flows from the East;
from the simulacrum of a horse the river Pakshi flows from the North;
from the simulacrum of a peacock the river Gyim Shang flows from the West; and
from the simulacrum of an elephant the river Sindhu flows from the South.
...Geshe Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche (2006). Opening the Door to Bon. Snow Lion Publications.

"Olmaliq also spelled as Almalyk (Uzbek: Olmaliq / Олмалиқ; Russian: Алмалык) is a city (2004 pop est 138,000) in the Tashkent Province of central Uzbekistan, approximately 65 km east of Tashkent. It is located at latitude 40° 50' 41N; longitude 69° 35' 54E; at an altitude of 585 meters.

"Tajik (Persian: تاجيك‎, also Romanized as Tājīk) is a village in Jeyransu Rural District, in the Central District of Maneh and Samalqan County, North Khorasan Province, Iran....Khorasan (Persian: استان خراسان‎ ).... (also transcribed as Khurasan and Khorassan, also called Traxiane during Hellenistic and Parthian times) was a province in north eastern Iran, but historically referred to a much larger area east and north-east of the Persian Empire. The name Khorasan is Persian and means "where the sun arrives from." The name was given to the eastern province of Persia during the Sassanid Empire."...The older Persian province of Khorasan included parts which are today in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Some of the main historical cities of Persia are located in the older Khorasan: Nishapur and Tus (now in Iran), Merv and Sanjan (now in Turkmenistan), Samarkand and Bukhara (both now in Uzbekistan), Herat and Balkh (now in Afghanistan), Khujand and Panjakent (now in Tajikistan). In its long history, Khorasan knew many conquerors and empires: Greeks, Mauryans, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Safavids, Baloch, Pashtuns and others."

"The influence of the Buddhist art of Fondukistan, dated to the seventh and eighth centuries, is reflected in the contemporaneous art of northern Toḵārestān, exemplified by the murals and clay sculpture from the Buddhist monastery at Adzhina tepe, near Kurgan Tyube, in southern Tajikistan. The colossal image of a recumbent Buddha (originally 12 m) from this site, recalls the gigantic Buddha image of Bāmīān, noted by the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan tsang in the seventh century, and other large Buddha images uncovered in western Turkestan (from Krasnaya rechka near Frunze, Kuva in Ferghana [Farḡāna], and Marv).."....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/art-in-iran-vi-pre-islamic-eastern-iran-and-central-asia

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The road from Ghazni to the valley of Band-e Amir and Yakaulang. (© Minoru Inaba).....http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase12?language=en

"FONDOQESTĀN......(FONDUKISTAN), early medieval settlement and Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan, in the province of Parvān (Parwan). The site is usually dated to the 7th century CE on the evidence of artistic style and numismatic finds, the oldest of which is from 689 C.E. However, the shape and the decorations of the stupa suggest that the complex can be even earlier. The site is situated in the Ḡūrband valley, five kilometers south of Sīāhgerd and 117 kilometers north-east of Kabul, at 34° 58′ N 68° 53′ E. It was named after a village located nearby....Unfortunately, no detailed description or documentation of the site has ever been published. The most important data about the installations is still unavailable; even the exact size of the structures is not known.".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fondoqestan-

"Adzhina Tepe - a hill located 12 km from the Tajik city of Kurgan-Tube.... the Buddhist sites further east at Adzhina Tepe near Kurgan-Tyube, at Kuva in Farghana and at Ak-Beshim near Frunze...Splendid Buddhist remains of the 7th-8th century A.D. have been dug up since 1959 in Adzhina-tepe (the "Devil's Mound", 12 km off Kurgan-Tyube) by Litvinskiy....The architecture and decoration of the monastery organically merged local traditions and ancient Tokharistan various Indian elements. International Organization UNESCO awarded Adzhina Tepe nominee status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site."

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"The Vakhsh River (Tajik: Вахш), also known as the Surkhob (in north-central Tajikistan) and the Kyzyl-Suu (in Kyrgyzstan), is a Central Asian river, and one of the main rivers of the nation of Tajikistan. It is a tributary of the Amu Darya (Oxus) river.....Intensive agriculture in the Vakhsh basin has left the river polluted with fertilizers, pesticides, and salts...Since the waters of the Vakhsh eventually flow into the Aral Sea, pollution in the Vakhsh contributes to eutrophication there....The Vakhsh is fed by the glaciers of the Pamirs, one of the world’s most susceptible regions to climate change. "

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

April 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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