Khisht Tepe
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Khisht Tepe | |
  Khisht Tepe Shown within West and Central Asia  Khisht Tepe Khisht Tepe (Bactria)  Khisht Tepe Khisht Tepe (Tajikistan) | |
| Location | Tajikistan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°18′41″N 70°01′29″E / 38.311457°N 70.024593°E |
| Type | Buddhist monastery |
Khisht-tepe, or Khisht-tepa (“Brick hill” in Persian) is a Buddhist archaeological site located in a mountainous area on the left bank of the Obimazar-Yakshu river (tributary of the Pyandj river), in Eastern Tajikistan near the village of Khovaling.[1][2] The site has the remains of a Buddhist monastery, dated to the 7th-8th centuries CE. The monastery has a square plan with a central courtyard, and small stupas inside several rooms. Clay tablets with Buddhist texts were also found.[3]
Khisht-tepe is part of a number of Buddhist monasteries of the 7th-8th centuries such as Kafir-kala, Kala-i Kafirnigan or Ajina Tepe, which were sponsored by Turkic royal families, nobility and population of the Western Turks and Tokhara Yabghus, who were often followers of Hinayana Buddhism.[4][5] The sites are characterized by Buddhist architecture and wall-paintings.[4][1] A devotional tablet in Brahmi was also found, suggesting Gupta influences, as well as very degraded mural paintings.[1]
The area was visited by Xuanzang in 631, who did not find any Buddhists there, suggesting that it developed after this date.[6] The Korean Buddhist monk Hui Chao reported that when he visited circa 730, the population was Turkic and followed Hinayana Buddhism.[6]