New book :
Shakirjan PIDAEV, Tukhtash ANNAEV et
Gérard FUSSMAN, Monuments bouddhiques de
Termez/Termez Buddhist Monuments, I, Catalogue des inscriptions sur poteries
par Gérard FUSSMAN avec une contribution de Nicholas SIMS-WILLIAMS et la
collaboration d’Éric OLLIVIER, Publications de l’Institut de
Civilisation Indienne, fasc. 791 et 792, Paris, 280 pages including 16 colour plates and
80 black and white plates. Euros 88.
Available from De Boccard, 11 rue de Médicis, 75006 Paris, http://www.deboccard.com/
Termez, now a provincial capital of Uzbekistan, lies at the confluence of the
Suraxandar’ja and Amudar’ja (former Oxus)
rivers. North of the ruins of the Old Town, destroyed by Gengis Khan and since
deserted, explored by Soviet archaeologists since the 1930’s, two Buddhist
monasteries were excavated: Kara-Tepa (where excavations are still going on) and
Fajaz-Tepa. They are the best evidence we have for Bactrian Buddhism, including
in the very close-by Bactrae. Outstanding paintings and sculptures were brought
to light: they are not dealt with in this volume, entirely devoted to the
architecture and epigraphy of these two monasteries. A great number of sherds
and pots inscribed in Indian and Bactrian languages were discovered during the
excavations. V. V. Vertogradova published in 1995 all the Kara-Tepa and
Fajaz-Tepa inscriptions known at that time. Many more were discovered since.
This volume contains a commented-upon catalogue of every inscribed sherd ever
found in Termez, viz. 226 Kara-Tepa sherds, 94 Fajaz-Tepa sherds, 17 sherds from
other places in and around Termez. These inscriptions are the best evidence we
have for life in mahāsāṃghika
monasteries in Bactria from c. 50 A.D. to c. 650.