Hi Dean,

Archeological sites as far west as Anatolia record Buddhist settlements. See for instance Roxann Prazniak, “Ilkhanid Buddhism: Traces of a Passage in Eurasian History,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 2014;56(3):650–680.

It is well-known — or I should say *used to be* well-known — that during the Abbasid period, Buddhists from NW India and Central Asia were invited to Baghdad because of their skill as translators to participate in the Bayt al-Ḥikmah (House of Wisdom) translation projects of Greek and Indian texts. That barely lasted a generation, when a new ruler started to kill them off, purging them, having them flee back to Central Asia, then following them in a drive that purged Buddhism and Buddhists from much of Central Asia (Tibet was spared due to its relative inaccessibility and reputation as fierce warriors). I attempted a quick search for a website or two to include in this — they were not hard to find a few years ago, but web information on that seems to have been purged and whitewashed as well — I searched with three different search engines. More hits on Buddhists acting badly even for a search like “baghdad buddhists” then even the tiniest morsel of information on the tragedy of the invited Buddhist communities to Baghdad, and the aftermath.

Our increasing reliance on the internet for basic information is becoming scary. We have entered 1984.

Dan

On Nov 22, 2021, at 12:06 PM, Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Hi Dean,

This recent publication contains many relevant references:
https://brill.com/view/title/59960?language=en

Richard Salomon's indian Epigraphy includes discussion of pertinent epigraphical evidence from Central Asia.

Viking artifacts of Asian provenance pose problems for interpretation. The Vikings were very active in the slave trade with Byzantium, which moved along the Volga river and Caspian sea, but the presence of a given artifact at a Viking site may not always imply that it arrived through Viking raiders moving upstream. There were also slave traders, and other merchants, based in Byzantine lands who moved downstream.

best,
Matthew

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études, émérite
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago



From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Dean Michael Anderson via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2021 9:57 AM
To: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Hindus and Buddhists in Central Asia
 

I've been working on the Indo-Europeans and some of their interactions.

It started with the discovery that Vikings penetrated into Central Asia. Their hoards in Scandinavia contain silver coins from Afghanistan. While they might not have gone all the way there, it seems certain that they did penetrate well into Central Asia -- probably at least as far as the Caspian Sea.

That led me to the second question which I asked here. Thanks again for all of the fascinating answers in another thread here that discussed Indo-Aryan influences as far as the Philippines and beyond. 

Now I'm looking back in the other direction again and wondering if anyone can provide more sources on evidence for Hindus and Buddhists in Central Asia. The Buddhists are better attested and there were probably more of them, but I was wondering what evidence we have for both groups in Central Asia.

Best,

Dean


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