Thread by @cbkwgl

Time is running fast. Every kingdom in the area has fallen to Islam or to the Turks and it’s been 15 years already, the king is fighting a losing war. There is no telling how long the Khotanese armies will stand. No. There is no surrender. They have seen what happened to their

gods in Kashgar and Kabul. Surrender is not an option. It’s only fight to death. But, another race against time is happening just nearby, in Dandan-uiliq. Whatever can be shifted to Dunhuang is shifted. Even, the route to Dunhuang is blocked.

The Buddhist monks are busy collecting all available literature and they are stashing them hidden from human eye. Will they shut themselves in the caves and buildings and spend their last energies, to their death trying to preserve their religion and culture to the successor

generations? The kingdom stood for five more years. No one knows what happened to the king, his family, the monks and their religion. And there is no escape even. Tibet collapsed, China collapsed, Kashmir is hard pressed and all other areas are conquered and converted –

there is no place to go. What happened to them? But, we know one thing. Some 100 years after the kingdom ended, a Muslim poet wrote,
We came down on them like a flood,
We went out among their cities,
We tore down the idol-temples,
We shat on the Buddha's head!

At least, there is a confirmation that their religion is destroyed. Their last stand, both in the forts and in the caves and monasteries is justified. This, in, a nutshell, is the story of the end of Khotan. Now, coming to Khotan. What do we know of it? Literally, nothing.

Khotan is one of the Tarim Basin kingdoms and it commanded the Southern Route. Located in the middle of no where between Taklamakan and Kunlun, it's a welcome stopover.

It sits at the cross-roads of Indian, Iranian, Chinese, Tibetan and the Nomadic cultures and it’s prominence is because of two reasons – jade and a sustainable stopover point in the middle of nowhere as mentioned.

It is always known as Khotan with variants of the spelling used – Chinese called it Yutien, Ciongnou called it Yutouen, Iranians Hotan, locals called it Khodana, Hvatana, Hvarmna, Hvam, the nomads of the north called it Odan, Indians called it Kutien and Tibetans, Hu-ten.

In the literary plane, they called it Kustana or Gostana or Kamsadesa. Tibetans called the kingdom Li Yul. All foundation legends point to the same thing, approximately –
The area of Khotan was a lake which was dried up by Buddha.

A Chinese prince settled there and parallel to him, an Indian contingent. Both of them first fought with each other and then joined forces to create the kingdom of Khotan. The legend took various forms –

1.The Indian was Ku-stana, the son of Asoka whom he abandoned after Asoka was told his son will become a king when Asoka is alive.
2.The Indian is Kunala, Asoka’s son
3.The Indian is Yasas, who blinded Kunala and fled North

The Chinese is actually Ku-stana who was taken to China by Vaisravana after he was abandoned by Asoka. He is called Ku-stana because when he was left to die, the earth(Ku) formed into the shape of a breast(Stana) and suckled him.

Vaisravana is considered to be the patron deity of Khotan and the progenitor of the dynasty.

They used a variant of Saka language and Kharoshti script, both called Khotanese Saka. The religion in the early days was Zorastrianism. All history, it’s reach was considerable, with coins(Khotan Horse coins/Sino-Kharoshti coins) being found as far as Kabul as early as 100 AD.

The kingdom of Khotan is founded by Ku-stana when he is 19 years old – 234 years after the nirvana of Gautama Buddha. The oldest reference to Khotan in Chinese chronicles came during the reign of Emperor Wu(140 BC-87 BC) when the Western Regions were opened up to Chinese trade

and political influence. It is understood that Khotan was a very small kingdom at that time and it expanded in due time. In 56 AD, Khotan under Yu-lin was conquered by Yarkand(Soche) and Yu-lin was transferred to Ligui. A Khotanese General Hsiu-mo-pa rebelled and seized the

throne. His nephew Kuang-te asserted his power by conquering Soche and 13 other kingdoms in the north west as far as Kashgar by 61. At the same time, Chinese armies under Pan Chao reached Tarim Basin chasing the Xiongnu. Kuang-te initially supported the Xiongnu but submitted to

China after killing the Xiongnu supreme general in the area. Another army came under Pan Chao’s son Pan Yung in 127 when Chinese grip on the area became loose. In 129, Fang-chien, the king of Khotan killed the king of Chumi and gave the territory to his son.

He sent a tribute bearing embassy to China two years later but China demanded return of territory. It sent the King of Kashgar Chenpan with an army to punish Fang-chien. Fang-chien was deposed and Chengguo was made the king. In 151, the Chinese Governor Chao Ping died,

the king of Chumi spread a message that Khotanese king Chien poisoned him. Chao Ping’s successor Wang Ching was bribed and Chien was killed in an ambush. Whole Khotan erupted in rebellion – the Governor of Shu’po avenged his king but was killed when he tried to claim the throne.

An-kuo, Chien’s son became the king. Even after knowing of Chao Ping’s high handedness, Governor Ma of Sha-chou wanted to punish Khotan for rebellion but was stopped by the King of China. An-kuo or Vijayasambhava ascended the throne 65 years after the kingdom is formed.

From him, starts a line of kings of what can be called, Vijaya Dynasty. Buddhism was introduced into the kingdom in his fifth year. Clearly, it coincides with the Kushana advances and legends say that the Arya Vairochana taught them religion, script and everything.

China also became Buddhist approximately at the same time, through Khotan.
After that came Vijayadharma who was a powerful king, frequently at war. Later in life, he became a Buddhist and retired to Kashgar. But, we note that whether China was capable or not, Khotan always

professed it’s loyalty and tributary status to China. Sung Yun, in 519 writes that its king wore a gilt headdress resembling in shape a cock’s crest, from which there descended behind as an ornament a band of silk two feet long and five inches broad. He further says, the dead are

burned, ashes collected and buried under small stupas. Mourning was done by cutting their hair and lacerating their faces, but when the hair grew back to the normal, mourning was stopped. The king was not cremated, but is buried in a distant place and a Stupa built on his body.

Khotan is the first place outside China to produce silk. Legend says of a Chinese princess who brought silk worm eggs in her hair when she was married to the king of Khotan – this incident happened around this period, the king being Vijaya Jaya who ruled around 270 AD.

Between 270 and 400, the kingdom shifted from Hinayana to Mahayana- possibly because of a large influx of Mahasanghika monks who built no less than 16 monasteries during Vijayasimha’s reign. This hints at a sudden shift from Hinayana to Mahayana. When the Chinese retreated

beyond the Hexi, Khotan was invaded very frequently and the monasteries are destroyed – Tu-yu-Hun led by Mu-li-yen(445) who killed the Khotanese king, Juan-juan(470) – Khotan sent an ambassador to China to ask for help, but the Emperor Hsien Wen refused help citing distance

involved, Hepthalites(500-560) and Gotturks(565-631). The Hepthalite Empire collapsed between 563 and 567 due to the attacks by Western Turks under Khagan Istami and Khotan along with others, passed into Turkish vassalage. The old dynasties were left but a Tudun was appointed to

collect the tribute. Vijayasangrama took the war into the lands of the Drug-gu and caused great slaughter. Clearly, this can only mean he was a part of the Chinese effort against the Gotturks. This is where Khotanese history becomes more discernible. Approximately at this time,

Khotan introduced Buddhism to Turks. With regard to Khotan, we have a very major situation. The Khotanese documents mention a king name, Chinese another and Tibetan a third one. Though the Khotanese and Tibetan almost match phonetically, it’s a taxing exercise to link

a Khotanese name to a Chinese name. The main Tibetan source is Li yul lung bstan pa(Gostana Vyakarana) which was completed around 750 AD. The chronicle is about the pious deeds of the kings of Khotan, starting with how Khotan became a lake, how Buddha dried up the lake,

the legend of Sa-nu(Ku-stana) and the pious deeds of the kings of Khotan – primarily over their Kalyanamitras and the Viharas built. Excluding that, there is very scant information of historic merit. There are considerable number of instances where a person/king built Vihara as a

penance to some wrongs he did like Amacha Khe-meg killing his three brothers and Vijayasangrama who built a Vihara as a penance to his past violence. The area had almost 11000 Viharas, which indicates how major a Buddhist centre Khotan is. The chronicle mentions that, dating from

Sa-nu, the kingdom existed for 1256 years. According to the chronicles, Sa-nu was born when Dharmasoka ruled for 30 years and at the age of 12, he left China, forming the kingdom when he is 19 – a total of 234 years after the Nirvana of Buddha. Between Sa-nu and

Btsan bzang btsan la brtan. Excluding the details of the Viharas built unless they are necessary, the king list according to the chronicle goes thus. Besides the story of silkworms(king 14), the only information of historic merit is

1. 65 years after origin of Li when Yehu-la’s son Vijaya Sambhava(king 3) was king for five years, Buddhism entered Khotan.
2. Vijaya Simha(king 16) faced an invasion from the king of Ga-hjag – the king of Ga-hjag was captured and was put to death.

When asked for pardon, Vijaya Simha ordered him to become a monk and come back as his Kalyanamitra.
3.Vijayakirti(king 17) followed King Kanik of Gu-zan(Emperor Kanishka of Kushana Empire) in his Indian invasion and after taking the city of So-ked, Vijayakirti obtained many

relics which he placed in Stupa of Sru-no.
4.During the reign of fourteen unknown kings, the Turks(Drugu) raided Khotan frequently.
5.Vijaya Sangrama(king 52) and his son Vijaya Vikrama went to China but their return route was blocked by the Dru-gu. They had to return back –

the father died in China, and the son, very young, wasn’t able to return and Amacha Khemeg acted as regent for 12 years. Vijaya Sangrama’s son Vijaya Vikrama(king 53) returned to Li Country with an army from China and took the throne.

The last events happened during the rise of Tangs and an assertive Tibet. Till 630, the Tangs were trying to establish their foothold West of Hexi Corridor. The Northern Turks, who almost destroyed the Tangs were defeated by 630 and the Western Turks who helped the Chinese

split into two camps after their king Khagan Tung Shih-hu was murdered. Chinese used this to the fullest and crossed the desert in 640, setting up the Protectorate of An-hsi with it’s four garrisons of Khotan, Tokmak(replaced by Karashahr), Sule and Kucha in 644.

Kucha was annexed by 649 and seeing that, Khotan under Vijitta Simha submitted. In 652, a Western Turkic Khagan Ho-lu rebelled but was defeated by the Chinese with the help of Tarin Basin kingdoms. Holu fled to Tashkent but was captured.

For his services, the Chinese felicitated him and made him an Honorary General in the Imperial Guard. He held the titles mäṣḍānä gyasti hu[mä]ri hīnāysä hvatana mästä rrundä rrundänu rrundä vijitta sinhä

“Vijitta Sinha, the Gracious Lord, the Humäri General, the Great King of Khotan, the King of Kings.” In 659, a Turkish chief Tuman attacked Khotan and in 665, Kashgar supported by Tibet attacked Khotan. In both the times, China had to help Khotan out.

In 675, Khotan was reconstituted as the Government of Pi-sha(Pi-sha-men > Vaisravana) and the king was made it’s Governor. We see that Khotan had a hand in introducing Buddhism to Tibet as well, but it turned out to be a failed venture.

Around 675, a Chinese princess Jincheng (who married the Tibetan king Khri lDe gtsug btsan) invited some Khotanese monks to set up the first monastic community in Tibet. But, when the princess died of a smallpox epidemic in 739,

anti-Buddhist noble Tibetan families blamed it on Buddhist monks and all the monks were ejected out. We would see Tibet out of Buddhist influence at least for the next 200 years. The king’s family name is said to be Wang, possibly a variant of Wei-chih(Vijaya)

and he held a title Pei-shih-pi-len. The Tibetans started advancing in force and King Vijaya Sangrama had to flee to China in 687. He died there after six years. During his absence, according to the Li yul lung bstan pa, Khotan was governed by a Khotanese minister named

Amaca Khemeg, whose regency lasted for 12 years. It is assumed that during his stay at Luoyang, Yuchi Jing adopted the title Yuchi, which was carried over by all his successors. Turks under Chueh-cho plundered the garrison town of Kan in 705.

But the bigger danger was the Tibetan advances into China which reached Khotan by 719. In response, China allowed the four garrisons to collect levy from merchants and use it for their own purposes. In 725, king Visya Sihya conspired with the Turks(or possibly Kashmir)

but was captured and executed by a Chinese official named Du Xian. Li yul lung bstan pa doesn’t mention him, hinting damnatio memoriae. Around 740, Yuchi Sheng received an imperial princess in marriage and on returning back, he helped Kao-Hsien-chih take

Sa-pi-po-hsien(Gilgit – Little Polu) in 747. In 749, he was supporting the Tang General Gao Xianzhi in South East Tarim Basin as the king of Khotan. In 756, he left to China with a troop of 5000 to support the Emperor during the An Lushan rebellion and never returned back to

Khotan. It is possible, at this time, Khotanese kings were given the Tang Imperial surname of Li, which they used even after Tangs retreated from the area. Sheng’s brother Shih-hu Yao became the regent first and then, the king.

In 760, he was made the second in command to the Four Garrisons. When Tibet took Beshbalik in 791, the link between China and Tarim Basin is completely cutoff. In fact, the situation was completely out of control even by 780 when the royal officials who carried jade from Khotan

to China themselves were looted. After Yuchí Yao, Tibet slowly slipped into Tibetan sphere from Chinese sphere. For the next 150 years, Tibet replaced China and China is silent over Tarim Basin. By 860, Uyghur Karakhanid Empire started asserting itself and

Tibet was slowly pushed back but they seem not to have reached Khotan, with borders solidifying near Kucha before Tibet itself collapsed into a civil war after the assassination of King Langdarma in 842. The ensuing refugee crisis(which started with the collapse of Uyghur Khanate

in 840) led to a rebellion in China in 874 leading to the end of Tang Empire in 907 and China broke into competing entities. The Karakhanids injected a new philosophy into the area – Islam and it’s a matter of time Khotan, completely devoid of allies will fall to it, especially

after the fact that Kashgar fell in 934. The next Chinese mission in the area was noted in 938 – Chinese recognized Li Sheng-ti’en or Vijaya Sambhava(912-968) as the king of Khotan followed by a mission from Khotan. It is understood that the main road from East to China has

fallen into disrepair – while in 644, while a reply to Huein Tsang’s message came in six months, it took four years for the 938 mission to return back to Khotan. Li Sheng-ti’en married the second daughter of Cao Yijin, the first governor of the Guiyi Circuit. Guiyi Circuit was

suddenly established when some Tang loyalists rebelled and formed a Tang governorate in 848. Cao Yijin's grandson, Cao Yanlu, married Li Shengtian's third daughter. The marital ties seem to have continued till the last and Khotanese rulers funded massively in Buddhist Temples and

grottos in Dunhuang – it is possible that a considerable amount of Khotanese relics were shifted to Khotan before the kingdom fell. Khotan is already in a situation by now. With Tibet retreating and China not in a position to assert itself on the other side, and the advancing

Muslims on the other side means that Khotan is literally the last entity in the area which represented the old order and the king was desperate for any support he can get from any angle. The over Chinese display of Li Sheng-ti’en and his Chinese way of dressing as noted by

the Chinese mission is a clear hint of that. He also used the Chinese style era name of Tongqing (to celebrate together). One cannot ignore the possibility of Tibet, and later, the Tibetan remnants supporting Khotan since Tibet is next in the line when Khotan falls.

Besides, Khotan can’t bank on Kashmir either – it was facing it’s own troubles – the Shahis of Kabul are being pushed back towards Kashmir and across Indus and is fast becoming the new border with Islam. And Guiyi is not sufficient.

The Khotanese attack on Kashgar in 970 under Vijaya Surapati is the last major victory for Khotan against the Muslims. His successors Vijaya Dharma/Visadarma(977-982) and Vijaya Kumara(982-1007?) spent all their life trying to hold off against the advancing Muslims and

Khotan fell after a twenty year long war including a 10 year brutal siege. Hasan Bogra Khan, the Karakhanid ruler of Kashghar was not able to focus upon his Samanid conquests till 999 can be solely be attributed to Khotan. It is possible Hasan Bogra Khan himself was killed by

Khotan. It is understood Khotan fell by 1007, possibly aided by the troops which returned after their defeat at the hands of Mahmud of Ghazni in Balkh. Khotan may have been supported by Tibet and other Buddhist kingdoms, which can explain why Khotan was able to resist that long.

While the kingdom was fighting a war of survival, another war against time is fought elsewhere in Dandan-uiliq. The Monks of Khotan are racing against time to collect as much they can, there by doing their part to the religion and humanity by ensuring the knowledge survives.

Parallel to this, the Khotanese cave at Dunhuang(Cave 17) was sealed permanently after news came that Khotan is about to fall. The last document in the cave is dated 1002. Even here, one can assume, sensing Khotan can fall any moment, the Khotanese donated their entire archive to

the Three Realms Monastery at Dunhuang. This can explain the date of 1002 – nothing came after that. Whatever was stored in Dandan-uiliq was on top of what was sent to Dunhuang. And when they got the news that Khotan fell, the Cave where Khotanese documents(Cave 17)

were stored was sealed permanently. The stashes in both the locations, Dandan-uliq and Dunhuang were discovered only at the end of 19th century - after 900 years.

The 1009 Khotanese embassy to China was sent by the Khagan, clearly telling Khotan fell. The ambassador was an Uyghur. The Karakhanids destroyed much of Khotan and led the region into a permanent ruin. What survived is ruins like Rawak Stupa, once one of Khotan's greatest.

But, remember, you can destroy a religion but you can’t destroy what the people believed in – the centre of Khotanese Buddhism, Gosrnga hill is still prayed to, as a Muslim shrine.

Marco Polo, who visited the area around 1275 said that the area is completely Muslim and is a subject to Kublai Khan. It is but natural that those who didn’t want to convert escaped to the near by kingdoms –

for example, the first Panchen Lama is descended from the Khotanese Se Clan. The closeness of Khotanese chronicles and Nepalese Buddhist chronicles even to the extent of the name Li-Yul can explain a strong Khotanese presence in Tibet and elsewhere.

All this reminds one of the famous song, which in English goes thus
Even after the kings are gone and kingdoms collapse,
Even after seasons changed and hurricanes blew,
Even if humans turned the devils and ruined everything,
What's left are sculptures and artifacts
*Finis*

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