Legendary Accounts and Buddhist Monasteries
An Archaeological and Art-historical Reassessment of Ancient Buddhist Ruins in the Khotan Oasis (Xinjiang, China)
This research project aims at investigating the role of pictorial representations of Buddhist legendary accounts as possible conveyors of information on the identity, origin, and function of Buddhist monasteries and temples in ancient Khotan — one of the major kingdoms that flourished during the 1st millennium CE along the “Silk Road.” Archaeological material from the oasis will be studied in combination with Buddhist and historical sources.