(Tajikistan)
Ruins of citadel of Kafir-kala.
Kafir-kalaclass=notpageimage| Location of Kafir-kalaShow map of West and Central Asia
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37°35′20″N 68°38′47″E / 37.588861°N 68.646444°E / 37.588861; 68.646444
For the archaeological site in Uzbekistan, see Kafir-kala (Uzbekistan).Kafir-kala ("Fortress of the infidels") is an ancient fortress in the Vakhsh valley in Tajikistan.
Fortress and Buddhist temple
It consists in a rectangular town surrounded by a wall with towers (360x360 meters), surrounded by a large ditch, and has one citadel (360x360 meters) in one corner, also surrounded by a wall. The citadel (70x70 meters) contained the palace of the rulers.
A Buddhist temple was found in the palace complex of the fortress as well as a Buddhist Vihara with Buddhist paintings, belonging to the "Tokharistan school of art". Inscriptions with apparently Buddhist content have also been found.
Artefacts
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Adults in caftan and child, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
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Buddha head, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
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Hunting scene, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
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Hunting scene,Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
Sources
- LITVINSKY, BORIS; SOLOV'EV, VIKTOR (1990). "The Architecture and Art of Kafyr Kala (Early Medieval Tokharistan)" (PDF). Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 4: 61–75. ISSN 0890-4464. JSTOR 24048351.
References
- ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (January 1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 150. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
- UNESCO Collection of History of Civilizations of Central Asia : Online chapter.
- "A fragment of birchbark manuscript bearing a text of apparently Buddhist content has been found at Kafyr-kala in the Vakhsh valley." in Dani, Ahmad Hasan (1999). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 387. ISBN 978-81-208-1540-7.