Buddhistic cloister of Ajina-Tepa
Ajina Tepe (also: Ajina - Tepa or Adzhina - Tepa ) is an early medieval, reaching back to the 7th and 8th century Buddhist monastic establishment ( sarighārāma ) in the south of Tajikistan. The facility is located approximately 12 kilometers east of Qurghonteppa ( formerly Kurgan - Tyube ) in the Vakhsh Valley ( inflow to the Amu Darya ) and 1 km north of the medieval settlement Chorgul Tepe. Ajina -Tepe in 1999, placed on the Tentative List as a cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Discovery history
The monument was investigated by archaeologists in 1959. Ajina Tepe was located on the ancient Silk Road and had importance as a trading location between China, Europe and Central Asia and the Indian seaports. As early as 1961, the archaeological site could be befundet archaeologically. The ongoing research has been to 1975, led by Boris Litvinskiy, a postdoctoral historian, archaeologist and member of the Tajik Academy of Sciences. The excavations brought out parts of buildings that were so classified that they had to be considered as a Buddhist monastery belonging. Today, the entire system is exposed.
The plant suffered due to neglect during the decades of the Russian colonization, and later of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Tajik autonomy considerable damage.
Architecture
Before the excavations began, it was already apparent that the foundation of the system consisted of two up to 100 m wide and about 5 m high cairn under which loomed rectangular courtyards. Two places recorded off of which room, cells and corridors went out. Some sanctuaries, like a ( sleeping ) parinirvanische 12 m high Buddha figure ( according to other sources, there are 14 m ) and clay figures were lifted, uncovered murals and finally salvaged a stupa. Architecture and decorations of Ajina Tepe were merged with Indian elements and local traditions of the ancient Kushan ( Tocharistan ). The well-preserved Buddha statue was placed in the Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquity to Dushanbe.
The two places were buried delimited by a wall against each other. The higher southeastern part of the system consisted of 19 x 19 m and had a bowl-shaped depression on. These were to the actual monastery. The northwestern part, however, was characterized by steep sides and encircling close Einsackungen. He housed the stupa, and served various religious purposes. The monastery was of adobes ( Paksa ), which were all set in blocks to each other and typical of the time sizes of 52 x 26 x 10 cm had. Hundreds of found and for the second half of the 7th and the early 8th century Sogdian -speaking copper coins, which can be time of origin of the plant Narrow better. It was used for a period of about 100 years. The monastery was destroyed during the Arab conquest ( 737-50 ) and was henceforth unused. Was not until the late 8th century can be re- uses of the ruins prove as dwellings and work shops. Both parts of the building shown facing each other, depending on a ayvan ( portal-like porch ).
Realized in Ajina Tepe architectural ideas demonstrated a high degree of development of the Buddhist monastery building. The page footer passage of pradakṣina repeated later in Paharpur in Bangladesh and Bebe and Lemyethna (Sri Ksetra ) ( Myanmar). The Four - Iwan construction was established particularly later in Iran.