Observations on the Possible Pre-Buddhist Substratum of Khotanese Deities Accompanied by Horses from Recently Investigated Archaeological Sites
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Among the painted wooden tablets found at Dandan Oilik (Khotan), possibly dated to the seventh–eighth century, A. Stein and other scholars pointed to the presence of non-Indian deities that could be rooted in the pre-Buddhist Khotanese religious milieu. Since the language spoken in ancient Khotan belonged to the Eastern Iranian branch of the so-called Indo-European languages, it seemed obvious to some experts to imagine that the local deities depicted on those wooden tablets had an Iranian background. Newly excavated mural paintings from small Buddhist temples in the region of Khotan allowed us to better consider some of these local deities, who presented unique elements and symbolic animals possibly related to other eastern Iranian forms of so-called Zoroastrianism, such as the religion of pre-Islamic Sogdiana and Chorasmia.
Source: Religions
DOI: 10.3390/rel17020160
Author: Matteo Compareti
Institution: Capital Normal University
Language: English
Topic: Eurasian Exchange Networks
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W7126033639