Ancient silk road town Hotan, a vital role played in the history
The oasis of Hotan is strategically located at the junction of the southern (and most ancient) branch of the
Silk Road joining China and the West.
It provided a convenient meeting place where not only goods, but technologies, philosophies, and religions were transmitted from one culture to another.
Tocharians lived in this region over 2000 years ago. Several of the
Tarim mummies were found in the region. At Sampul, east of the city of Hotan, there is an extensive series of cemeteries scattered over an area about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide and 23 km (14 mi) long.
The excavated sites range from about 300 BCE to 100 CE. The excavated graves have produced a number of fabrics of
felt,
wool,
silk and
cotton and even a fine bit of tapestry, the
Sampul tapestry,
showing the face of
Caucasoid man which was made of threads of 24 shades of color. The tapestry had been cut up and fashioned into trousers worn by one of the deceased. An Anthropological study of 56 individuals showed a primarily Caucasoid population.
In the Hellenistic period, there was an Indo-Greek colony in Hotan.
The ancient Kingdom of Khotan was one of the earliest Buddhist states in the world and a cultural bridge across which Buddhist culture and learning were transmitted from India to China.
Its capital was located to the west of the modern city of Hotan. The inhabitants of the Kingdom of Khotan, like those of early
Kashgar and
Yarkant, spoke
Saka, one of the
Eastern Iranian languages.
Khotan's indigenous dynasty (all of whose royal names are Indian in origin) governed a fervently Buddhist city-state boasting some 400 temples in the late 9th/early 10th century—four times the number recorded by
Xuanzang around 630. The kingdom was independent but was intermittently under Chinese control during the Han and Tang dynasties.
In the 10th century, Khotan began a struggle with the
Kara-Khanid Khanate, a Turkic state. The Kara-Khanid ruler,
Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, had converted to
Islam.
