Ajina-Tepa monastery, (towards) Qurghonteppa, Viloyati Khatlon, TJ

Raw data

Preservation of the Buddhist Monastery of Ajina Tepa, Tajikistan: Heritage of the Ancient Silk Roads
www.unesco.kz/publications/2008_UNESCO_letter.pdf

The cloister of Ajina-Tepa is situated at a distance of 12 km from the east from the city of Kurgan-Tiube.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1382/

Qurghonteppa, Tajikistan Page
Other names: Qurghān Tyube,Qŭrghonteppa,Qurghan Tyube,Kurgan-Tyube
World:Tajikistan:Viloyati Khatlon
Latitude 37.8364 Longitude 68.7803
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/TI/02/Qurghonteppa.html

The cloister has a right-angled form (100 x 50 m.), it consists of two parts, there is a square yard surrounded buildings, in the center of it. There is a room in the middle of every side of the yard. The room consists of two parts too. The first part is an ivan (summer-house). There is a passage to the square cell in the back side of the ivan. These twin rooms are simmetrically situated face to face. The ivons are connected with crank corridors. The exits led from the corridors to the yard, other buildings, small monk cells of one or two rooms, economic premises. There was the second floor where it could be gone with a pandus but it didn't remain.
[…]
There was a gigantic figure of the lying Buddha in Nirvana in the east end of the corridor of the temple part on the plane pedestal.

The sculpture was 12 m. long. All sculptures made of clay and the elements of the clothes were painted. The excavations of the monument of Ajina-Tepa finished in 1975. It is an important buddhistic cloister of Vahsh Valley.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1382/

Preservation of the Buddhist Monastery of Ajina Tepe … The Buddhist site of Ajina Tepe, which dates back to the 7th and 8th centuries, …
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27329&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC &URL_SECTION=201.html

Input by: tmc, Apr 26, 2009

"Ruins of Buddhist monasteries and remains of picturesque frescos depicting the life of the Buddha can still be found in places in Tajikistan such as Kalai-Kafirnigan and Adzhiina-Tepe, as well as in Afghanistan and elsewhere." - Abazov (2006:65)

Ajina Tepe - had 7th-8th c. sculptures - Pugachenkova and Khakimov (1988:291)

Input by: tmc, Aug 28, 2009

Final data (and their sources)

Lat/Long coordinates' accuracy:
The monastery in question is assumed to be situated actually no farther than 200 m from the point defined by the coordinates below.

Location of Ajina-Tepa monastery, TJ.

General location of the Ajina-Tepa monastery, TJ.
Lat 37.8644 Long 68.9419
Mapping & images: Falling Rain Genomics (http://maps.fallingrain.com), 2009.


Google Map link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.8644+68.9419+(Approx.%20loc.%20of%20the%20Ajina%Tepa%20monastery,%20TJ)&ll=37.8644,68.9419&spn=05.0,05.0&t=k&hl=en

Final data - explanatory notes

1. Monastery's name

  • Ajina-Tepa monastery - www.unesco.kz/publications/2008_UNESCO_letter.pdf

2. Monastery's modern country & province

  • Tajikistan:Viloyati Khatlon

3. Monastery's alternative/historical names

  • Ajina Tepe monastery - Pugachenkova and Khakimov (1988:291)
  • Adzhiina-Tepe monastery - Abazov (2006:65)
  • Adjinatepa monastery - San'at (2002a)
  • Adzina Tepe - Krishan (1996:83)
  • Adzhinatepe - Zejmal and Rtveladze (1999)

4. Monastery's lat/long coordinates

  • Approx. Lat 37.8644 Long 68.9419 - visual identification of the monastery's ruins in maps.google.com - tmc, 7 Jan 2010.

5. Other known nearby Buddhist monasteries

6. Modern name of the known nearest city, town, or village

7. The settlement's alternative/historical names

8. The settlement's coordinates

9. Monastery's major Buddhist tradition

  • Acc. to Krishan (1996:83), Ajina Tepe has remains of Buddha and bodhisattva images, whose style is "essentially non-Mahayanic." However, the very existence of images of bodhisattvas would argue in favour of the presence of the Mahayana doctrine. Hence, a conclusion - a Mahayana site - tmc, 5 Jul 2010.

10. Monastery's Buddhist sub-tradition

[missing data]

11. Date-early

12. Date-intermediate

13. Date-late

[missing data]

14. Details of contacts with other monasteries

[missing data]

15. Type of evidence regarding the monastery

  • archaeological, art historical.

16. Additional notes

[missing data] (incl. details of the size of the monastic population)….

17. Corrections & addenda to this page were kindly provided by

[missing data]

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Page tags: 200m a central-asia mahayana? mapped murals spot tajikistan theravada?
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