Raw data
"Shotorak - Archeological site in Gandhara located in the Kapisha plain at the foot of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan. Overlooking the Panshir valley is a 2nd-3rd century Buddhist monastery with bas reliefs displaying an Afghan variant of the Gandhara style. […]
The Bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tushita Heaven - Afghanistan, Kapisa, Shotorak monastery
Kushan period, 3rd-5th century "
Guimet (n.d.), Shotorak, http://www.guimet.fr/spip.php?page=mot&id_mot=258&id_article=8
"193. Shotorak
Alternate Name: Kuh-i Pahlawan
Kapisa Province. On the south bank of the Panjshir River at the foot of the Kuh-i Pahlawan, four kilometers north of Begram.
Date: Kushan, 3rd century AD (architectural, stylistic evidence)
A small Buddhist monastery complex with some seven or eight stupas. The main stupa was surrounded by a cloistered courtyard, and decorated in figures in bas-relief. Finds included many clay stupa models and many schist sculptures.
The site may have been the living quarters of the Kishan King Kanishka's Chinese hostages. Sculptures discovered at the site (carved schist standing figures and bas-relief panel sculptures) during the 1930s are considered some of the most important Buddhist artworks found in Afghanistan. The Buddha Dipankara (3rd c. AD), transferred from Shotorak to the Kabul Museum in the late 1930s, was stolen from the Museum in February 1993 and remains the most important single item still missing from the Museum's collection. […]
Lat 35.00° N Long 69.333333° "
- DoDLRMP and CEMML (2010:#193 Shotorak)
"[Eine..] buddhistische[…] Klöstern, wie Shotorak, Qol-e Nader, Koh- e Pahlawan.[1]"
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begram
Input by: tmciolek, Jul 26, 2010
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.
General location of the Shotorak monastery, AF.
Lat 35.00 Long 69.333333
Mapping & images: Falling Rain Genomics (http://www.fallingrain.com), 2010.
Google Map link:
Final data - explanatory notes
1. Monastery's name
- Shotorak monastery
2. Monastery's modern country & province
- Afghanistan:Velayat-e Parvan
3. Monastery's alternative/historical names
- Qol-e Nader - http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begram
- Koh- e Pahlawan - http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begram
4. Monastery's lat/long coordinates
- Approx., Lat 35.00 Long 69.333333 - DoDLRMP and CEMML (2010:#193 Shotorak)
5. Other known nearby Buddhist monasteries
- Charaka monastery
- Kapisa monastic cluster
- Narasamgharama monastery
- Paitava monastery
6. Modern name of the known nearest city, town, or village
7. The settlement's alternative/historical names
- Begram http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AF/00/Bagram.html
- Bagrām http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AF/00/Bagram.html
- Bagrami http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AF/00/Bagram.html
- Kapisa (Eitel 1888:40)
8. The settlement's coordinates
- Approx. Lat 34.966667 Long 69.283333 adlgaz-1-1002949-69
- Approx. Lat 34.9661 Long 69.2547 http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AF/00/Bagram.html
9. Monastery's major Buddhist tradition
- Theravada (judging by the place name Shotorak) - Krishan (1996:56) cited in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahangaran
10. Monastery's Buddhist sub-tradition
final data ….
11. Date-early
- Kushan, 3rd century AD (architectural, stylistic evidence) - DoDLRMP and CEMML (2010:#193 Shotorak)
12. Date-intermediate
- 3rd-5th century - Guimet (n.d.), Shotorak, http://www.guimet.fr/spip.php?page=mot&id_mot=258&id_article=8
13. Date-late
final data ….
14. Details of contacts with other monasteries
final data ….
15. Type of evidence regarding the monastery
final data ….
16. Additional notes
final data (incl. details of the size of the monastic population)….
17. Corrections & addenda to this page were kindly provided by
final data ….
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