Product Code Database
Example Keywords: medical -tetris $89
   » » Wiki: Tokharistan
Tag Wiki 'Tokharistan'.
Tag

Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix -stan meaning "place of" in Persian) is a historical name used by Islamic sources in the early Middle Ages to refer to the area which was known as in sources.

(2000). 9780521657044, Cambridge University Press. .

By the 6th century CE, Tokharistan came under rule of the First Turkic Khaganate, and in the 7th and 8th centuries, it was incorporated into the , administered by the Protectorate General to Pacify the West.

(2016). 9781351926058, Routledge. .
Today, Tokharistan is fragmented between , and .


Names
Several languages have used variations of the word "Tokhara" to designate the region:

  • Tokharistan may appear in ancient India sources as the Kingdom of , to the northwest of the India. "Tushara" is the word for "snowy" "frigid", and is known to have been used to designate the country of Tukhara."Tushara ( snowy , frigid ) and Tushkara are used as equivalents of Tukhara" in In Sanskrit, it became तुखार (Tukhāra).

  • The in signifies the Tokhari country and Tokhari settlements of . Bactrian Language inscriptions are also found in Tochi Valley, along with other places in Pakistan.
  • In ancient Greek, the name was Tokharoi ( ) or Thaguroi.
  • Tochari for Latin historians.
  • The name "Tokhara" appeared in the 4th century CE, in texts, such as the Vibhasa-sastra.
  • In Tibetan, the name for the region was Thod-kar or Tho-gar."The population was called by the Greeks Tokharoi, Thaguroi; by the Romans Tochar; or Thogarii (in Sanskrit, Tukhara; in Tibetan, Thod-kar or Tho-gar; in Khotanese, Ttaugara; in Uigurian, Twghry; in Armenian, T'ukri-k'" in
    (2013). 9789004255302, BRILL. .
  • The name appears in Chinese as Tukhara (覩货罗 Duhuoluo or 吐火罗 Tuhuoluo).For 覩货罗 as "Tokharistan" see
    (2015). 9787999099499, Beijing Book Co. Inc.. .
    "Tokhara" was known in Chinese sources as Tuhuluo (吐呼羅), which is first mentioned during the era (386-534 CE)."In the Record of the Northern – Wei Dynasty it is transcribed as T'u-hu-luo" in
    (1986). 9788120800625, Motilal Banarsidass. .
    In the , the name is transcribed as Tuhuoluo (土豁羅). Other Chinese names are Doushaluo 兜沙羅, Douquluo 兜佉羅 or Duhuoluo 覩貨羅.
  • In , Ttaugara; in Uigurian, Twghry; in Armenian, T'ukri-k'.


Ethnicities
Several portraits of ambassadors from the region of Tokharistan are known from the Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, originally painted in 526–539 CE. They were at that time under the overlordship of the , who led the embassies to the court in the early 6th century CE.

File:Kabadiyan ambassador to the Southern Liang court 516-520 CE.jpg| ambassador to the court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital in 516–520 CE, with explanatory text. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song copy. The ambassador accompanied the to China. File:Kumedh ambassador to the Southern Liang court 516-520 CE.jpg| ambassador to the Chinese court of Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital in 516–520 CE, with explanatory text. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song copy. File:Ambassadors from Kabadiyan (阿跋檀), Balkh (白題國) and Kumedh (胡密丹), visiting the court of the Tang Dynasty. The Gathering of Kings (王会图) circa 650 CE.jpg|Ambassadors from (阿跋檀), (白題國) and (胡密丹), visiting the court of the . The Gathering of Kings (王会图), c. 650 CE File:Silver gilt bowl. Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan, 6th c. CE. British Museum OA 1963.12-10.2. I. I. Smirnov (1869-1918), Vostochnoe serebro (St. Petersburg, 1909).jpg|Bactrian types on a silver gilt bowl, 6th c. CE. British Museum. File:Silver bowl portraits.jpg|Silver bowl portraits. File:Ajanta Cave 1 ceiling foreign dignitary.jpg|Possible Bactrians revelling, on the ceiling of the central hall of Cave 1 of , India (460–480 CE).

(2025). 9789004185258, BRILL. .
(2025). 9780241326244, Dorling Kindersley Limited. .


"Tocharians" in the Tarim Basin
The name of "" was mistakenly applied by early 20th century authors to the Indo-European people of the , from the areas of and . These scholars erroneously believed that these Indo-Europeans had originated in Tokharistan (), and hence applied the term "Tocharians" to them. This appellation remains in common usage, although the Indo-European people of the Tarim Basin probably as Agni, and Krorän.


Chinese sources
In the Xi'an Stele, erected in 781 CE, the Church of the East monk Adam, author of the stele, mentioned in that his grandfather was a missionary-priest from () in Tokharistan (ܬܚܘܪܝܣܬܢ ).
(2025). 9780810872837, Scarecrow Press. .
(2025). 9781786733160, Bloomsbury Publishing. .


Geography
Geographically, Tokharistan corresponds to the upper valley, between the mountain ranges of the to the south and the to the north. The area reaches east as far as the mountains, south as far as . Arab sources considered as part of the southern border of Tokharistan, and as part of its northern border. In a narrow sense, Tokharistan may only refer to the region south of the . The region used the East Iranian Bactrian language, which was current from the 2nd to the 9th century CE.

The most important city of Tokharistan was , which was at the center of the trade between (the ) and Indian subcontinent.

The region of Tokharistan had been outside of Sasanian control for the three centuries preceding the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–651 CE. During that time, Tokharistan was under the rule of dynasties of or origin, such as the , the and the . At the time of the Arab conquest, Tokharistan was under the control of the , through the .


Art and culture
Numerous artefacts exist from the art of early medieval Tokharistan, which shows influence from the Buddhist art of .


5th–6th century CE
Many authors have suggested that the figures in the or paintings are characteristic of the (450–570 CE). In this context, parallels have been drawn with the figures from in Chinese Turkestan, which seem to wear broadly similar clothing. The paintings of Balalyk Tepe would be characteristic of the court life of the Hephthalites in the first half of the 6th century CE, before the arrival of the Turks."Several murals at Dilberjin date from the 5th to the 7th century. A comparison between some of the Dilberjin paintings and those at Kyzyl (“the cave of the 16 swordsmen" and "the cave with picture of Maya") demonstrates a link between them (Litvinsky 1996, 151)."


7th century CE
In painting, there is "Tokharistan school of art" (see Northern Buddhist art) with examples from , Kafyr Kala or ,
(1996). 9789231032110, UNESCO. .
as Buddhism and Buddhist art enjoyed a renaissance, possibly owing to the sponsorships and religious tolerance of the ().
, National Museum of Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 7th-early 8th century.
(2018). 9781838608682, Bloomsbury Publishing. .
]]


Samanids and Ghaznavids, 10th–11th century
developed with the and the from the 10th to 12th century CE.
, Tajikistan, 10-11th century, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (KN 1060)]]

Page 1 of 1
1
Page 1 of 1
1

Account

Social:
Pages:  ..   .. 
Items:  .. 

Navigation

General: Atom Feed Atom Feed  .. 
Help:  ..   .. 
Category:  ..   .. 
Media:  ..   .. 
Posts:  ..   ..   .. 

Statistics

Page:  .. 
Summary:  .. 
1 Tags
10/10 Page Rank
5 Page Refs
3s Time