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 The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

to refer to the area which was known as

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

sources. By the 6th century CE, Tokharistan came under rule of the

First Turkic Khaganate The First Turkic Khaganate, also referred to as the First Turkic Empire, the Turkic Khaganate or the Göktürk Khaganate, was a Turkic khaganate established by the Ashina clan of the Göktürks in medieval Inner Asia under the leadership of Bu ...

, and in the 7th and 8th centuries, it was incorporated into the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, administered by the

Protectorate General to Pacify the West The Protectorate General to Pacify the West (Anxi Grand Protectorate), initially the Protectorate to Pacify the West (Anxi Protectorate), was a protectorate (640 – ) established by the Chinese Tang dynasty in 640 to control the Tarim Basin. Th ...

. Today, Tokharistan is fragmented between

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

Names

Several languages have used variations of the word "Tokhara" to designate the region: * Tokharistan may appear in

ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...

n sources as the Kingdom of

Tushara The kingdom of Tushara, according to ancient Indian literature, such as the epic ''Mahabharata'', was a land located beyond north-west India. In the ''Mahabharata'', its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as '' mlechchas'' ("barba ...

, to the northwest of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. "Tushara" is the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word for "snowy" "frigid", and is known to have been used to designate the country of Tukhara. In Sanskrit, it became तुखार (Tukhāra). * In ancient Greek, the name was Tokharoi ( ) or Thaguroi. * Tochari for Latin historians. * The name "Tokhara" appeared in the 4th century CE, in

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

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 * The name appears in Chinese as ''Tukhara'' (覩货罗 ''Duhuoluo'' or 吐火罗 ''Tuhuoluo''). "Tokhara" was known in Chinese sources as ''Tuhuluo'' (吐呼羅), which is first mentioned during the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

era (386-534 CE). 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 Khotanese, 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 The ''Portraits of Periodical Offering'' () were tributary documentative paintings (with illustration on each of the portrait) produced by various Chinese dynasties and later as well in other East Asian dynasties, such as Japan and Vietnam. Thes ...

'', originally painted in 526–539 CE. They were at that time under the overlordship of the

Hephthalites The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian languages, Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to ...

, who led the embassies to the Southern Liang court in the early 6th century CE. File:Kabadiyan ambassador to the Southern Liang court 516-520 CE.jpg,

Qubodiyon Qubodiyon, also Qubadiyan, ancient Kobadiyan (; , ''Qobādiyān'') is a town in the Khatlon Region of Tajikistan. It is the capital of Qubodiyon District. The population of the town is 12,200 (January 2020 estimate). Qubodiyon was possibly foun ...

ambassador to the court of

Emperor Yuan of Liang Emperor Yuan of Liang () (16 September 508 – 27 January 555), personal name Xiao Yi (), courtesy name Shicheng (), childhood name Qifu (), was an emperor of the Chinese Liang dynasty. After his father Emperor Wu and brother Emperor Jianwen w ...

in his capital

Jingzhou Jingzhou ( zh, s=, c=荆州, t=, p=Jīngzhōu) is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the Seventh National Population Censu ...

in 516–520 CE, with explanatory text. ''

Portraits of Periodical Offering The ''Portraits of Periodical Offering'' () were tributary documentative paintings (with illustration on each of the portrait) produced by various Chinese dynasties and later as well in other East Asian dynasties, such as Japan and Vietnam. Thes ...

of Liang'', 11th century Song copy. The ambassador accompanied the

to China. File:Kumedh ambassador to the Southern Liang court 516-520 CE.jpg,

Wakhan Wakhan, or "the Wakhan" (also spelt Vakhan; Persian and , ''Vâxân'' and ''Wāxān'' respectively; , ''Vaxon''), is a rugged, mountainous part of the Pamir, Hindu Kush and Karakoram regions of Afghanistan. Wakhan District is a district in ...

ambassador to the Chinese court of

in his capital

in 516–520 CE, with explanatory text. ''

'', 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),

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

(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

Ajanta caves The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Buddhist caves in India, Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century Common Era, BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, Aurangabad district of Maharashtra sta ...

, India (460–480 CE).

"Tocharians" in the Tarim Basin

The name of "

Tocharians The Tocharians or Tokharians ( ; ) were speakers of the Tocharian languages, a group of Indo-European languages known from around 7,600 documents from the 6th and 7th centuries, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinj ...

" was mistakenly applied by early 20th century authors to the Indo-European people of the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...

, from the areas of

Kucha Kucha or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; , Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; ) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of what is now the Taklam ...

and

Agni Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

. 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 referred to themselves as ''Agni'', '' Kuči'' and ''

Krorän Loulan ( zh, t=, p=Lóulán <

Eastern Han Chinese

''lo-lɑn'' <

Chinese sources

In the

Xi'an Stele The Xi'an Stele or the Stele ( zh, c=景教碑, p= Jǐngjiào bēi), sometimes translated as the "Nestorian Stele," is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of early Christianity in China. It is a limestone block high wit ...

, erected in 781 CE, the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( ) or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church, the Chaldean Church or the Nestorian Church, is one of three major branches o ...

monk

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

, author of the stele, mentioned in Syriac that his grandfather was a missionary-priest from

() in Tokharistan ( ).

Geography

Geographically, Tokharistan corresponds to the upper

Oxus The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

valley, between the mountain ranges of the

Hindu-Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the western section of ...

to the south and the

Pamir-Alay The Pamir-Alay is a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, encompassing four main mountain ranges extending west from the Tian Shan Mountains, and located north of the main range of Pamir. They are variously considered part of ...

to the north. The area reaches west as far as the

Badakshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...

mountains, south as far as

Bamiyan Bamyan (), also spelled Bamian or Bamiyan, is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 100,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an altitude of about above sea level. The ...

. Arab sources considered

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

as part of the southern border of Tokharistan, and Shaganiyan 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 Bactrian (, , meaning "Iranian") was an Eastern Iranian language formerly spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria (present-day Afghanistan) and used as the official language of the Kushan and the Hephthalite empires. Name It was long tho ...

, 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

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

(the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

) and Indian subcontinent. The region of Tokharistan had been outside of Sasanian control for the three centuries preceding the

Muslim conquest of Persia As part of the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad in 622, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654. This event led to the decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been the official religion of ...

in 633–651 CE. During that time, Tokharistan was under the rule of dynasties of Hunnish or Turkic origin, such as the

Kidarites The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna people, Huna, ...

, the

Alchon Huns The Alchon Huns, ( Bactrian: ''Alkhon(n)o'' or ''Alkhan(n)o'') also known as the Alkhan, Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alakhana, and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centurie ...

and the

. At the time of the Arab conquest, Tokharistan was under the control of the

Western Turks The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate () was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after the split of the First Turkic Khaganate (founded in the 6th century o ...

, through the

Tokhara Yabghus The Tokhara Yabghus or Yabghus of Tokharistan () were a dynasty of Western Turks, Western Turk–Hephthalites, Hephthalite sub-kings with the title "Yabghus", who ruled from 625 CE in the area of Tokharistan north and south of the Amu Darya, Oxus ...

Art and culture

Numerous artefacts exist from the art of early medieval Tokharistan, which shows influence from the Buddhist art of

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

5th–6th century CE

Many authors have suggested that the figures in the

Dilberjin Tepe Dilberjin Tepe, also Dilberjin or Delbarjin (Persian: ''دلبَرجین''), is the modern name for the remains of an ancient town in modern (northern) Afghanistan. The town was perhaps founded in the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Under the Kusha ...

or Balalyk Tepe paintings are characteristic of the

(450–570 CE). In this context, parallels have been drawn with the figures from

Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; zh, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township ( zh, s=克孜尔乡, p=Kèzī'ěr Xiāng, labels=no) in Ba ...

Chinese Turkestan Chinese Turkestan or Chinese Turkistan, is a geographical term or historical region corresponding to the region of the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang (south of the Tian Shan mountain range) or Xinjiang as a whole which was under the rule of ...

, 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 Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

. File:Dilberjin frescoe, 5th-6th century.jpg, Dilberjin fresco, 5th-6th century. File:Dilberjin frescoe fragment.jpg, Dilberjin fresco fragment. File:Balalyk_Tepe_mural_detail.jpg, Mural detail, Balalyk Tepe, late 5th-7th century CE File:Balalyk_Tepe_festivities.jpg, Balalyk Tepe banquet scene, 6th-7th century CE

7th century CE

In painting, there is "Tokharistan school of art" (see Northern Buddhist art) with examples from

Kalai Kafirnigan Kalai Kafirnigan, also Kala-i Kafirnigan was a Buddhist temple in the region of Tokharistan (Classical Bactria), dated to the 7th-8th century CE. Buddhism in Tokharistan is said to have enjoyed a revival under the Western Turks (known as Tokhara Ya ...

, Kafyr Kala or

Ajina Tepe Ajina Tepe (; ) is a Buddhist monastery cluster located 12 kilometers east of the city of Bokhtar, Tajikistan. Buddhism in Tokharistan is said to have enjoyed a revival under the Western Turks. Several monasteries dated to the 7th-8th centuries d ...

, as Buddhism and Buddhist art enjoyed a renaissance, possibly owing to the sponsorships and religious tolerance of the

(

). File:Mural from Kalai Kafirnigan, Museum of National Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.jpg, Buddhist mural from

, National Museum of Antiquities, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 7th-early 8th century. File:Adults in caftan and child, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.jpg, Adults in caftan and child, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.

National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

File:Buddha head, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.jpg, Buddha head, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.

File:Hunting scene, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.jpg, Hunting scene, Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.

File:Hunting scene,Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities ofTajikistan (433).jpg, Hunting scene,Kafyr Kala, Tajikistan, 7th century CE.

Samanids and Ghaznavids, 10th–11th century

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...

developed with the

Samanid Empire The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest extent encompassing northeastern Iran and Central Asia, from 819 ...

and the

Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin. It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus ...

from the 10th to 12th century CE. File:Bowl from Khulbuk, Tajikistan, 10-11th century, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (KN 1060).jpg, Bowl from Khulbuk, Tajikistan, 10-11th century,

(KN 1060)

References

{{Authority control Bactria Historical regions of China Historical regions of Afghanistan Historical regions Regions of Tajikistan Regions of Uzbekistan States and territories disestablished in the 8th century States and territories established in the 4th century