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Paitava was a Buddhist monastery located in modern
Afghanistan, bodhisattva, regione di kapiça, monastero di paitava, II-III sec..JPG, Bodhisattva.
File:Miracle of Sravasti (detail)-6.jpg, Miracle of Sravasti (detail)
File:Miracle of Sravasti (detail)-4.jpg, Miracle of Sravasti (detail)
File:BuddhaWithHeraclesAndTychee.jpg, The Buddha with Heracles and Tychee (detail)
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 ...
. It was positioned together with Shotorak monastery around the city of Kapisa, 40 km north of 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 ...
, which was the northern capital of the Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...
. Beautiful sculptures of Buddhist donors in Kushan dress are known from this site. Several Kushan coins were found in the monastery, suggested an early Kushan occupation, but some of the Buddhist works, such as ''The Twin Miracle of Water and Fire'', may belong to the later period of 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, ...
(320–467 CE).
Paitava was also 7 km from Begram. The monastery was visited by the 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang
Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contribu ...
, who said it was near a large city named ''Si-pi-to-la-fasse'', the largest city in the Kapisa region.
Paitava, with Shotorak, have an artistic usage of representing the Buddha with fire emanating from the shoulders in the miracle of Sravasti
Shravasti (, ; ) is a town in Shravasti district in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala which was ruled by Lava and the place where the Buddha lived most after his enlightenment. It is ne ...
, a feature also found on the effigies of Kushan kings on their coinage.
References
Buddhist monasteries in Asia Buddhism in Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-stub