Khotan
From Jatland Wiki
Khotan (खोतान) or The oasis town of Hotan (Uyghur: خوتەن, Xoten, Hotǝn, Chinese: 和田; pinyin: Hétián, formerly: simplified Chinese: 和阗; traditional Chinese: 和闐; pinyin: Hétián; also spelled Khotan).[1] It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴 pinyin: Yutian.
Hotan is the capital of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. With a population of 114,000 (2006), Hotan lies in the Tarim Basin, just north of the Kunlun Mountains, which are crossed by the Sanju, Hindu-tagh, and Ilchi passes.
Hotan is the capital of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. With a population of 114,000 (2006), Hotan lies in the Tarim Basin, just north of the Kunlun Mountains, which are crossed by the Sanju, Hindu-tagh, and Ilchi passes.
The town, located southeast of Yarkand and populated almost exclusively by Uyghur people, is a minor agricultural center. An important station on the southern branch of the historic Silk Road, Hotan has always depended on two strong rivers - the Karakash River and the Yurungkash River - to provide the water needed to survive on the southwestern edge of the vast Taklamakan Desert. The Yurungkash still provides water and irrigation for the town and oasis.[2][3]
History
The oasis of Hotan is strategically located at the junction of the southern (and most ancient) branch of the famous “Silk Road” joining China and the West with one of the main routes from India and Tibet to Central Asia and distant China. It provided a convenient meeting place where not only goods, but technologies, philosophies, and religions were transmitted from one culture to another.
At Sampul, to the east of the city of Hotan, there is an extensive series of cemeteries scattered over an area about a kilometre wide and 23 km long. The excavated sites range from about 300 BCE - 100 CE. The excavated graves have produced a number of fabrics of felt, wool, silk and cotton and even a fine bit of tapestry showing the face of Caucasoid man which was made of threads of 24 shades of colour. The tapestry had been cut up and fashioned into trousers worn by one of the deceased! Anthropological studies 56 individuals studied show a primarily Caucasoid population "similar to the Saka burials of the southern Pamirs".[4][5]
There is a relative abundance of information on Hotan readily available for study. The main historical sources are to be found in the Chinese histories (particularly detailed during the Han and early Tang dynasties), the accounts of several Chinese pilgrim monks, a few Buddhist histories of Hotan that have survived in Tibetan, and a large number of documents in Khotanese and other languages discovered, for the most part, early this century at various sites in the Tarim Basin and from the hidden library at the “Caves of the Thousand Buddhas” near Dunhuang.
The ancient Kingdom of Khotan was one of the earliest Buddhist states in the world and a cultural bridge across which Buddhist culture and learning were transmitted from India to China.[6]
By 1006, Khotan was held by the Muslim Yūsuf Qadr Khān, a brother or cousin of the Muslim ruler of Kāshgar and Balāsāghūn. Between 1006 and 1165, after it fell to the Kara Kitai, it was part of the Kara-Khanid Khanate and became, in time, a Muslim state. The town suffered severely during the Dungan revolt against the Qing Dynasty in 1864-1875, and again a few years later when Yaqub Beg of Kashgar made himself master of East Turkestan.[7][8]
Jat Gotras originated from Khotan
Back to Places
