Fragments of the Buddhist monastery at Miran (in Loulan) 3rd-5th C. CE by Titasa (Tita/Titus?) & other unknown artists

September 11, 2023

Fragments of the Buddhist monastery at Miran (in Loulan) 3rd-5th C. CE by Titasa (Tita/Titus?) & other unknown artists

I'm not 100% sure what nations the people in the photos belong to. They lived in Loulan (aka Kroraina). They used the Indo-European Gandhari language in their writing. They wrote in Kharosthi script which was also (at least partially) used by the Saka of Khotan, Kushan Empire, Sogdians, and Bactrians. Some suspect the artist (or one of the artists) may have been a traveler from the Roman Empire because of his art style and the name "Titasa".

"The Miran murals, now housed in the National Museum of New Delhi, are too delicate to travel (see frontispiece) but Stein found thousands of other items at the many desert ruins at the ancient town of Cadota, north of present-day Niya. These included Gandhari documents in Kharosthi script (cats. 27, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47) 74, 75, 76, 77, 89, 141): administrative records, letters and legal documents, some sent by the king of Kroraina to the ruler of Cadota. They offer a unique glimpse into the concerns of these oasis settlements, especially when placed in context of the archaeology. Stein explains how the sites had been abandoned over time and thus cleared of any items of intrinsic value, but ‘...the manifold other relics, however humble, which had safely rested in the sand buried dwellings and their deposits of rubbish... all help to bring vividly before our eyes details of ancient civilisation that without the preserving force of the desert would have been lost for ever.'

Miran, Cadota and the other towns of Kroraina seem to have been largely deserted by the fifth century. Defeated by the Northern Wei in 445 and with a warming climate making the route through the Lop Desert to Dunhuang no longer viable, people started moved out. The irrigation canals silted up and the dwindling population was unable to provide enough labour to continue to make the land sustainable.

Although not an ocean of emptiness, the analogy of an ocean for this area is a useful one.” The peoples and cultures moved like currents some, like the Gulf Stream, travelling great distances while retaining distinct characteristics, influencing the lands they passed by. Others were merged into more powerful currents, or soon settled on the ocean floor to nourish local cultures. The Yuezhi/ Kushan and the Xiongnu were examples of the first — powerful swirling currents whose origins and many sub-currents are difficult to map. The Hephthalites, who controlled Khotan, Kroraina and Gaochang as well as Gandhara and Northern India by the fifth century, were another powerful current. They exemplify the difficulties of Central Asian scholarship. Even though they ruled a considerable area for over two centuries, had their own language and script and minted their own coins, historians are still trying to piece together a coherent pictures of the nature of the people, their language, social structure, beliefs and art."

-The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith by Susan Whitfield