According to ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts such as the Book of Khotan, the Ancient History of Khotan, and the History of Khotanese Teachings, Ashoka, the monarch of the Peacock Dynasty of India, abandoned a son, only because his son was shown after divination to seize the throne while Ashoka was alive, so Ashoka abandoned this son, the bodhisattva took him in, and later Ashoka's abandoned son came to Khotan and founded the ancient kingdom of Khotan.
Ashoka was the third monarch of the Peacock Dynasty of India, living around 304 BC to 232 BC, during his reign, it was the heyday of Indian Buddhism, and its control area has been from today's Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east, including north-central India, that is, at this time, Buddhism expanded to the west through the Silk Road, and almost all the early western regions were Buddhist, including Loulan, Guizi, Khotan and other countries.
Buddhism was introduced from India to the Western Regions
According to the inference of the "Instructions of the Kingdom of Khotan", the founding time of the ancient kingdom of Khotan is about 252 BC, which coincides with the reign of King Ashoka, but these records are all Buddhist ancient books written in Tibetan languages, most of which are legends and stories, not even history books, and these Tibetan ancient books were written around the 8th to 9th centuries, which is nearly a thousand years away from the time of the founding of the ancient kingdom of Khotan, so there is no certain factual basis and is generally not recognized by the academic community.
Located in present-day Hotan County, Xinjiang, yu Khotan is the southernmost part of Xinjiang, located in the south of the Taklamakan Desert, north of the Kunlun Mountains, and then south over the Kunlun Mountains, to reach the present-day Tibet region, southwest of Khotan is the present-day Kashmir region, in the east of Khotan is The End, Loulan and Lop Nur, to the west is the Onion Ridge, and to the northwest is Shache and Shule.
Khotan was a necessary place on the southern route of the ancient Silk Road, as long as people who walked from the southern route had to pass through Khotan, and it was also one of the roads in the western region to go south to Tibet and India, so it was possible that the early Khotanese were influenced by India.
Ruins of the ancient tomb of Shanpu in Xinjiang
In 1983 and a few years later, an ancient tomb group was found on the Gobi high platform 14 kilometers southwest of Luopu County in the Hotan region of Xinjiang, named Shanpu Tomb, the tomb unearthed a number of cultural relics and ancient bones, after archaeologists' research, the bones have Mongolian characteristics, there are also Europa characteristics, and there are two mixed races.
These ancient tombs exist from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD, the Tomb of Shanpu is only more than 30 kilometers away from Hotan County, almost can be regarded as the ancient Khotanese cemetery, and in the east of Khotan, Loulan, has also unearthed some bones from the Two Han Dynasty, after DNA testing, the Loulan people are also Mongolian or Europa or two human races of mixed blood, very similar to Khotanese.
"Northern History: From the west of Gaochang, the kingdoms and others, deep eyes and high noses. However, this country does not look very hu, quite similar to China.
Northern history is the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, when the Central Plains were occupied by the Northern Wei, which means that the western regions from Gaochang to the west, the human races of the various countries are all deep-eyed and high-nosed appearance characteristics, except for Khotan, the appearance is not like the Hu people, and similar to Huaxia, the similar race with Huaxia is the Mongol race.
King of Khotan
Most academics believe that the ancient Khotanese are the descendants of the ancient Tubo people, the Tubo people are the ancestors of the Tibetans, and the Tubo people are considered to be the descendants of the ancient Qiang people, belonging to the Mongol race, but the era of tubo rising and influencing the western regions has been the 7th century AD, equivalent to the Tang Dynasty of the Central Plains Dynasty, before which for a long time, the Tubo people have always existed, but in a divided state.
The "Book of Han" records that there were several Qiang countries established in the Pamir Plateau, such as Puli, Yinai, Wulei, Xiye, etc., and the "Book of Wei" also has the same record, saying that west of the Onion Ridge there were A hook Qiang kingdoms and Bolu countries established by the Qiang people, which shows that the ancient Qiang people entered the western region very early, and of course, also entered Khotan.
The name Khotanese in the ancient Tubo language is the meaning of jade city, Khotanese jade is famous, in the Neolithic Age, the ancients found Khotanese jade, in the Shang Dynasty queen women's good tomb found more than 700 pieces of jade products, most of which are from Khotan, which shows that the Central Plains had exchanges with Khotan for a long time.
Cypriots
The Europa race in Khotanese is from the Scythians, a branch of the Cypriots, which is a nomadic people in the steppe of Central Asia and Southern Russia from the 8th to the 3rd century BC, whose language belongs to the Indo-European Language Family of East Iranian Languages, and later the Khotanese language excavated in Khotan, also belongs to the East Iranian language family, and the Khotanese language has similarities with the Indian Brahmi characters.
The different races lie in the confluence of Khotan and even the entire western region, so there are mixed races, so the Khotanese people first came from the Tubo people (ancient Qiang people) and the Scythians, and then the two sides formed a mixed blood, formed in Khotan, and also established political power.
Yu Khotan first appeared in the Chinese history books in the "History of the Great Wanlie",
Qian Yin dispatched deputy envoys to Dawan, Kangju, Ōtsuki, Bactria, Sabbath, Body Poison, Yu Rin, Tsukiwa, and other neighboring countries.
The Yuhu here is Yu Khotan, but the name is brushed over, there is no detailed record, the time is between 139 BC and 126 BC, which is also the time when Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, when there were envoys from the Han Dynasty arriving in Khotan.
The Western Regions Protectorate of the Han Dynasty
The "Book of Han" recorded in the "Tale of the Western Regions" that the capital of Khotan is in Xicheng, 9670 miles away from Chang'an, with a population of 19300 people and an army of 2400 people, although this scale is not large, but it is already a big country in the Western Regions, and Khotan is the largest regime on the southern silk road.
According to the "Later Han Dynasty Book of The Tale of the Western Regions", by the 2nd century AD, equivalent to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, Khotan had developed and grown, and its population had expanded to more than 83,000 people, and the army had more than 30,000 people, which could be regarded as 10 times expanded, and the strength of the entire Western Regions was also the top three.
According to historical records, the founder of the Khotanese state was surnamed Wei Chi, which was translated according to pronunciation, and Khotan was almost destroyed in the late Guangwu Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the western Shache Wang Xian attacked and annexed Khotan, and moved the Khotanese king Yu Lin to another place, during the Han Ming Emperor, the Khotanese general Xiu Moba led an army to rebel against Shache and established himself as the king of Khotan.
Zhang Qiantong western region
After The death of Xiu Moba, his nephew Guangde became the King of Khotan, and then Khotan destroyed Shache, and also annexed thirteen small regimes such as Jingjie, Shumi, and Shule, becoming the two most powerful regimes in Southern Province, along with the equally powerful Shanshan (Loulan).
In 73 AD, the Eastern Han Dynasty began to re-operate the Western Regions, and Ban Chao was sent as an emissary to the kingdom of Khotan with 36 people via Shanshan, when the Khotanese king Guangde attacked Shache, when Khotan did not submit to the Han Dynasty, Ban Chao killed the wizards of the Khotanese state, and forced the Khotanese king to kill the Xiongnu envoys in his country, and finally Khotan surrendered to the Han Dynasty.
Soon, Ban Chao borrowed the strength of the states and the support of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions to reopen the Western Regions Capital, the Western Regions under Ban Chao's rule were the period when the Eastern Han Dynasty had the strongest management of the Western Regions, after Ban Chao's death, the Eastern Han Dynasty's control over the Western Regions weakened, in 129 AD, the King of Khotan attacked and destroyed the Western Regions, and established his son as the King of Shumi, and at the same time rebelled against the Han Dynasty to cut off the Southern Silk Road, which caused dissatisfaction in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a few years later, the Han Shun Emperor sent Dunhuang Taishou Xu You and Shule Wang's vassals to attack Khotan and restore the Jurchen regime. And forced Khotan to surrender again.
Ban beyond making the Western Regions
In 175 AD, the Han Ling Emperor Xiping four years, yu Khotanese king An guo rebelled, once again sent troops to attack the Mi, the Han army once again sent troops to quell the rebellion and restore the Regime of The Mi, not only, the Eastern Han Dynasty continued to weaken, coupled with the protracted war with the Qiang people, unable to manage the western region, and Khotan gradually by annexing the surrounding small regimes and becoming stronger.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Khotan sent emissaries to pay tribute to the Cao Wei regime together with Shanshan and Guizi, and during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Khotan either submitted to the Central Plains regime or went its own way with the western states, until the fall of the Tang Dynasty and Gaochang began to operate the western regions, Khotan began to submit to the Tang Dynasty, and during the Tang Taizong period, Khotan sent his attendants to the Tang Dynasty as a hostage.
After the Tang Dynasty defeated the Western Turkic forces in the Western Regions, it set up the four towns of Anxi under the jurisdiction of the Protectorate of Anxi, namely: Khotan, Guizi, Shanye, and Shule, the four towns were horns with each other, Guizi was in the north of the Silk Road, Khotan was in the south of the Silk Road, Shule was in the middle of the Silk Road, Shanye was north of the Tianshan Mountains, and the Tang Dynasty controlled the entire western region with four towns.
Tang Dynasty Anxi Capital Protectorate
In 648, the Tang Dynasty ordered the Turkic general Ashina Sher to lead an army to attack Guizi, won a great victory and threatened the western region, the then Khotanese king Wei Chi Fu Jianxin returned to Chang'an with the Tang army to worship the emperor, just as Tang Taizong died, tang Gaozong, who had just ascended the throne, received Wei Chi Fu JianXin and made him the Right Xiao Wei Grand General, rewarding him with a lot of money, Wei Chi Fu Jian Xin stayed in Chang'an for several months before returning to Khotan, and later the image of Wei Chi Fu Jian Xin was made into a stone statue and placed under the northern palace of Tang Taizong Zhaoling.
In the same year, the Tang Dynasty set up the Governor of Bisha in Khotan, and appointed the Khotanese king Wei Chifu Jianxin as the governor to administer the western regions for the Tang Dynasty, while he was also the king of Khotan, and fought side by side with the Tang army to repel the Tubo army.
In the middle and late 7th century, Tubo rose and began to compete repeatedly with the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, and Khotan was the closest region to Tubo, deeply affected by it, whoever was strong between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, Yu Khotan turned to whom, and by the end of the 7th century, the Tang Dynasty completely occupied the Western Regions and temporarily expelled the Tubo forces from the Western Regions.
The Tang Dynasty and Tubo constantly competed for control of the Western Regions
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Khotanese king Wei Chisheng also went to Chang'an to pay homage to Tang Xuanzong, and Tang Xuanzong also married the daughter of the emperor to Wei Chisheng, and after the Anshi Rebellion, Wei Chisheng ceded the throne of the king to his younger brother Wei Chiyao, and personally led five thousand Khotanese troops to the Central Plains to participate in the pacification of the Anshi Rebellion, and Tang Suzong Li Heng was very moved and made him the prison of the palace.
After the Anshi Rebellion was settled, Wei Chisheng did not want to return to Khotan, but lived in the Tang Dynasty and became an official of the central government of the Tang Dynasty, and was also named the King of Wudu County by Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Chisheng lived until the age of 64 and died in the Tang Dynasty, and his descendants still lived in the Tang Dynasty and became Tang people.
The Khotanese king Wei Chiyao, who remained in the western region, was appointed as the deputy envoy of the Tang Dynasty's four towns, Jiedu, together with the Tang army to resist the attack of Tubo, this period was the best period of relations between Khotan and the Tang Dynasty, until 790 and later, Tubo occupied the four towns of Anxi, the Tang Dynasty forces withdrew from the Western Regions, and Khotan began to submit to Tubo.
Khotan was eventually destroyed by the Qarakhanid dynasty
Tubo controlled the western region for more than 50 years, by the middle of the 9th century, Tubo weakened, Khotan got rid of control, had contact with the rebel army in Shazhou, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Yu Khotan submitted to the Later Jin Shi Jingyao regime, the then Khotanese king Li Shengtian was later promoted to the king of Khotan, Li Shengtian was named Li, the reason why Li Shengtian was surnamed Li himself changed the surname of Wei Chi to the tang dynasty surname Li, and considered himself a descendant of the Tang Dynasty.
In the middle of the tenth century, a Black Khan Dynasty (Qarakhanid Dynasty) established by the Uighurs rose in the Western Regions, and a decades-long war broke out between Khotan, and finally perished in Khotan, how Khotan fell, there is no clear record in the history books, it is certain that it perished at the hands of the Black Khan Dynasty, and the reason for its demise was war. From the beginning of the eleventh century, Khotan ceased to exist as a name for the country, and its land and population belonged to the Black Khan Dynasty.