The Age of Achievement: A.D. 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century - Vol. 4, Part II : The Achievements (History of Civilizations of Central Asia)

702 Pages·2000·21.09 MB·English

by  Clifford Edmund Bosworth

History ofcivilizations ofCentralAsia-IV
History ofcivilizations of CentralAsia
VolumeI
The dawn ofcivilization:
earliest times to 700 B.C.
Volume II
The development ofsedentary and nomadic civilizations:
700 B.C. to A.D. 250
VolumeIII
The crossroads ofcivilizations:
A.D. 250 to 750
Volume IV
The age ofachievement:
A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century
Part One
The historical, socialandeconomicsetting
Part Two
Theachievements
Volume V
Development in contrast:
from the sixteenthto the mid-nineteenth century
Volume VI
Towards contemporary civilization:
from the mid-nineteenth century
to the present time
History of
civilizations
of Central
Asia
Volume IV
The age of achievement:
A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century
Part Two
The achievements
Editors: C. E. Bosworth
and the late M. S. Asimov
Multiple History Series
UNESCO Publishin
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Preface of the
Director-General of UNESCO
ONE of the purposes ofUNESCO, as proclaimed in its Constitution,
is 'to develop and to increase the means of communication be¬
tween . . . peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of
mutualunderstanding and a truer and moreperfectknowledge ofeach other's
lives'. The History ofthe Scientific and Cultural Development ofMankind,
published in 1968,was a major early response on thepart ofUNESCO to the
taskofenabling thepeoples oftheworld to have akeenersense oftheircollec¬
tive destiny by highlighting their individual contributions to the history of
humanity. This universal history- itself now undergoing a fundamental revi¬
sion-has beenfollowed bya numberofregionalprojects, includingthe Gen¬
eralHistory ofAfrica and the planned volumes on Latin America, the Carib¬
bean and on aspects ofIslamic culture. TheHistory ofCivilizationsofCentral
Asia is an integral part of this wider enterprise.
Itis appropriatethat the secondofUNESCO's regional histories should
beconcernedwith CentralAsia.For,likeAfrica, CentralAsiaisaregionwhose
cultural heritage has tended to be excluded from the main focus of historical
attention. Yet from time immemorial the area has served as the generator of
population movements within the Eurasian land-mass. The history ofthe an¬
cientand medievalworlds, inparticular,was shapedto animportant extent by
the succession ofpeoples that arose out ofthe steppe, desert, oases and moun¬
tain ranges of this vast area extending from the Caspian Sea to the high pla¬
teaux ofMongolia. Fromthe Cimmerians mentionedinHomer's Odyssey, the
Scythians described by Herodotus, the Hsiung-nu whose incursions led the
emperors of China to build the Great Wall, the sixth-century Turks who ex¬
tended their empireto the boundaries ofByzantium, the Kitanwho gave their
name to ancient Cathay, throughto the Mongols who erupted into world his¬
tory in the thirteenth centuryunder Genghis Khan, the nomadic horsemen of
CentralAsiahelped todefinethelimits and test themettleofthegreatciviliza¬
tions of Europe and Asia.
Preface
Nor is it sufficient to identify the peoples of Central Asia simply with
nomadiccultures.This is toignorethecomplexsymbiosiswithinCentralAsia
itself between nomadism and settlement, between pastoralists and agricultur¬
alists. It is to overlook above all the burgeoning of the great cities of Central
Asia such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, which established themselves in
the late Middle Ages as outstanding centres ofintellectual inquiry and artistic
creation. The seminal writings of the philosopher-scientist Avicenna (a native
of Bukhara) and the timeless masterpieces ofTimurid architecture epitomize
the flowering ofmedieval culture in the steppes and deserts of Central Asia.
Thecivilizations ofCentralAsiadidnot, ofcourse, developinavacuum.
TheimpactofIslamwas pervasiveand fundamental. The greatcivilizations on
the periphery of the Eurasian continent likewise exerted an important influ¬
ence on these lands. For some 1,500 years this arid inland sea - far removed
from the earth's true oceans - was crucial as the route along which merchan¬
dise (notably silk) and ideas flowed between China, India, Iran and Europe.
The influence of Iran- although the core ofits civilization lies in South-West
Asia - was particularly strong, to the extent that it is sometimes difficult to
establish a clear boundary between the civilization ofthe Iranian motherland
and that of the outlying lands of Central Asia.
TotherichvarietyofpeoplesofCentralAsiawas thus addedamultiplic¬
ityofexternalinfluences. Forcenturyaftercentury,theregionexperiencedthe
influx offoreign art and ideas, colliding and mergingwith the indigenous pat¬
terns ofCentralAsia. Migrations and the recurrentshockofmilitaryinvasion,
mingling and displacing peoples and cultures, combined to maintain the vast
region in flux.
The systole and diastole ofpopulationmovements down the ages add to
the difficulty of delimiting a region whose topology alone does not prescribe
clear boundaries. Thus, when, atthe nineteenth session ofits General Confer¬
ence, UNESCO decided to embark on a History of Civilizations of Central
Asia the first problem to be resolved was to define the scope of the region
concerned. Subsequently, at a UNESCO meeting held in 1978, it was agreed
that the study on Central Asia should deal with the civilizations of Afghani¬
stan, north-eastern Iran, Pakistan, northern India, western China, Mongolia
and the formerSoviet Central Asianrepublics. The appellation 'Central Asia',
as employed in thisHistory, refers to this area, which corresponds to a clearly
discernible cultural and historical reality.
UNESCO's call to specialists, and particularly to scholars native to the
region,toparticipateintheundertakingmetwithawideandgenerousresponse.
Theprojectwas deemed by academics to be an excellent opportunity to draw
backthe curtainthathadveiled Central Asiaforso long. However, nonewere
in any doubt as to the huge dimensions of the task.
AnadhocInternationalScientificCommitteewasformedin 1980toplan
and prepare the work, which it was agreed should cover, in six volumes, the
Preface
history of Central Asia from earliest times to the present day. The Commit¬
tee's initialtaskwas to decidewherepre-eminence should be givenin thevery
wide canvas before it. Indue course, aproperbalancewas struckand teams of
editors and authors were selected.
The preparation of the History ofCivilizations ofCentralAsia is now
well advanced. The bestresources ofresearch and archaeologyhave beenused
to make the work as thorough as possible, and countless annals consulted in
major centres throughout the region. It is UNESCO's sincere wish that this,
Part Two of the fourth volume, and those that follow will bring instruction
and pleasure to readers all over the world.
Itremainsforus to thank thePresident, Rapporteurandmembers ofthe
International Scientific Committee, and the editors, authors and teams ofspe¬
cialists who have collaborated to shed new light on CentralAsiawith this de¬
tailed account ofits vital and stirringpast. We are sure it willprove a notable
contribution to the study and mutual appreciation ofthe cultures that are the
common heritage of mankind.

Contents
Description oftheproject
M. S. Asimov,formerPresident, InternationalScientific Committee . 15
Members ofthe International Scientific Committee . . . . . .19
List ofcontributors (cid:9) .21
Note on transliteration and style fornames (cid:9) 25
Introduction
C. E. Bosworth .......... 27
1 The development ofeducation: maktab, madrasa, science andpedagogy
Part One:
The Islamic lands and their culture
A. K. Mirbabaev .......... 31
PartTwo:
The search for knowledge through translation: translations
ofManichaean, Christian and Buddhist literature into Chinese,Turkic,
Mongolian, Tibetan and otherlanguages
P. Zieme (cid:9) 43
PartThree:
EarlyBuddhism inTibet and the educationalrole of the monasteries
WangFuren ........... 52
2 Religions and religious movements
Introduction
H.-J. Klimkeit (cid:9) 61