Rewak Buddhist temple site

Rewak Buddhist temple site

Rewak Buddhist temple site, located in the desert 50 kilometers northwest of Luopu County in Hotan, Xinjiang, is a temple building site with a pagoda as the center, with a total area of 2370 square meters. The building remains of the pagoda courtyard are square in plane. The courtyard wall is made of adobe. It is 49 meters long from east to west, 49.4 meters long from north to south, and the residual height is about 3 meters. The middle part of the south wall is the courtyard gate. The pagoda is built with adobe, with a remnant height of 9 meters, a cross shaped plane, a length of 50 meters and a width of 45 meters.

Rewak Buddhist temple site, the tower base is divided into four poles, the plane is square, 15 meters long, 5.3 meters high. The body of the tower is cylindrical, with a diameter of 9.6 meters and a residual height of 3.6 meters. The top of the tower is in the shape of a covered bowl and has been abandoned. On both sides of the courtyard wall, there are exquisite statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva, as well as a large number of smaller auxiliary statues and relief ornaments, and a small number of murals. The shape and exquisite statues of the rewak Buddhist temple site are unique among the ancient Buddhist temple sites in Xinjiang, and are closely related to Gandhara art. Some statues also have the art style of motura. It is a rare and important material for studying ancient Buddhism, Buddhist temple shape and statue art in Xinjiang.

The relic of rewak Buddhist temple was announced by the State Council as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units on June 25, 2001.

Prosperous period

When Khotan was popular, it was also the most prosperous period in the history of Khotan architecture. Large and small Buddhist temples, clay murals are all over the city of Khotan, and the rewak Buddhist temple is the representative of temple architecture in that period. Rewak Buddhist temple site is a national key cultural relic protection unit. It is located in the desert east of Hotan. It is a Buddhist temple complex with a pagoda as the center. There is a courtyard around the pagoda. There are many clay murals inside and outside the courtyard wall. The style of the statues is quite different from that of the Middle Earth. The clothing forms have distinctive Western Asian style.

Rewak Buddhist temple site is located in the desert 70 km northwest of Jiya Township, Luopu County, 60 km away from the county seat. It is the only well preserved Buddhist temple site with Gandhara style in Hotan area. The rise and fall period is from the 2nd century to the 10th century.

Layout structure

It is a group of Buddhist temple buildings with tower as the center, which is composed of square courtyard tower and temple outside the courtyard. The pagoda faces south from the north. There are two gate shaped gaps in the middle and west corner of the south end. Each side of the courtyard wall is 45 meters long.

There is a small temple outside the east wall. Part of the wall remains, and the inner wall is painted with plaster. There are domed niches on the inner wall of the east wall of the temple. The walls are full of domed lines that are reduced layer by layer. The lines are neat and fluent. It is said that there was once a standing Buddha inside, and the temple is now completely destroyed. There are remains of clay Buddha statues on the inner and outer walls of the four courtyards, most of which are in the West and on the wall. Some of the statues are buried in sand dunes, some are exposed, and some are destroyed.

Internal facilities

The statue is close to the wall, tied into a bucket with reed, then pasted with white glue mud, and finally molded with red glue mud. The original color painting, now basically does not exist. The Buddha is about 3 meters high, and there is one Buddha every 6 or 7 centimeters. There are murals on the unweathered walls, offering portraits of people. The cloud pattern and pattern of this mound are inserted between the Buddha's legs. The color is monotonous, mainly Chu color. The clay statue of Buddha has obvious dense fluency of jiantuoluo style and patterned decorative patterns.

In the courtyard is a pagoda. The tower was built with adobe and many parts were damaged. The base of the tower is basically square, about six or seven meters high. The body of the tower is a compound bowl type, and the residual height is three meters. Judging from the remains, it is not a multi-storey tower. This pagoda is a typical Indian Fubo pagoda

Inside and outside the temple are red, black palladium and a small amount of colored pottery. Human bones, remains of clay Buddha statues and five pearl copper coins are scattered on the ground. There are traces of buildings nearby, but the scope is not large.

Development history

From April 11 to 18, 1901, Stein excavated in rewak for eight days. He obtained some precious cultural relics, mapped the site map, and photographed 91 Buddha statues that could not be removed. Stein found that the style of these Buddha statues is very similar to many Buddha statues in temples in northwest India.

In September 1906, Stein came to rewak again and found that nifudo had been destroyed by local treasure hunters. He also excavated many cultural relics and checked the drawings of 1901

In 1928, the German tsunker dug up six boxes of cultural relics. Although they were once detained by Hotan authorities, they were still carried abroad and are now stored in Bremen, Germany.

Archaeological events

On June 12, 1929, Huang Wenbi, an archaeologist of our country, passed through rewak on the way of archaeology, and then discussed it in the archaeology of Tarim Basin. In 1942, the authorities of Luopu County discovered the site. The county magistrate Zhou Baocheng sent rouziahong and other migrant workers to excavate the north wall of the temple. Three gold painted statues, 20 complete clay Buddha statues and five coins, mud monkey, broken ancient coins, beads, sandalwood, etc. were unearthed. The next year, it was reported to the provincial government to form an antiquities preservation Committee and hold an exhibition of historical relics in Hotan city. The whereabouts of these cultural relics are unknown, including two Buddha heads stored in the county government, which were seen in the 1950s and then lost.

Cultural relics protection

There is no record about the historical evolution and the rise and fall time of rewak. According to the unearthed cultural relics and Buddha statues, the style of murals, and the architectural pattern with towers as the main body, scholars infer that they were built in the northern and Southern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty. The rewak Buddhist temple site is a national key cultural relic protection unit.

Tourism information

Archaeology, pilgrimage, sightseeing, photography

Traffic routes

Because Hetian is located in the Taklimakan Desert, most of the scenic spots in the area are in the desert, so the most convenient way to travel to and from the scenic spots is to rent a car, but in order to have a smooth journey, you must choose to rent a good off-road jeep.

Accommodation: stay overnight in tents provided locally.

Delicious food: there is a local cake called kumaisi, which is made by spreading the noodles in the hot sand and then covering it with sand. It's very special.

significance

The relic of rewak Buddhist temple was built in the 2nd-3rd century. It is a historical relic of the early introduction of Buddhism into China. It played an important role in the economic and cultural exchanges between the East and the West and the spread of Buddhism in the western regions. In particular, its unique architectural style of Buddhist temples and the modeling of Buddha statues retain the original Gandhara style, which provides archaeological help for the study of the time when Buddhism was introduced into the western regions and ancient sculpture art.

Address: Luopu County, Hotan Prefecture

Longitude: 80.049112

Latitude: 37.359856

Chinese PinYin : Re Wa Ke Fo Si Yi Zhi