80 xavier tremblay- Outline of a History of Buddhism in Central Asia:
the Early Period (100 BC–850 AD)
2.1. Buddhism among the Parthians
No Buddhist texts in Parthian are extant, but their existence can
been inferred from the presence of Buddhist and Indian terms in
the Manichaean Parthian theological vocabulary from the earliest
texts onwards (3rd–4th century BC).^10 These terms show that the
Manichaeans developed their apologetics in a Buddhist milieu. The
connection of these linguistical tokens with archaeo logical remains is
debated. To be true, a stpa with a great statue of Buddha has been
found in Gyaur-kala near Merv, which has been repeatedly dated by
Masson, Koelenko, Filanovi and Usmanova to the second century
AD,^11 but none of the artefacts found there (Brhm manuscripts, clay
plaques, vases) predate the Hephthalite period,^12 and this early dating
was contested by Litvinskij and Staviskij.^13 The mention of Parthia
in the Singhalese Mahvasa^14 is also of little historical reliability.
Notwithstanding these uncertainties, the archaeological site of Merv is
far from being exhausted and Herat has not yet been investigated, so
that the presence of Buddhism in Margiana and Aria already in the
second or third century is still probable.
No historical account upon Buddhism among the Parthians has sur-
vived; and the famous introducer of Buddhism to China, An Shigao, was
probably not a Parthian, but perhaps a Sogdian (see infra 2.3.2.).2.2. Buddhism in BactriaThere is as yet no primary evidence whatsoever that Buddhism was
cultivated in Bactria proper before the middle of the rst century AD.
But from the rst Kua king, Kujula Kadphises, onwards, the Kuas(^10) For instance byx- “to beg” < bhiku-; nbr’n “paradise” < nirva-; zmbwdyg “earth”
< jambudvpa- (Asmussen 1965, p. 136; Sundermann 1982). See further Sims-Williams
- 11
Since Masson 1963; see recently Filanovi & Usmanova 1996.
(^12) Callieri 1996, esp. pp. 397f. See also Vorob’eva-Desjatovskaja 1999.
(^13) Litvinskij 1968, p. 31; Staviskij 1990; Pugaenkova & Usmanova 1995, esp. p. 56.
All the latter authors insist that in the earliest layer of the stpa, coins of puhr II
(309–379) have been found, so that the stpa cannot be of the Kua period.
(^14) Litvinskij 1967. The Mahvasa (Great Chronicle) is a Pli chronicle reporting
the history of Sri Lanka from the time of the Buddha to the reign of king Mahsena
(4th century).
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