62 siglinde dietz
there were manifold connections between the Buddhists of Gilgit and
those of Khotan, one of the centres of Buddhism in Chinese Turkestan
during the seventh century.
- Buddhist Schools in the Area of Greater Gandhra
As mentioned above, almost all the Kharo h inscriptions are Bud-
dhist.^76 Only a few of them, however, mention the names of the
Buddhist schools to which they are dedicated. In the inscriptions of
Greater Gandhra the following Buddhist schools are attested:^77
- the Kyapyas (at Apraca and Pl her) in 20 BC and during
the Kua era - the Dharmaguptakas (at Jamlga h) in 112 BC
- the Sarvstivdins (at Peshawar, Zeda and Kurram) in the Kua era
during the reign of Kanika, at Taxila and at Haa in the second
to third centuries AD,^78 and at Shâh-jî-kî-Dherî during the Kua
era.^79 - a Mahsghika monastery at Wardak is known in the year 51 of
the Kanika era.
These are the four Buddhist schools which were still present at the time
when Xuanzang came to India in the seventh century.^80 Two of these
schools played a major role in spreading Buddhism outside of India,
i.e., the Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvstivdins.
- Buddhist Schools and Their Relation to Specific Languages
used in the Propagation of Buddhism in Central Asia
Language is considered a major problem in the propagation of
Buddhism in Central Asia where there exists a great variety of
languages, including Iranian Indo-European (Khotanese, Sogdian),
non-Iranian Indo-European (Tokharian), and Altaic languages (Uighur,
(^76) Fussman 1989, p. 451.
(^77) Fussman 1994, p. 20f.
(^78) Fussman 1989, pp. 449, 447.
(^79) Errington & Falk 2002, pp. 110–113; Fussman 1987, pp. 77–81.
(^80) Fussman 1994, p. 21.