Ajina Tepe

TAJIKISTAN, Khatlon

The Buddhist site is located to the east of Qurghonteppa in the Vakhsh River valley. Ajina Tepe was established in the 7th century and was destroyed during the Arab conquest in the mid-8th century. It was discovered in 1959, and major excavations were carried out in 1961 and 1975. Numerous fragments of artifacts were excavated, including Buddhist statues, murals, and hundreds of coins. The UNESCO collaborated with the Japanese government in carrying out preservation work in 2005.
The buildings are aligned along a northwest-southeast axis. It is divided into two parts, a monastery and a temple. The temple is in the northwest and measures 30 m by 30 m. In the center of the temple courtyard there was a large stupa built in adobe. The two-layer base platform of the stupa had a stairway on each side. The upper part of the stupa has been destroyed, but it would have been in the shape of an inverted bowl with a chamber inside for the storage of relics. There were small stupas of the same type at the corners of the courtyard. On each side there was a large portico opening onto the courtyard. These porticos were interconnected by L-shape passageways. The southeast portico led to a corridor which connected the temple to the monastery. Behind the other three porticos there were small square chambers. The passageways and chambers were decorated with murals depicting the Buddha teaching the Dharma, figures making offerings, and decorative patterns. There were also painted clay sculptures of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and heavenly beings. The northeast chamber contained a gigantic statue of the Buddha entering parinirvana, which is one of the largest reclining Buddha statues in Central Asia. It is now kept in the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan in Dushanbe.
The monastery is in the southeast and measures 19 m by 19 m with a large portico on the four sides. Similar to the layout of the temple courtyard, the porticos were connected by passageways, making four L-shape formations. Corridors ran from the back wall of the porticos to square chambers. Beyond the chambers and porticos a series of square domed cells for monks created another circuit around the courtyard.