Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region - The Aay Grotto 阿艾石窟

On a cliff of 30 meters above ground in a gorge lying 60 kilometers north of Kucha County库车县, the grotto is name Aay, after the proximity of the nearby ancient city. The archaeologists excavating the grotto found that it had 15 square meters of coloured frescoes, as many as 26 Han inscriptions from nine surnames of probable donors.

Two Uygur farmers discovered the Aay Grotto while scouring the local mountain sides in search of materials for herbal medicine in September 1999. They reported the news to the local government, which immediately dispatched a team of 20 archaeologists to the site. Like the Kumtura Grottoes库木吐喇千佛洞又称库木土拉石窟 discovered west of Kucha earlier 20th century, this grotto looks to be the work of the Tang-dynasty artisans. Although solitary, the Aay Grotto is better preserved. This is an important find because few grottoes from the Tang Dynasty have been discovered to date in Xinjiang.

Located on the north rim of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, Kucha County is home to more than 300 grottoes which record the importance of Buddhism in the region over a millennium-long period between the 1st and 12th centuries. On the basis of field reports of inscriptions and photographs of the frescoes, the Aay Grotto is very likely an 8th century work from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. Reports also reveal the grotto contained a 45-centimeter-high square altar base which forms three 60-centimeter-wide passages against the front and sidewalls of the chamber. The rock walls of the cliff-face chamber were chiseled flat, coated with a mixture of mud containing straw and wool, and topped with a white layer of mud and lime on which frescoes were drawn. In total, the grotto’s wall area measures about 150 square meters, one-tenth or 15 square meters of which retain scenes from well-preserved frescoes. Painted on the left wall were six Buddhas including Baisajyaguru-vaidurya-prabhasa (God of Medicine), Vairocana and Manjusri (Buddha of Wisdom) with several inscriptions in Chinese characters. Paintings on the right wall have peeled off badly, with only images of Avalokitesvara (Goddess of Mercy) and Maitreya and sitting Buddhas being identifiable. On the front wall are paintings illustrating the story of Amitayus Sutra. In the middle is the image of Amitayus (Buddha of Boundless Life), flanked by Avalokitesvara sitting on the lotus throne and Mahasthamaprapta. There are 21 Devas and men on each side wearing streamers and short robes. ABOVE THE Amitayus are three nirmanakayas, flanked by flying Apsaras, as well as musical instruments including bells, drums, waist drums, zheng (a 21-25-stringed instrument)and pipa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted finger-board). Below the Amitayus Buddha are paintings of pavilions, verandas, pools, lotus throne and cranes in the typical Han-style of the time. The frescoes depict the pure land where Buddha Amitayus or Amitabha is worshipped. Colours, content and painting skills are fairly representative of the Tang Dynasty. For instance, the 260 figures are all portrayed as full and round, typical of that period. The artisans from Chinag’an (today’s Xi’an) and Luoyang, the then capitals of the Tang Dynasty, painted the Aay frescoes. While warm tones are predominated at Mogao in Dunhuang, the Aay Grotto was painted with pale pinkish gray, white, and blue. Another unique feature of the Aay Grotto is its Chinese-character inscriptions. Other grottoes contain the names of usually just one donor, and in a local script. Chinese characters recording the donors’ names appear in 26 places in the Aay Grotto. This is the largest Chinese-character ‘name list’ ever found at any site in Kucha County. On the significance of the Chinese characters, they indicate the spread of the Han culture of the Tang Dynasty to the western regions, including present-day Xinjiang and part of Central Asia. Han soldiers were garrisoned throughout the region at the turn of the 7th century. Soon after her seizure of power in 692, Empress Wu Zetian (624-705, reigned 690-705), the only female emperor in Chinese history, established a military outpost led by the Anxi Military Governor governing four towns, including Kucha. Some 30,000 soldiers were under his command.

The Aay Grotto, 27 kilometers to the south of the ancient city of Aay, was a significant military fortress where Tang soldiers were stationed. It was very possible that the Aay Grotto was a military shrine paid for by the local soldiers. Multi-name donor inscriptions are rare in Xinjiang’s other grottoes. Another theory lies in the fact that the grotto was opened by Chinese craftsmen, possibly smelters, who had migrated from East China. Four iron and copper smelting sites have been found near the Aay Grotto.

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