Buddhist monasteries · The oasis lordships of the Tarim, vassals of the Qara Khitai · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Kucha sangha

Kucha was the great Buddhist kingdom of the Tarim and its monasteries still fill the country round it: Kizil, the largest cave-temple site, painted from about 300 to 650 and abandoned about 700; Kumtura, 112 cave temples of the fifth to the eleventh century, whose later paintings show a revival of Buddhist art in the Uyghur age; and Subashi, the twin monastery on the two banks of the Kucha river about 20 km north of the town.

In the eleventh century the Muslim geographers called Kucha the frontier of the Uyghurs, and Song China received twelve missions from it, the last in 1096 with a jade Buddha. In 1200 the sangha (the monastic community) is the religious power of the oasis: ally of the prince, keeper of the caves and monasteries, and presumably holder of fields and gifts from patrons. What it still held in 1200, and whether Subashi was in use, is not recorded.

A later Muslim tomb inscription puts the coming of Islam to Kucha in 1224 to 1264, which shows the town was not yet Muslim.

Who holds it

Title
Abbots and elders of the Kucha monasteries; none named
Since
not pinned
Born
not known
Family
Not known.
Confidence
low

Iranica 'Kucha' (frontier of the Uyghurs in the 11th century; the Kumtura caves; the Muslim tomb inscription of 1224 to 1264), Wikipedia 'Kucha', 'Kuqa', 'Kizil Caves', 'Kumtura Caves', 'Subashi Temple'. No abbot, estate or event is recorded for 1200.

Overlord

The prince of Kucha, as patron (Prince of Kucha); no tie to the idiqut of Qocho is recorded.

What it holds

  • Kumtura: 112 cave temples, a working or at least tended site in 1200 (not pinned)
  • Subashi: the twin monastery on the Kucha river (in use or abandoned by the 13th century: not pinned)
  • Kizil: the old cave temples, a ruin and a pilgrim's sight
  • Fields, gifts and patrons' endowments: inferred, not recorded

How it was acquired

The monasteries date from the 4th to the 11th centuries; the sangha's holdings of 1200 are not recorded.

Allies and rivals

Ally of the prince of Kucha. The Muslim side of the frontier lies at Bay and Aksu to the west. The Buddhist Uyghurs of Qocho are co-religionists to the east.

How things stand that morning

Not recorded.

Wealth

Patrons' gifts, pilgrims and whatever fields the houses hold; no figures.

Threats

  • Slow Muslim advance from the west: no date or event is recorded
  • Later: Kuchlug and the Mongols

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1224 to 1264A local Muslim tomb inscription places the coming of Islam to Kucha in these years (Iranica 'Kucha').Depends on: Local tradition. Stopped by: Nothing.

Places of note

  • Subashi: Twin monastery.
  • Kumtura: 112 cave temples.
  • Kizil: The old cave temples, a ruin.

Where the sources disagree

  • Wikipedia 'Kucha' says Subashi was abandoned in the 13th century; 'Subashi Temple' gives no date. Not pinned.

Evidence: The buildings and their dates are attested by archaeology; the community of 1200 is not.

On the map: Points only: the sangha's fields and villages are not known.

Primary sources for Tarim oases

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
  • History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
  • History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
  • Old Uyghur contracts, land sales, loans and administrative documents from the Turfan oases (mostly thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with some earlier; dated by animal years and rarely to a reign). Sale deeds, loans, leases, slave sales, wills and tax lists from Turfan, Qocho and Beshbaliq, the only internal evidence for everyday life, land tenure, prices and officials in the Uyghur kingdom whose idiqut was a vassal of the Qara Khitai in 1200.
  • Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Kucha'
  2. Wikipedia, 'Kucha'
  3. Wikipedia, 'Kuqa, Xinjiang'
  4. Wikipedia, 'Kizil Caves'
  5. Wikipedia, 'Kumtura Caves'
  6. Wikipedia, 'Subashi Temple'
  7. Chinese Wikipedia, 'Xinjiang lishi' (history of Xinjiang)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.