e found in Chinese, Tibetan, and related art (Artibus Asiae, 1994, 154).
From the earliest times, Khotan has been the largest and most important cultivated territory in the south of the Tarim Basin. The region shows the natural features typical of the oases found on the fringe of the great desert of Chinese Turkestan, but Khotan is unique because of its size. Khotan gained wealth and importance by its geographical position, for it occupies a mighty terrace of fertile loess along an unbroken length of 40 miles from the foot of the outer hills of the Kun-lun range. The region gains sufficient irrigation from the Yurung-kash and Kara-kash rivers, each of which emerges into the plain immediately above Khotan. These two rivers bring down a vast volume of water during the months when the sun is powerful enough to melt the snow and ice of the high ranges. Khotan owes its very existence to these two rivers (Stein, 1975, 3-6).
Historical Khotan begins with records from the period of the Former Han Dynasty. This was during the reign of the Emperor Wu ti from 140-87 B.C. when the territory was first brought into political relations with China. Chinese records from that time tell us something of the earlier history of Khotan, and Khotan itself preserved certain traditions relating to an earlier epoch extending back to the founding of the kingdom. Much of what is found in these written traditions has the aura of legend rather than fact. The founder of the Khotan kingdom, according to Hsuan-Tsang, claimed to be descended from the god Vaisravana. In earlier times, the country was waste and was uninhabited. The god Vaisravana came to this land and took up residence there. King Asoka's eldest son had had his eyes put out, and the king sent one of his ministers with the order to banish the men of great family in the area to the north of the snowy mountains where they were to establish themselves in a desert valley. When these men arriv...