SOME REFERENCES TO IRANIAN TEMPLES IN THE TUN-HUANG REGION

So little is known about Iranian cults that I have thought it worth while to collect such references to them as I happen to have come across in the Tun-huang manuscripts. These manuscripts are, however, widely scattered and still imperfectly explored. My knowledge of those in Chinese is very incomplete, and with those in other languages (for example, Uighur), I am unable to deal. (1) Pelliot 2629, 'For offering to the spirit (shen) at the Baga temple east of the Walls, two jugs of wine.' This occurs in an account of quantities of wine used by the Military Command (chieh-tu) of Tun-huang, chiefly in entertaining foreign envoys (e. g. from Kan-chou, Khotan and Rami). It is stamped with a seal (now much effaced) bearing (apparently) the words chieh-tu. The qualification 'east of the Walls' might imply that there was more than one such temple at Tun-huang. The date of the MS is probably 10th century.