Article
Article name	Transformation of the Funeral Rite of the Peoples of Central Asia on the Territory of North India During the Early Iron Age
Authors	Denisenko V.L. Postgraduate Student, valerialeontyevna@yandex.ru
Bibliographic description	Denisenko V. L. Transformation of the Funeral rite of the Peoples of Central Asia on the Territory of North India During the Early Iron Age // Humanitarian Vector. 2022. Vol. 17, No. 3. PP. 78–88. DOI: 10.21209/1996- 7853-2022-17-3-78-88.
Section	Archeology: the origins of culture
UDK	902(5-191.2)
DOI	10.21209/1996-7853-2022-17-3-78-88
Article type	Original article
Annotation	The article is dedicated to the historiographical analysis of the transformation of funeral rite of the Pamir Sakas, Yuezhi, Indo-Scythians and Kushans in the process of their migration from Central Asia to the territory of Northern India. The purpose of this study is to trace the gradual assimilation of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia with the settled population of Bactria and Northern India, reflected in the funeral rite. The Early Iron Age of Central Asia and Northern India remains little-studied, if to speak about historical and cultural interactions and routеs of the migration wave. This topic needs an objective and deep study based on a thorough analysis and systematization of available historiographical sources. Extreme paucity of publications dedicated to the funerary monuments correlated with Saki-Indo-Scythians and Yuezhi-Kushans in Northern India is one of the main problems. Funeral practices are among the most important indicators of the cultural interaction between different peoples and cultures. The main method of research is a comprehensive approach suggesting involving data from other sciences – epigraphic, numismatic and historical. The chronological framework of the study is from the II century BC, when Yuezhi and Saki began their massive migrations to the west ‒ to the III century AD, when the fall of the Kushan Empire occurred. In the process of migration, the Sakas and Yuezhi adapted to the cultures around them. Thus, part of the Sakas in Bactria adopted Zoroastrianism, burial mounds of the Yuezhi mostly contain products of local sedentary population. On the territory of Northern India, the Indo-Scythians and Kushans adopted the funerary traditions of the local Buddhist population – burning the dead and placing their ashes in special stupas with other relics. It is important to note that their assimilation took place gradually and even influenced the established funeral practice of Indo-Buddhist. For example, single bones and whole skeletons are sometimes found in stupas, and since the Indo-Scythian period, coins have been placed in stupas with other relics. In this regard, the revealing of new sources about the funerary monuments of Northern India is one of the promising directions.
Key words	Saka, Yuezhi, Indo-Scythians, Kushan, funeral rite, Central Asia, Northern India
Article information
References	1. Litvinskiy, B. A. Ancient nomads “Roofs of the World”. M: Nauka, 1972. (In Rus.) 2. Bernshtam, A. N. Historical and archaeological sketches of the Central Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai. MIA № 26. M.; L.: 1952. (In Rus.) 3. Bernshtam, A. N. Sakas Pamir. VDI, no. 1, pp. 121–134, 1956. (In Rus.) 4. Litvinskiy, B. A. Excavation of burial grounds in the Eastern Pamirs in 1958. Tr. AN TadzhSSR. In-t istorii im. Ahmada Donisha. V. 27. APT, 1958. Iss. 6. Stalinabad. Pp. 37–48. (In Rus.) 5. Litvinskiy, B. A. Excavation of burial grounds in the Eastern Pamirs in 1959. Tr. AN TadzhSSR. In-t istorii im. Ahmada Donisha. V. 31. APT, 1959. Iss. 7. Dush. Pp. 50–62. (In Rus.) 6. Frazer, J. G. The fear of the dead in primitive religion. Lectures delivered on the William Wyse Foundation at Trinity College. Cambridge, London, 1934. Vol. 1. No. II. (In Engl.) 7. Akishev, K. A., Kushaev, G. A. The ancient culture of the Saks and Usuns of the Ili river valley. Alma-Ata, 1963. (In Rus.) 8. Asmussen, J. P. Xuastvamft. Studies in Manichaeism. Copenhagen, 1965. Vol. VII. (In Engl.) 9. Dani, A. H. Origin of the Dardic Culture: a new discovery in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Journal of Central Asia, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 158–170, 1998. (In Engl.) 10. Zadneprovskiy, Yu. A. Migration Paths of the Yueh-chih based on Archaeological Evidence. Circle of Inner Asian Art Newsletter, no. 8, pp. 3–16, 1999. (In Engl.) 11. Virgo, L. Cultural Diffusion and Identity: Material Culture in Northwest China -II and I millennia BCE. Dis. Ph. D. London, 2004. (In Engl.) 12. Zadneprovskiy, Yu. A. Yuezhi migration routes according to new archaeological data. Ancient nomads of Central Asia. SPb: Nauka, 1997: 74–79. (In Rus.) 13. Zadneprovskiy, Yu. A. On the ethnicity of the monuments of the Semirechye nomads of the Usun period of the 2nd century BC ‒ V century AD. Countries and peoples of the East, 1971. T. H. Pp. 27–36. (In Rus.) 14. Ginzburg, V. V., Zhirov, E. V. Anthropological materials from the Kenkol catacomb burial ground in the valley of the river. Talas KirgSSR. SMAE, vol. 10, Pp. 32–51, 1949. (In Rus.) 15. Mandel’shtam, A. M. Monuments of the Kushan nomads in Northern Bactria. Tr. TAE. L: 1975. Tom VII. (In Engl.) 16. Kiyatkina, T. P. Skulls from the burial ground Aruk-Tau (Tajikistan). TIEAN, USSR, 1961. V. 71. Pp. 36– 45, 1961. (In Rus.) 17. Obel’chenko, O. V. Burial mounds of the Kushan era in the Bukhara oasis. Central Asia in the Kushan era. M., 1974. V. 1. Pp. 202–209. (In Rus.) 18. Sarianidi, V. I. Temple and necropolis of Tillatepe. M: 1989. (In Rus.) 19. Rtveladze, E. V. Kushan kingdom. Dynasties, state, people, language, writing, religions. Historical Library, Tashkent, 2019. (In Rus.) 20. Litvinskiy, B. A., Zeimal’, T. I. Buddhist monastery Ajina-tepa (Tajikistan). Excavations. Architecture. Art. Ed. by T. K. Mkrtycheva. SPb: “Nestor-Istoriya”, 2010. (In Rus.) 21. Polos’mak, N. V., Shah, M. A., Kundo L. P. Petroglyphs on the plates of Zanskar (India): Materials of 2016. Archeology, ethnography and anthropology of Eurasia, no. 2, pp. 60–67, 2018. (In Rus.) 22. Harvey, P. The Symbolism of the Early Stupa. The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, no. 2, pp. 67–93, 1984. (In Engl.) 23. Bolganova, M. S. Architecture of Buddhist monuments in Central Asia. SAN’AT. Tashkent, no. 2, pp. 4–7, 2004. (In Rus.) 24. Marco de G. The Stūpa as a Funerary Monument: New Iconograpical Evidence. East and West, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 191–246, 1987. (In Engl.) 25. Smirnov, Yu. ALabyrinth. The morphology of deliberate burial. M: “Vostochnaya literature” RAS, 1997. (In Rus.) 26. Schopen, G. Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks. Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. (In Rus.) 27. Bellew, H. W. A General Report on The Yusufzais in Six Chapters with A Map. Lahore: Government central press, 1864. (In Engl.) 28. Errington, E. The Western Discovery of the Art of Gandhāra and the Finds of Jamālgarhī. School of Oriental and African Studies. London, 1987. Pp. 210–214. (In Engl.) 29. Jongeward, D., Errington, E., Salomon R. Reliquaries in the British Museum. Gandharan Buddhist Reliquaries. Seattle: Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project, 2012. (In Engl.) 30. Errington, E. Gandhara Stupa Deposits. Arts of Asia, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 80–87, 1998. (In Engl.) 31. Bruneau, L. L’architecture bouddhique dans la vallée du Haut Indus: un essai de typologie des représentations rupestres de stupa. Arts Asiatiques, vol. 62, pp. 63–75, 2007. (In Fr.) 32. Ray, S. Scythian elements in early Indian art. Dis. Ph. D. University of Calcutta, 2005. (In Engl.) 33. Hodzhaiov, T. K., Abdullaev, K. Population of Kushan Bactria (anthropology, written sources and fine arts). Germaniya, iz-vo Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011. (In Rus.)
Full article	Transformation of the Funeral Rite of the Peoples of Central Asia on the Territory of North India During the Early Iron Age
	0
	36