A propos de « stûpa miniatures » votifs du Ve siècle découverts à Tourfan et au Gansu

The object of the present article is to point out the existence of a group of twelve «miniature» votive stupas, all of them having similar aspects of iconography and carrying the same engraved Buddhist sûtra. According to our assessments, based on five stupas giving dates of their construction, they could all date from the first half of the fifth century A.D. The earliest finds of this type of stûpa was made by A. Grunwedel and A. von le Coq in Qotcho (Chotscho) in 1902-1905 (our stûpa numbers 8 and 9). In figure 4, the complete text of stûpa number 8 is reproduced and analysed for the first time. Following Shi Yan's article in 1956 reporting new discoveries (note 2, d), A.C. Soper had grouped together five stupas (our stûpa numbers 2, 4, 5, 1 1 and 12) together with von Le Coq's find (our stûpa number 9) and had published a penetrating article (note 2, e). Stûpa numbers 3 and 6 mentioned here represent complete specimens and provide important comparative evidence for all other stupas discovered since 1956. The Introduction is based on a descriptive account of each stûpa. In figure 21, Lai Tung-Hung has reproduced each extant character of the engraved text figuring on the different stupas, and has provided a correspondence of text, including the section relating to sûtra. This procedure has enabled H. Durt to note that the sûtra featured on the stupas are all from the same source and stems from «Law of Dependent Origination » ox pratîtyasamutpâda. H. Durt also cites several hypotheses made by other authors, and suggests the Ekottarâgama sûtra as the canonical reference for these texts.Durt Hubert, Riboud Krishnã, Tung-Hun Lai. A propos de « stûpa miniatures » votifs du Ve siècle découverts à Tourfan et au Gansu. In: Arts asiatiques, tome 40, 1985. pp. 92-106