THREE NEW TIBETAN INSCRIPTIONS AND OIRAT-JUNGARIAN ROCK ART IN ALA-BEL AND THEIR REGIONAL CONTEXT, KYRGYZSTAN
Abstract
At a newly prospected site on the south-western shore of the Issyk-Kul Lake in the Ala-Bel mountainous region, three Tibetan inscriptions done as graffiti of small dimensions were discovered. Furthermore, these inscriptions were associated with petroglyphs from the same period. In this paper, we present the first results of the prospection of Ala-Bel, the three new Buddhist inscriptions and the petroglyphs associated with them. These inscriptions are the ritual prayer formula “om mani padme hum” in a Tibetan alphabet and can be dated to the Oirat-Jungarian period. Furthermore, we interpret these inscriptions in the regional context of Oirat-Jungarian inscriptions in Kyrgyzstan.
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References
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