Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

3.2
to Merv, and from there to the former Kushan territory, where he also founded a
Manichaean community.
After Mani’s death, Mar Amo was active in missionary work along the middle
reaches of the Amu Darya, where he founded a Manichaean community in the city of
Zamb (medieval Zamm, modern Kerki).
Two important documents that were discovered in the Turfan Oasis in Xinjiang
attest to Mar Amo’s activities in Central Asia. One is a letter sent from Merv by Mani’s
first successor, Mar Sisin (Gr.& Lat. Sisinnios), to Mar Amo in Zamb. The letter urges
Mar Amo to conduct vigorous propaganda activities, and to patiently and persistently
expound the fundamental principles of the Manichaean faith. Later, Manichaeism
was to spread widely in many cities and regions of Central Asia, but its main centres
were Merv, Samarkand and Chaganian.
At one time, Samarkand was the residence of the supreme head of the Manichaeans,
while the Sogdian language became the official language of the Eastern Manichaean
Church by the end of the 6th century.
The position of Manichaeism was also strong in Chaganian, whose king sent a
Mozhag (Mozak) teacher, i.e. a Manichaean priest of the highest rank, to the Chinese
Emperor in AD 719 as an ambassador and preacher of the religion. He wrote to say
that this man was skilled in astrology and possessed profound wisdom and that there
was no question to which he could not provide an answer. The king particularly
asked that the Mozhag be allowed to build a chapel where he could perform services
according to the precepts of his religion.
All this suggests that Manichaeism was not only an officially recognised but
possibly also the predominant religion in Chaganian. A Sogdian inscription on
a fresco discovered in one of the buildings at Afrasiab and deciphered by V.A.
Livshits is of particular interest in this respect. It tells of the embassy of Turantash,
King of Chaganian, to the King of Samarkand, Varkhuman (Avarkhuman), and,
more specifically, states that Chaganians arriving in the capital of Sogdia would not
proselytise and attempt to spread their faith among the residents of Samarkand,
which very probably referred to Manichaeism.
It is well known that the Manichaean religion was widespread among Turkic tribes.
Many Manichaean manuscripts were written in Old Turkic and it was in Xinjiang
that a large number of richly illustrated Manichaean writings were discovered, among
them the Uigur text the Xuāstvānīft – ‘Confessional Prayer’ – one of the fundamental
texts of the Manichaean religion, discovered by the British-Hungarian explorer Sir
Aurel Stein in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang.
In AD 762/763, in the Chinese city of Luoyang, the Uigur Tengri Khagan
Bogu met the Manichaean Elect, after which he and his close associates adopted
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