Fayaztepa

Fayaztepa is a Buddhist temple complex dating back to the 1st-3rd centuries AD. This complex is located in Termez , near the northwest ruins of the old city. In 1968, Absad Beknaev found a Buddha sculpture in the dunes made of alabaster , which was later transferred to the museum of local lore. In 1968–76, this find was studied by L. I. Albaum ^[1] .

After the Faeztep Square was cleared of a mound of sand dunes, the study of the architecture of the monument began. Fayaztepa consists of three monumental buildings; in the central part there is a temple, in the north-western part there is a monastery and in the southeast - farm buildings. The total area of ​​the complex is 1.5 square meters. km One of the constituent parts is a stupa unlike other buildings, located not in the central part, but outside the square, which is parallel to the sacred altar. These parts are interconnected by a path lined with bricks and stones, which crosses the area. In the temple, the walls of which are decorated with various colorful drawings, a monument to the Buddha ( Bodhisattva ) rises. Once along the walls were monuments dedicated to the Buddha , whose height reached four meters ^[2] .

Initially, many monuments were red, later they were covered with gold paint. On the southern part of the temple, an image of a Buddha dressed in red robes has been preserved. On both sides of the Buddha are silhouettes of two people in long robes with buckles on their shoulders. One of these people is depicted at the time of worshiping the Buddha. Also on the eastern wall of the shrine, you can see the traces of once applied wall painting. And on clay pieces of the inside of the room you can see images of faces of various people. On one of the clay fragments, the size of which is 60 × 80 cm, an image of two men whose faces are directed towards the Buddha is found. From these two figures worshiping the Bactrian Buddha, we can conclude that the Buddha was an idol for worship. In this room you can find a large number of fragments of the monument, made of plaster. Along the eastern part of the wall, a special burnt brick pedestal was built for sculptures, and the surface of this pedestal is evenly covered with stone fragments. Most of the statues are made of a mixture of clay and straw, the outer part of which is covered with gypsum ^[3] .

The heads of these statues were placed in special forms, and the arms and legs were made separately and then were already attached to the body of the statues. Of all the statues located on the Fayaztepa complex, the upper part of the Buddha statue made of alabaster has the greatest appeal. The collected, black hair, framing the beautiful face of Buddha, gives the statue a certain enchanting look. This decoration of the Buddha statue is the first in the heritage of the Kushanid period.

Opposite the door to this sacred temple, a rare piece of art was found - a triad created from a single piece of marble stone. In the center of the triad is a Buddha sitting on the branches of a sacred bodhi tree , and next to him are two monks worshiping him. Two coins of Kanishka and one of Vasudeva were discovered in the temple. The courtyard of the temple has the shape of a regular quadrangle measuring 33 × 20 m, where the doors of the rooms of the monks are located on four sides. Inside the courtyard is a large, one-piece room, its walls are decorated with colorful drawings that have survived only on its lower parts. Along this hall is the soup. On the northwestern part of the courtyard is a small pond, in the form of a trapezoid, which is made of fragments of marble. At the bottom of this pond, a special hole was made for draining water. This hole is made in the form of an open mouth of a lion. The water in this kind of pond was clean, intended for drinking. This lion belongs to the era of Kushanid art, in its image a strong and powerful Buddha is reflected. The second part of the religious building was a monastery, which is connected to the temple by a door leading to the courtyard. The rooms located on the territory of the monastery were inhabited by monks and students of the monastery, and dormitories for pilgrims were located in the training rooms and classrooms. Special shelves were built on the walls of the rooms, where lanterns with wicks were located. Soups were built along the walls of certain rooms, designed to establish Buddha statues on them. Thus, the monks, their students and pilgrims offered their prayers in the central part of the temple when religious events were suspended for some time ^[4] .