Rāma of Ancient Xinjiang, China.
The Story of Rāma in Ancient Xinjiang, China. Ancient Indian Texts Call Xinjiang 'Uttarakuru' Ancient Khotan or modern Hotan is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, Khotanese kings were Mahāyāna Buddhist but this sect incorporates Vedic and Tantric systems, with all the devas such as Indra, Śiva, Vi ṣṇ u and Sarasvatī, and just places the Buddha at the head of the system . There was also Krishna worship in Khotan and we find the Rāma story in Khotanese language, of which there is also a Tibetan version. The Buddhists put a spin on the Rāma story, that has had immense power on the imagination of the people all over Asia. The Khotanese Rāmāya ṇ a is not the standard Rāma story. In it Daśaratha, who is called Sahasrabāhu (“thousand-armed”), fights with Paraśurāma and gets killed, and his sons Rāma and Lak ṣ ma ṇ a are saved by a queen. When they grow older they slay Paraśurāma in revenge and become masters of all Jambudvīpa. Meanwhile, the Rāk ṣ asas are ruled by