A study of Iranian Hunting Scenes and Motifs on the Ancient Chinese and Sogdian Tombs and its Relationship with the Concept of “Paradise of Xiwangmu”

Among the most widely used themes of Persian art inancient China are hunting motifs on the walls or vesselsof Chinese and Sogdian royal tombs. In Chinese tombs,there are also murals containing the symbols of the goddessXiwangmu (西 王母) or eternal paradise, which are directlyrelated to the hunting motifs on the walls in the same tombs.Although ancient Iranian cultural objects and elements inChina have been studied, the reasons for use of huntingthemes in Parthian or Sasanid fashions and reliefs of thegoddess Shivangmo in Chinese tombs have not beenstudied. Therefore, the present article intends to use adescriptive-analytical method to first explain the presenceof Iranian hunting concepts in Chinese tombs and then todiscuss the use of the same themes in Sogdian tombs inChina. According to “hunting magic”, the use of hunting intombs seems to have been a magical way for the deceasedto reach paradise. This tradition was first seen in Chinesetombs, and then gradually, Sogdians followed them andmixed hunting motifs with Persian cultural elements todepict the afterlife. Considering the variety of huntingimages on Sassanid vessels and also the use of these motifson Chinese and Sogdian tombs in China, which are mostlyfound near the city of Chang’an or Xi’an, the present articleintends to examine these works in China and to considerwhether the widespread use of hunting images and the useof Parthian and Sasanid style of hunting motifs in Chinesetombs is related to burial rites. In other words, was it theintention of the Chinese to use these unique motifs todepict the afterlife of their dead? The researcher claimsthat the Chinese people from the Parthian period were veryinterested in using the unique works of Iranians and it wasnew and attractive to them. This is especially evident in theritual use of Iranian hunting motifs on the Chinese vesselsand tombs. hunting imagery in these tombs depicted theroute through the desolate spaces that were believed to existbetween this world and the next. In addition to the ChineseTombs, hunting scenes with Sassanid and Parthian fashionsare also engraved on Sogdian tombs in late Sassanidperiod. As discussed, the inscriptions, historical and literarynarratives, and images on tombs and vessels discovered inChina suggest that the deceased tried to walk the difficultpath between this world and the next, in order to reach theparadise of the goddess Xiwangmu. The connection ofthis goddess with hunting has caused her to be depictedin the tombs of the ancient Chinese from the beginningof the Han period. Parthian and Sassanid-style huntingsymbols in Sogdian tombs also were ways of helping forthe deceased to make his way to paradise. In other words,the ancient Sogdians learned from the Chinese and usedhunting symbols on utensils or tombstones in order to helpthe deceased to walk the path to paradise by killing wildanimals.