n schools is mentioned.

The Tibetan annals also mention several persecutions of Buddhism in
Khotan as a result of which the monks fled to Tibet and Bruzha. Their
chronology is confused but seems to make these troubles coincide with
a persecution in Tibet, presumably that of Lang-dar-ma. If so, the
persecution in Khotan must have been due to the early attacks of
Mohammedans which preceded the final conquest in about 1000 A.D.[521]

Neither the statements of the Chinese annalists about Central Asia nor
its own traditions prove that Buddhism flourished there before the
Christian era. But they do not disprove it and even if the dream of
the Emperor Ming-Ti and the consequent embassy are dismissed as
legends, it is admitted that Buddhism penetrated to China by land not
later than the early decades of that era. It must therefore have been
known in Central Asia previously and perhaps Khotan was the place
where it first flourished.

It is fairly certain that about 160 B.C. the Yueh-chih moved westwards
and settled in the lands of the Oxus after ejecting the Sakas, but
like many warlike nomads they may have oscillated between the east and
west, recoiling if they struck against a powerful adversary in either
quarter. Le Coq has put forward an interesting theory of their origin.
It is that they were one of the tribes known as Scythians in Europe
and at an unknown period moved eastwards from southern Russia,
perhaps leaving traces of their presence in the monuments still
existing in the district of Minussinsk. He also identifies them with
the red-haired, blue-eyed people of the Chotscho frescoes and the
speakers of the Tokharian language. But these interesting hypotheses
cannot be regarded as proved. It is, however, certain that the
Yueh-chih invaded India,[522] founded the Kushan Empire and were
intimately connected (especially in the person of their great king
Kanishka) with Gandharan art and the form of Buddhism which finds
expression in it. Now the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien (_c_. 400) found
the Hinayana prevalent in Shan-shan, Kucha, Kashgar, Osh, Udyana and
Gandhara. Hsuan Chuang also notes its presence in Balkh, Bamian, and
Persia. Both notice that the Mahayana was predominant in Khotan though
not to the exclusion of the other school. It would appear that in
modern language the North-West Frontier province of India,
Afghanistan, Badakshan (with small adjoining states), the Pamir
regions and the Tarim basin all accepted Gan