Which ancient kingdom in the Tarim Basin was especially associated with Khotan and Buddhist culture?

The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Tarim Basin state associated with Khotan and Buddhist culture.

Khotan stood on the southern branch of routes around the Taklamakan and became important through agriculture, trade, religious patronage, and access to valuable jade. Its rulers governed a multicultural society influenced by Iranian, Indian, and Chinese worlds.

The kingdom is known from Chinese records, Tibetan documents, local manuscripts, and Buddhist remains. Khotan supported monasteries and helped transmit Buddhist texts and artistic traditions across Central Asia. The city was also a major source and trading center for nephrite jade, although jade commerce involved wider networks.

Khotan’s political history was complex. It interacted with Chinese dynasties, Tibetan powers, Turkic groups, and neighboring oasis states. In the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, the Kara-Khanid conquest ended the independent kingdom and accelerated the region’s Islamization.