Renato Sala, an Italian archaeologist, “Tamgaly Tas – is a very rare monument. It is a sacred Buddhist temple that was used for prayer and meditation.”
Tamgaly-Tas /Scripture rocks – rocks with images of mysterious deities and Buddhist inscriptions in the tract near the river Ili in 120 km from Almaty.
According to legend, during the stay of the Buddhist Mission, marching in the Seven Rivers, there was an earthquake, and rock collapsed, ruptured into pieces.
This was seen by missionaries, as a wish from above of their repatriation to India, in gratitude they left on the stone their inscriptions.
Among the many petroglyphs, preserved up to now, distinguish about 1000 rock “sketches”, up to entire scenes from the life of the people.
The most interesting – the faces of the Buddha of Infinite Light Amitabha, the Buddha Sakyamuni and Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion Avalokiteshvara.
Stone was found nearby with runic inscriptions of ancient Turks from VIII-IX centuries, it is believed that this message is a historical “heritage” of the Kipchaks.
There are other versions of the appearance of precious gallery of ancient paintings in this place, similar were found in Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, China and Tibet.
Stone “painting” studies were initiated in 1875, when Ciocan Valikhanov, a well-known Kazakh enlightener, prepared their sketches.
Later, Alex Pozdeev, a Mongolist, described in detail the found images in “Proceedings of the Russian Geographical Society” /1897-1898.
Now the monument as cultural heritage is protected by the state and is open to the public access to this day.
Location of Scripture rocks – on the bank of the Ili River, local natural attraction and a favorite place of rest of the townspeople.