Bimaran casket
Bimaran casket | |
---|---|
Brahma (left) and Śakra (right). | |
Material | Gold encrusted with gems |
Size | 6.7 cm high, 6.6 cm diameter |
Created | 1st century CE |
Discovered | Bimaran 34°27′31″N 70°20′59″E / 34.458544°N 70.349792°E |
Present location | British Museum, London |
Registration | OA 1900.2-9.1 |
The Bimaran casket or Bimaran reliquary is a small gold reliquary for Buddhist relics that was removed from inside the stupa no.2 at Bimaran, near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.
Discovery
When it was found by the archaeologist
The Bimaran reliquary is sometimes dated, based on coinage analysis, to 0–15 CE (
Description
The casket is a small container reminiscent of the
The casket features
Owing to their necklace, bracelets, and armbands, and
The casket is made in gold-
The Buddha: a rare iconography
The Buddha seems to walk sideways. His right forearm goes across his chest to form the Abhaya mudra. His left fist is clenched on his hip. The gown of the Shakyamuni Buddha is quite light compared to that of the other known representations of the standing Buddha (see
Steatite container
The Bimaran casket was kept in a
The inscriptions written on the box are:
Inscription | Original (Kharosthi script) | Transliteration | English translation |
---|---|---|---|
Outside of lid | 𐨧𐨒𐨬𐨟 𐨭𐨪𐨁𐨪𐨅𐨱𐨁 𐨭𐨁𐨬𐨪𐨐𐨿𐨮𐨁𐨟𐨯 𐨨𐨂𐨎𐨗𐨬𐨎𐨡𐨤𐨂𐨟𐨿𐨪𐨯 𐨡𐨞𐨨𐨂𐨱𐨅 | Bhagavata śarirehi Śivarakṣitasa Muṃjavaṃdaputrasa daṇamuhe | With relics of the Lord, donation of Śivarakṣita son of Mujavada |
Outside of base | 𐨭𐨁𐨬𐨪𐨐𐨿𐨮𐨁𐨟𐨯 𐨨𐨂𐨎𐨗𐨬𐨎𐨡𐨤𐨂𐨟𐨿𐨪𐨯 𐨡𐨞𐨨𐨂𐨱𐨅 𐨞𐨁𐨩𐨟𐨁𐨡𐨅 𐨧𐨒𐨬𐨟 𐨭𐨪𐨁𐨪𐨅𐨱𐨁 𐨯𐨪𐨿𐨬𐨦𐨂𐨢𐨞 𐨤𐨂𐨩𐨀𐨅 | Śivarakṣitasa Muṃjavaṃdaputrasa daṇamuhe ṇiyatide Bhagavata śarirehi Sarvabudhaṇa puyae | Śivarakṣita son of Mujavada's donation offered with relics of the Lord in honour of all the Buddhas |
Date of the coins
Azes II
The archeological find of the
- "In the art of Gandhara, the first known image of the standing Buddha and approximatively dated, is that of the Bimaran reliquary, which specialists attribute to the Indo-Scythian period, more particularly to the rule of Azes II"[8]
However, several features of the coins are unknown for coins of Azes: the
Kharahostes
The latest studies, made in 2015 by Joe Cribb, consider that the coins are issues of Kharahostes, or his son Mujatria.[2] Many characteristics of the coins of the Bimaran reliquary are consistent with the coinage of Kharahostes (10 BCE–10 CE), a successor to Azes II, who minted many coins in the name of Azes II.[9]
The four coins in the Bimaran casket are of the same type:
Close-up photographs by the British Museum[4] show that the coins do bear the name of Azes, but that they also have the "Three pellets" symbol, which is characteristic of the coinage of Kharahostes, who also often uses the name of Azes on his coinage.[10] The coin type of the Bimaran coins is also identical to the main coins of Kharahostes (horseman with Tyche).
The name of Kharahostes has also been recently discovered on a silver Buddhist reliquary, found in Shinkot in
Without adding any redeposition theory, the Bimaran reliquary may therefore have been dedicated during the reign of Kharahostes (10 BCE – 10 CE), and probably at the beginning of his reign since the coins are not worn and where therefore basically new when they were introduced in the casket. This would put the Bimaran casket at 10 BCE, or around the beginning of our era.
Kujula Kadphises
The
The three-pellet symbol mark is not known from any other ruler either (apart from the son of Kharahostes Mujatria),[12] so that the only remaining possibility seems to be Kharahostes or his son, as determined by Joe Cribb in his 2015 study.[2]
Date of the Bimaran reliquary
Various disputes have been arising regarding the early date suggested for this first Buddha image.
Prof. Gérard Fussman thinks that the Bimaran reliquary was manufactured in 1–15 CE.[13] In any case manufacture necessarily took place before 60 CE, which is the latest date considered for the coins.[14] The Bimaran casket is on display at the British Museum (Joseph E. Hotung Gallery), which dates the casket to 60 CE.
Some also date the casket as late as the 2nd century CE based on stylistic assumptions.[15] Susan Huntington sums up the issue:
- "The well-known gold and ruby reliquary found at Bimaran in Afghanistan is generally assigned a date of about the second century AD in spite of the virtually incontrovertible scientific evidence surrounding it that suggests that it was made about the first century BC. The resistance to the early dating of the reliquary is based solely on the assumption that Buddha images were not introduced into the Buddhist artistic repertoire until the early centuries of the Christian era, and therefore that any work that bears an image of the Buddha must be of a comparably late date."[15]
These disputes stem from the fact that the first representations of the Buddha are generally assumed to be around the 1st century CE or later, about fifty to a hundred years later than the reign of Azes II, under the rule of the
Implications
Since the casket already displays quite a sophisticated iconography (Brahma and Indra as attendants, Bodhisattvas) in an advanced style, it would suggest much earlier representations of the Buddha had been current by the time of the deposition of the Bimaran casket (10 BCE – 10 CE), going back to the rule of the
Stylistically, the casket (gold inlaid with precious stone) is also highly consistent with the art of the Scythians, as known for example from the
The Bimaran casket also has some similarities with the
Other views
-
Another face of the Bimaran casket, featuring a devotee, possibly a Bodhisattva
-
Detail of the Buddha on the Bimaran casket
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Detail of the Buddha (other angle)
-
Detail ofhamsagoose
See also
- Kanishka casket
Notes
- ^ "The Bimaran Reliquary, a Gandharan work, which is now housed in the British Museum, London, is of great historical and iconographic significance. It shows Buddha in the centre, attended by Brahma to his right and Indra to the left."[16]
- ^ "Standing Buddha in the arched compartment, flanked by figures of Brahma and Indra standing in similar compartments, detail of the side of Bimaran gold casket".[17]
- ^ "The Bimaran Reliquary, a Gandharan work, which is now housed in the British Museum, London, is of great historical and iconographic significance. It shows Buddha in the centre, attended by Brahma to his right and Indra to the left."[16]
- ^ "Standing Buddha in the arched compartment, flanked by figures of Brahma and Indra standing in similar compartments, detail of the side of Bimaran gold casket"[17]
References
- ^ Senior 2008.
- ^ a b c Cribb 2015.
- ^ British Museum Highlights
- ^ a b c d Errington, Cribb & Claringbull 1992, pp. 189–190.
- ^ Baums 2012, p. 249.
- ^ Masson 1841, pp. 70-71.
- ^ a b c d Errington, Cribb & Claringbull 1992, p. 188.
- ^ Bopearachchi, Landes & Sachs 2003.
- ^ a b c Errington, Cribb & Claringbull 1992, p. 16.
- ^ Grifterrec on Indo-Scythians
- ^ Salomon 1996.
- ^ a b Grifterrec Coins
- ^ Fussman, 1986, p.71, quoted in The Crossroads of Asia, p.192
- ^ Errington, Cribb & Claringbull 1992, p. 192.
- ^ a b Huntington 1990.
- ^ a b Banerjee 2001, p. 48.
- ^ a b Agrawala 1977, p. 152.
Sources
- Agrawala, Prithvi Kumar (1977). Early Indian Bronzes. Varanasi, India: Prithvi Prakashan.
- Banerjee, Priyatosh (2001). Central Asian art: new revelations from Xinjiang. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India: Abha Prakashan. ISBN 9788185704241.
- Baums, David (2012). "Catalog and revised texts and translations of Gandharan reliquary inscriptions" (PDF). In Jongeward, D.; ISBN 978-0-295-99236-5.
- Bopearachchi, O.; Landes, C.; Sachs, C. (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus: archéologie de l'Asie centrale : catalogue de l'exposition. Lattes: Musée de Lattes. ISBN 978-2-9516679-2-1.
- Cribb, Joe (2015). "Dating and locating Mujatria and the two Kharahostes" (PDF). Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society. 223: 26–48.
- ISBN 978-0-9518399-1-1.
- Huntington, Susan L. (1990). "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism". Art Journal. 49 (4): 401–408. .
- Masson, Charles (1841). "Memoir on the topes and sepulchral monuments of Afghanistan". In Wilson, H.H. (ed.). Ariana Antiqua: A Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan. London: East India Company. pp. 55–118.
- Salomon, Richard (1996). "An inscribed silver Buddhist reliquary of the time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 116 (3): 418–452. JSTOR 605147.
- Senior, R.C. (2008). "The final nail in the coffin of Azes II" (PDF). Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society. 197: 25–27.
Further reading
- Baums, Stefan, and Andrew Glass. 2002– . Catalog of Gāndhārī Texts, no. CKI 50
- Cribb, Joe. 2016. "Dating the Bimaran Casket – its Conflicted Role in the Chronology of Gandharan Art". Gandhāran Studies, vol. 10, pp. 57–91.
- Errington, Elizabeth (2017). Charles Masson and the Buddhist Sites of Afghanistan: Explorations, Excavations, Collections 1832-1835. British Museum Research Publication 215. London: British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-86159-215-9.
- The Greeks in Bactria and India, W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
- Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné, Osmund Bopearachchi, 1991, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ISBN 2-7177-1825-7.
- Susan L. Huntington (with contributions by John C. Huntington), Art of Ancient India (Tokyo and New York: John Weatherhill, 1985).
- "The Bimaran casket", Reginald Le May, The Burlington Magazine, 482 (1943), p. 116–123.
External links
- Media related to Bimaran casket at Wikimedia Commons