The Butkara Stupa (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

: بت کړه سټوپا) is an important

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

near

Mingora Mingora ( ps, مینګورہ, ur, ) is a city in the Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located on the Swat River, it is the 3rd largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the 26th largest in Pakistan. Mingora is the largest city and t ...

, in the area of

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It may have been built by the

Mauryan The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...

emperor

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

, but it is generally dated slightly later to the 2nd century BCE. The stupa was enlarged on five occasions during the following centuries, every time by building over, and encapsulating, the previous structure.

Excavation

The stupa was excavated by an Italian mission (IsIOAO: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), led by archaeologist Domenico Faccenna from 1956, to clarify the various steps of the construction and enlargements. The mission established that the stupa was "monumentalized" by the addition of Hellenistic architectural decorations during the 2nd century BCE, suggesting a direct involvement of the

Indo-Greeks The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent (p ...

, rulers of northwestern India during that period, in the development of Greco-Buddhist architecture. An

Indo-Corinthian capital Indo-Corinthian capitals are capitals crowning columns or pilasters, which can be found in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, and usually combine Hellenistic and Indian elements. These capitals are typically dated to the first centuries of the C ...

representing a Buddhist devotee within foliage has been found which had a reliquary and a coin of

Azes II Azes II (Greek: , epigraphically ; Kharosthi: , ), may have been the last Indo-Scythian king, speculated to have reigned circa 35–12 BCE, in the northern Indian subcontinent (modern day Pakistan). His existence has been questioned; if he did ...

buried at its base, securely dating the sculpture to earlier than 20 BCE. The nearby Hellenistic fortifications of

Barikot Barikot ( ur, بریکوٹ‎) (Pashto: بریکوټ) is a town located in the middle course of the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located about away from Mingora and the Butkara Stupa. It is the entrance town to the central ...

are also thought to be contemporary. A large quantity of the artifacts are preserved in the

National Museum of Oriental Art Rome's National Museum of Oriental Art "Giuseppe Tucci" (Italian: Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale 'Giuseppe Tucci' ) is a museum (now closed) in Rome, Italy, that was dedicated to the arts of the Orient, from the Middle East to Japan. The museum w ...

and the City Museum of Ancient Oriental Art in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

(M.A.O.). File:Buthkara-1 A broad view.JPG, Ruins of Butkara I. File:Scythian devotee Butkara I.jpg,

Indo-Scythian Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th centur ...

devotee, Butkara I. File:Capitello corinzio con busti di devoti clarified - Butkara I (Swat).jpg,

representing a Buddhist devotee wearing a Greek cloak (

chlamys The chlamys (Ancient Greek: χλαμύς : chlamýs, genitive: χλαμύδος : chlamydos) was a type of an ancient Greek cloak.

) with

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

. Butkara Stupa,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. File:PilarImage4.jpg, The

from Butkara Stupa under which a coin of

was found. Dated to 20 BCE or earlier (

Turin City Museum of Ancient Art The Museo Civico d'Arte Antica is an art museum located in the Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy. It has a renowned collection of paintings from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It reopened in 2006 after several years of restorations. ...

Coinage and datation

The oldest core strata (GSt 1) revealed a coin of

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an empi ...

and is therefore dated to the Ashokan period.Handbuch der Orientalistik, Kurt A. Behrendt, BRILL, 2004, p.49 sig

/ref> A coin of

Menander I Menander I Soter ( grc, Μένανδρος Σωτήρ, Ménandros Sōtḗr, Menander the Saviour; pi, मिलिन्दो, Milinda), was a Greco-Bactrian and later Indo-Greek King (reigned c.165/155Bopearachchi (1998) and (1991), respectivel ...

was found in the second oldest stratum (GSt 2). A coin of

was found under a plinth of the third stratum (GSt 3), which is therefore dated to the end of the 1st century BCE or the beginning of the 1st century CE. The 4th stratum (GSt 4) contained late coins of Azes II and coins of the Kushan

Kujula Kadphises Kujula Kadphises (Kushan language: Κοζουλου Καδφιζου, also Κοζολα Καδαφες; Kharosthi: 𐨐𐨂𐨗𐨂𐨫 𐨐𐨯, IAST: ', '; Ancient Chinese: 丘就卻, ''Qiujiuque''; reigned 30–80 CE, or 40-90 CE according to ...

Seated Buddha statue

The in-situ seated Buddha (or

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

) statue at Butkara is considered one of the earliest, if not the earliest, known iconographical statues of the Buddha in northwestern India. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw considers that the statue dates to the late 1st century BCE to the early 1st century, as it was discovered in the GSt 3 stratum that contained a coins of

. More conservative estimates date it to the 1st-2nd century CE, roughly at the same time the first known statues of the Buddha were made in the

art of Mathura The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, in central northern India, during a period in which Bu ...

. Probably the earliest known statue of the Buddha in the

is the " Isapur Buddha", dated to circa 15 CE. This would make the creation of the Buddha image an approximately simultaneous phenomenon between the two geographical areas.

Gallery

Image:BuddhaSwatButkaraI2ndcentury.JPG, Head of the Buddha. Butkara I, 2nd century CE Image:SwatButkaraI1stcenturyRelief.JPG, Buddhist relief with warrior. Butkara I, 1st century CE. File:Butkara I Swat 1.jpg, Statue at the site File:Alchon devotee, Butkara I (construction phase 4), 5th century CE.jpg,

Alchon Hun The Alchon Huns, ( Bactrian: αλχον(ν)ο ''Alchon(n)o'') also known as the Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. ...

devotee, Butkara I (construction phase 4), 5th century CE.

Notes

References

Report of the Italian Archaeological Mission
(Pdf, Italian) * Domenico Faccenna, Butkara I (Swat, Pakistan), 1956–1962, Roma, 1962-1981

External link

Other capitals from Butkara I
in {{Gandhara, state=expanded Archaeological sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Buddhism in Pakistan Stupas in Pakistan Buddhist sites in Pakistan Maurya Empire Mauryan art Indo-Aryan archaeological sites