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Religion and Art: New Issues in Indian Iconography and Iconology

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Religion and Art: New Issues in Indian Iconography and Iconology RELIGION AND ART: NEW ISSUES IN INDIAN ICONOGRAPHY AND ICONOLOGY Edited by Claudine Bautze-Picron Volume 1 of the proceedings of the 18th conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, London, 2005 The British Association for South Asian Studies . The British Academy, London General Editor: Michael Willis AccoLmt of ,poli: Banca ANOTHER RELIQUARY VASE FROM WARDAK AND CONSECRATING FIRE RITES IN GANDHARA an)', Zinbun :2 Harry Falk 79', in Scavi 112), Roma: hanistan in 'Napoli 43, THE WARDAK VASE OF MASSON In, or shortly after 1833, Charles Masson had some stapas opened or reexamined in the district ology 1981, of Wardak at a place called Khowat, about 48 km to the west of Kabul. Although this place looks rather remote, it is situated near the entry to the only road leading directly east-west from in East and Kabul to Herat. The most remarkable find from that place is a metal vase now on display in the British Museum, surrounded by a number of coins found in connection with it. Some more finds from Wardak reached London only after Wilson's Ariana Antiqua, which contains Masson's report, had gone to the printer. Through the kindness of E. Errington I was given access to the catalogue of the complete Masson collection in the British Museum to be published by her. Masson's report (1841: 117-18) is rather short and lacking details. We only learn that he saw five or six topes ... with numerous tumuli ... I found that three or four of these structures had been opened at some unknown period ... In the princial tope an internal cupola was enclosed, or rather had been; and one of those unexplained tunnels or passages led from it towards the circumference. I directed certain operations to be pursued, even with the opened topes , and pointed out a number of tumuli which I wished to be examined, as they were very substantially constructed; the results proved successful, in great measure, and comprised seven vases of metal and steatite, with other and various deposits. One of the brass vases was surrounded with a Bactro-Pali inscription. If this report can be believed then Masson saw several big and small stupas. He saw that the most prominent one of them once had contained a 'cupola'. This short notice becomes clearer in the light of the survey conducted by Fussman at the site in 1974. He describes an older stiipa in all its details, completely covered by a new structure that enlarged the whole edifice three times in height and circumference. Some illegal diggers, who were responsible for the 'unexplained tunnels or passages' found by Masson, had to remove the old stupa completely in order to reach the deposit in its basement. Without such a removal the remnants of the old stupa would have fallen in on them. This fact may also explain why many other stupas are hollow, as e.g. Amlukdara in Swat. Masson had the principal stupa checked again together with some."i.mopened stupas. His men found 'seven vases of metal and steatite', and 'one of the brass vases' bore an ins<;:ripti911: This leaves us completely in the dark with respect to the place of origin of the preserved brass bowl. It may have come from any of the places examined. The report shows, in addition, that the inscribed brass bowl was not the only one of its kind unearthed by Masson's workmen. H A RRY FALK 63 Moreover, there are remnants of at least three reliquaries made from ivory, probably found in from Wardak, now in the British Museum. Their exact provenance is, however, unknown. south -- The firs~ metal bowl from Wardak is presented in full in Zwalf 1996 as no. 680; the part showing the inscr\ption is depicted in Konow 1929, pl. XXXIII, who lists the full range of scholars of Kl (footnqtes on pp."165, 166) who devoted some attention to its inscription from 1858 onwards. To 178.' these must be added the important remarks in Fussman 1974a: 88 note 3. Recently, this vase was this c one of those studied by Dobbins (1989: 116), who noticed that Buddhist reliquaries were made THE In al acqu mon1 and l care site , rega to tr mad sam Slm! that me2 cm. pro] a fe dea to · Th, an wa sta pre hol Th an 9.S n sil of lo Figure 1. The Wardak vase(© author). w 64 RELIGION AND ART: NEW I SSUES IN I NDIAN lcONOGRAPHY AND lcO NOLOGY nd in from different materials over the course of the centuries; a very similar metal reliquary pot from south of the Hindukush is described in Fussman 1974b: 58-61. ~ part The inscription reports on the foundation of a stupa in the name of Vagamarega, son 10lars of Kamagulya, in the year 51, during the i-eign of the Ku~ar.ia emperor Huvi~ka, i.e. in AD kTo 178. The place is called khavada, modern Kbavad. The Mahasanghikas are the caretakers of ,e was this donation. made THE NEW VASE In about 2002 anulher vase (Figure 1) from that very site found its way lo a collector who acquired it mainly because of bis interest in a folded piece of bLn:h b,ffk Lhat it contained . Only months later he discovered 1"11atthere are letters on the vase covered under thick layci- of dirt and accretions. I thank its owner for allowing me in 2004 to inspect the vase and its contents. His care for all parts of this donation makes it possible to glean many more insights into the Buddhist site of Wardak. Knowing of its contents deepens our reg,·et at the sciu,Ly information available regarding Masson 's vase. The text of the new vase is directly related to the one on Masson's vase. The donation was made by a member of the same family on the same day, at the same place. The vase is very similar. From Zwalf (1996, I: 356) we learn that the old vase is 17.6 cm high, its widest part measures 16.9 cm, and the rim opens to 9.7 cm. The new vase shows absolutely the same proportions; only the widest part is narrower by a few millimetres. None of the reports on Masson's vase deals with the nature of its underside. According to Zwalf the 'vase has a low, flat ring-foot'. The new vase shows that this flat part is not an integral part of the vase itself. The vase was turned and widened on a lathe, probably starting with a sort of pipe. This technique produces all sorts ofbellied bodies, but leaves a hole of about 7 cm in the bottom part (Figure 2). This hole was then covered by a plate soldered around it. This bottom plate has a diameter of Figure 2_ Bottom of the vase (© author). 9.9 cm in the new vase. The new vase contained: (a) A round relic container made from sheet silver (Figure 3) consisting of two tubes. One of the tubes fits into the other. Both are 7.7 cm long, but the slimmer one does not fit into the wider one completely. The ends are closed with Figure 3. Round relic container(© author). HARRY FALK 65 a plate and simple decorations. Two loops, one on a C· on each end, keep the container closed by means seems1 of a cord and seal. An almost identical container are twc ~ ' ' - made from gold and without any loops - is The co known from MaI,J.ikiala (Zwalf 1996: 352 no. classifi 666). A much more elaborate container from differe1 Ahin Posh shows loops as well (Zwalf 1996: 351 clearly no. 668). The Mai:iikiala container was found to gro1 along with coins from Huvi~ka, so that we can obvers, be reasonably sure that our container too can be group dated to that time. Kabul. 515 an (b) A sealing made from fine clay. The cord Figure 4. Sealing (© author). dilutec that once closed the container is gone, but the the co sealing is preserved. Where the cord was, there do not is now a hole traversing the seal lengthwise; the therefc sealing shows a horse prancing to the right with the mi its rider stretching a bow (Figure 4), aiming at a lion standing on its heels. The seal seems to have coppe1 been uninscribed. to the Figure 5. Sheet of birch bark (© author). Similar scenes are well known from years: Sasanian silver plates. They are, however, not variou unknown in the 1st century AD: a roundel in the Eilenberg collection, similar but larger than the At M customary Gandharan compartment dishes, displays exactly the same composition, with the addition reliqu ; of a dog leaping in front of the horse (Lerner and Kossak 1991: 66 no. 26). Huvi~ Masson's collection from Wardak included a 'globular box of black steatite', to which 685 ai belonged 'two stamped pieces of clay' (India Office collection, European manuscripts E161/VII, 680-( f. 27), obviously used for a similar purpose. the lo· butm (c) A folded sheet of birch bark, which was originally tucked under the cord (Figure 5). From its them shape it becomes perfectly apparent that it was once squeezed in-between cord and container. The birch bark is still unopened; it is to be expected that it is inscribed. (f) Fo belon, (d) A few small broken parts of soapstone with no apparent shape inside the container. The major crack, content probably comprised some relics wrapped in a cloth. Only the cloth in the centre is preserved, most parts of it have dissolved into a very fine and sticky brown powder.
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