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Silver coin found at Mir Zakah with the image of the Indo- Greek King, Menan- der (155 BC) holding a spear. The Greek legend gives his : name and title (BASILEOS SOTEROS MENAN- DROU). This king debated on issues of the Buddhist faith Picking up with the monk Nagasena, according to the early Buddhist text Milindapañha, ‘Questions of Milin- da’ (=Menander). the Pieces Formerly

Museum. SPACH. of courtesy Powell, Josephine Ancient Afghanistan through the Eyes of Charles Masson (1800-1853):

dols, and the wartime the and dols, The Masson Project at the In the 1930s, the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan found unexpected evi- Research > dence of an earlier European visitor scribbled in one of the caves above the 55 m Buddha at Afghanistan Bamiyan. This stated: If any fool this high samootch explore hout Afghanistan are now gone, perhaps forever, many forever, perhaps gone, now are Afghanistan hout Know Charles Masson has been here before ce. With each opened box, we marveled at the beauty of the of beauty the at marveled we box, opened each With ce. y lost to the world for the stories they can tell us of humani- of us tell can they stories the for world the to lost y owledge passed on from father to son of how to create them create to how of son to father from on passed owledge s from the City of Rob written in the local Bactrian language Bactrian local the in written Rob of City the from s ything on Afghanistan would wade into the mire of political of mire the into wade would Afghanistan on ything

llected on his travels through Afghanistan during the 1830s. the during Afghanistan through travels his on llected More recently Gregory Possehl also found a less ambitious bit of graffiti - just the name Sims-Williams is one of the few scholars who has succeeded has who scholars few the of one is Sims-Williams s quite likely provide the most valuable source of information of source valuable most the provide likely quite s searchers. In Charles Masson’s day, it may have been easy for easy been have may it day, Masson’s Charles In searchers. of sight and memory, as we turn our gazes away, some of the of some away, gazes our turn we as memory, and sight of should be done with the empty niches in Bamiyan? Selecting Bamiyan? in niches empty the with done be should Ellen M. Raven M. Ellen more recent accounts in which they describe their travels and travels their describe they which in accounts recent more reasure of thousands of gold objects, never put on exhibit and exhibit on put never objects, gold of thousands of reasure owledge and that locked into the form of artefacts - is a contin- a is - artefacts of form the into locked that and owledge

d also be inappropriate. Thus, we asked some prominent schol- prominent some asked we Thus, inappropriate. be also d “Charles Masson” - pencilled on the wall of another cave nearby. So who was Charles Masson? & tions and the Afghan government are responding to the pleas. Jet pleas. the to responding are government Afghan the and tions aze to the activities of those researchers left virtually anonymous in anonymous virtually left researchers those of activities the to aze By Elizabeth Errington he deserted the Bengal Artillery regi- sausages, washing and train fares; one ment in July 1827. In return for an offi- indulgence - gin (1 shilling and 8 pence

Tanja Chute Tanja ittle is known of his personal life. cial pardon in 1835, he was forced to a week) – and, more touchingly, “baby’s L He appears to have been well edu- become a “newswriter”, or spy, for the cloak” (19 shillings).The only other per- cated, knew Latin and Greek, and was British in Kabul. His sound political sonal item that survives is a sheet of fluent enough in Italian and French to advice on Afghanistan was largely paper with the words “Silence must be be thought Italian by a Frenchman and ignored by his superiors and he observed in here” written on it in large French by an Englishman. A contem- resigned in disgust in 1838 at the out- letters. porary in Kabul in 1832 says that he had break of the First Anglo-Afghan War During the years 1833-1838, Masson “grey eyes, red beard, with the hair of (1838-1842). In 1842, he returned to excavated more than fifty Buddhist stu- his head close cut. He had no stockings England. He married in 1844 and spent pas in the Kabul- region. He or shoes, a green cap on his head, and a the years until his death in 1853 seeking also collected numerous small objects dervish drinking cup slung over his alternative employment, working on his and thousands of coins, principally shoulder”; there is no known portrait. manuscripts and coin collection, and from the urban site of Begram, north When the British East Company dreaming of returning to Afghanistan, of Kabul. Apart from a selection of began funding him to explore the while trying to live on a meagre pension coins and artefacts extracted en route ancient sites around Kabul and Jalal- of £100 per annum. Among his private by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Cal- abad in 1833, they thought he was an papers there are monthly lists headed cutta and his own collection of 35,340 American from Kentucky. But it soon “Should have spent” and “Did spend”, coins, his finds were all sent to the East became apparent that the name Charles which show that his attempts at budg- India Company’s Museum in London. Masson was an alias adopted by an eting were usually unsuccessful. Under After his wife’s death in 1857, £100 enlisted Englishman, James Lewis, after “Avoidable” are basic items like eels, were paid to his children by the East India Company Library in return for his papers, drawings, and coins. When the The relic deposit EIC India Museum closed in 1878, a the burning of cultural objects such as musical instruments and manuscripts, the destruction of statues and images considered i considered images and statues of destruction the manuscripts, and instruments musical as such objects cultural of burning the from the Buddhist large part of Masson’s collection (pos- no. 2 at sibly including about 2,000 coins) was Bimaran, near Jalal- transferred, without proper documen- abad, excavated by tation, to the British Museum. Charles Masson in Masson was dismissed by many of 1834. The gold reli- his contemporaries as a deserter, adven- quary (found with turer, spy, and writer of bad verse. They coins issued about also could not forgive him for being AD 60) contains the proven right in his criticism of the earliest datable British East India Company’s disas- images of the trous involvement in Afghanistan that His cataloguing methods were, writes Errington, ahead of his time, and his efforts are now benefitting another generation of re of generation another benefitting now are efforts his and time, his of ahead Errington, writes were, methods cataloguing His letter personal and Contracts them. preserve to made be must Efforts iconoclasm. Taliban’s the of victims acknowledged less are Nicholas condition. preserved perfectly in recovered now and stored, sealed, carefully were AD century 8th and 4th the between t exquisite its and necropolis Tepe Tilya the discovered Sarianidi Victor archaeologist The examined. be could they before even onl not are looting, through domain public the from disappear or destroyed, are which artefacts that us reminds He missing. now organiza international and action, for need is there Clearly inspiration. and beauty sheer their for simply also but past, ty’s what and Afghanistan; to heritage cultural of objects of return and preservation the of aspects legal the discusses Krieken van experien bittersweet profoundly a was issue this for Museum Kabul the in coins and sculptures of photographs Powell’s Josephine pillage and trade in valuable cultural artefacts – none of this type of devastation is new to humankind. However, seemingly out seemingly However, humankind. to new is devastation of type this of none – artefacts cultural valuable in trade and pillage an that hesitant were we section, theme issue’s this considering When saved. and up picked are rubble the in behind left shards woul issues political to posture dismissive a assume to case, this in especially and however, mandate; our not is which debate, g readers’ our redirect to want We field. the in experiences their possible, if and, findings their work, their describe to ars kn living both – heritage cultural of study and preservation The spectacle. made demolitions the on dwell that publications the co antiquities and records of legacy a left who man intriguing the Masson, Charles on focuses Errington Elizabeth process. uing give ethnomusicologists, two Baily, John and Belle van Jan however, safety; relative in and incognito country the wander to him kn the and poetry, its music, that us remind They diaspora. Afghan the among and Afghanistan inside both musicians of recording coin that out point would numismatist a details, background in fill may manuscripts While them. interpreting and deciphering in throug discovered hoards rich the from coins most Bopearachchi, Osmund reports Unfortunately, gone. and come eras and rulers on – clear. painfully become had records of importance crucial the loss; their for sadness and anger felt and objects Lest we forget, we Lest Museum British the of Courtesy Buddha. led to the First Anglo-Afghan War. As a

8 IIAS Newsletter | #27 | March 2002 > Afghanistan result - apart from the brief account in Drawing by Charles H. H. Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua (London Masson of the cave 1841) and the continuing debate over monasteries and his most spectacular find, the Bimaran smaller (38 m) Bud- casket - the archaeological value of his dha of Bamiyan. work as the first explorer and recorder of the ancient sites in the neighbour- hood of Kabul and Jalalabad has been largely ignored ever since. However, Masson left detailed, illus- trated records of his finds. Not only do some of his original labels survive with the objects themselves, but there are seven volumes of his manuscripts and two large bundles of his uncatalogued papers in the India Office Collections of the British Library. These records, Charles Masson’s together with his excavated finds, draw- majority of these coins are from specific identified as probable Masson coins, sketch of his excavat- ings, and maps, provide a unique excavated Buddhist stupa deposits or and most have been cleaned, con- ed finds from the record of many key sites in Afghanistan from Begram (the site correctly identi- served, and sorted. The next step is to relic deposits of the which have since been lost. One of his fied by Masson as the ancient city of produce a database of all the material. Buddhist Kot- most important contributions was that Alexandria of the Caucasus, founded by An exhibition Discovering Ancient pur 2, Bimaran 2, he was the first to realise that the Greek Alexander the Great). These two groups Afghanistan: The Masson Collection, dis- Gudara, Deh Rah- names and titles on the obverse of the of provenanced coins thus provide, on playing all these finds, is scheduled to man 1 (“Tope After C. Masson, Narrative of various journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and the Panjab, London 1842, pl. facing p. 384. p. facing pl. 1842, London Panjab, the and Afghanistan Balochistan, in journeys various of Narrative Masson, C. After coins were repeated on the reverse in the one hand, unique evidence for the open in Gallery 69a of the Museum on Abbee”) and Passani Kharoshthi, thus leading to the deci- spread of Buddhism into these regions 11 September 2002: coincidentally, a tumulus 2 in the pherment of this previously unknown and, on the other, the means for recon- date that is now the anniversary of Darunta district, east

local script. In a period when numis- structing the general history of the events not yet dreamed of when it was of Jalalabad. Library. British the of courtesy reproduced Sketch 1. Bundle Manuscripts, Masson Uncatalogued Collections, Office India matic interest in these regions concen- region, as reflected by a single impor- chosen in early 2001. < trated on gold and silver coins, he rec- tant city site. ognized that the copper coinage was Research this past year has revealed Dr Elizabeth Errington is currently a cura- much more important for purposes of that Masson could only have collected tor of South and Central Asian coins in the historical research. His detailed c. 47,000 coins, and not the c. 80,000, Department of Coins and Medals at the approach - largely unappreciated by his as he calculated. Of these, only c. British Museum. Her interest in Charles contemporaries - was far ahead of his 12,400 can be accounted for, but this Masson began while writing her PhD thesis Charles Masson’s time. total includes some 7,000 coins now in (London University 1987) on surviving sketch of the Bud- The Masson Project evolved in 1993 the British Museum. Work on conserv- records of 19th-century archaeological dis- dhist stupa no. 2 at from the realization that his compre- ing and recording the British Library coveries in . Bimaran, in the hensive archive could be used to iden- India Loan Collection is ongoing: 6126 E-mail: [email protected] Darunta district, tify and document the finds from his coins in this collection have now been west of Jalalabad. collection now in the British Museum’s After H. H. Wilson, Ariana Antiqua, London 1841, Topes pl. III. Department of Oriental Antiquities and Department of Coins and Medals. It has been generously funded since its Travelogue of an Ethnomusicologist: inception by the Kreitman Foundation and, since 1998, by the Townley Group of British Museum Friends. The Pro- ject is attempting to redress the over- Living Musical Traditions of the sight of the last c. 160 years by study- ing Masson’s manuscript records in the British Library in conjunction with his rich collection of Buddhist relic Ismailis in Afghan Badakhshan deposits, coins, rings, seals, and other My research concentrates on the music and poetry of the Ismailis in Badakhshan, which result- run in clear weather resulted in another two days of waiting. small objects now in the British Muse- ed in research trips in 1992 and 1993 in Tajik Badakhshan,1 in 1996 in Afghanistan, again in On arrival in Khorog, I was lucky enough to get help from um. Work initially concentrated on pro- 1998 in Tajik Badakhshan, and in 2001 in Afghan Badakhshan.2 Due to the harsh geographical FOCUS, the Aga Khan humanitarian organization that ducing a typed and illustrated record of and complicated political circumstances, Badakhshan has, until now, been an isolated area. arranges food supplies to the Afghan side. They provided me all the surviving documentation. This What follows is a travelogue of my last trip to Afghan Badakhshan in August 2001. with helpful information and transportation to Tajik has been of great use in helping to iden- Eshkashim, a town in the South of Badakhshan, which, at tify and catalogue the Masson material By Jan van Belle that time, was the only place to cross the border. It is still con- in the Department of Oriental Antiqui- Research > trolled by the KGB, so I also needed a special permit from ties, particularly in reconstituting many Afghanistan reparing a trip to Afghan Badakhshan is a complicated them; it makes one suspect that the authorities are doing of the finds from specific stupa relic P affair requiring a lot of time, stamina, and especially their very best to discourage visits to this part of the world. deposits. With the help of Professor S. patience. First, a Tajikistan visa from the Russian Embassy Once in Afghan Badakhshan, I could sleep in the FOCUS Kuwayama, the archive is now supple- in London was needed, followed by another four weeks of guesthouses in Afghan Eshkashim and in Baharak, where I mented by copies of photographs from waiting for the Tajikistan Foreign Ministry to authorize it. was able to arrange an old Russian jeep, drivers, and a a 1960s survey of the sites, generously Once this visa was cleared, I was able to book my flight from guide/translator for my trip. The FOCUS sticker on the jeep donated by Kyoto University, Japan, Munich to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where I had partly helped prevent constant harassment at the frequent while copies of all Masson’s original to wait yet another ten days to obtain my Tajik visa extension checkpoints - or by prowling warlords in their Toyota jeeps - drawings are in the process of being to Tajik Badakhshan (GBAO),and to apply for an Afghan visa requiring additional travel documents issued by district gov- obtained from the British Library. The with the Afghan Embassy. On top of this, that flights between ernors or commanders. archival record has further helped to Typical folk music ensemble Dushanbe and Khorog, the capital of Tajik Badakhshan, only identify many of Masson’s coins in the Concepts of time, life and death Museum collection and has also given Travelling in Badakhshan is something to be endured. I a site provenance to the other small would say that we owed our survival to the incredible skills finds. of the driver, who steered the jeep, with its bald tires, with Research has established that about unfaltering good temper - and with total abandon - along nar- 3,700 coins from Masson’s collection row mountain roads and deep gorges. The roads are an were sold at auction in 1887 (some of unsurfaced carpet of bumps, full of pot-holes, stones, and these have subsequently also entered relics from the civil war. At times, they were flooded with sand the British Museum collection), while entering our lungs and covering our bodies and luggage with in 1912 a further c. 600 were present- a thick layer of dust, not to mention penetrating seemingly ed to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cam- every chink and cranny in the old jeep. Drivers in bridge. In 1995, with the help of Neil Afghanistan are invariably also trained mechanics with large Kreitman and Graham Shaw, about supplies of spare parts and tools. Our old jeep, in fact, broke 10,000 coins, including the residue of down several times, which required frequent repairs attend- Masson’s vast collection, were discov- ed to with skill and improvisation from the driver and his ered in storage at the former India helper. Indeed, they spent nearly as much time under the Office Library and were transferred to jeep as behind the steering wheel. the British Museum on permanent It was evident that, in this part of the world, the concepts of

loan from the British Library. The 1999. Bopearachchi, Osmund time, and of life and death, completely differ from our own, and continued on page 10 > IIAS Newsletter | #27 | March 2002 9