OLD PICTURES
Butkara III is an ancient Buddhist site whose original name has been lost to time. The current name, derived from the Persian word "but:kada" meaning "the house of images," refers to the area adjacent to Saidu Sharif (Swat) in the east. The actual site spans across the sides of a ravine known as Nari Khwar, one of several seasonal streams that flow from the northern side of Katokhpa hill and eventually join the Jambil River, a tributary of the Swat River. The region between Nari Khwar and Obo Khwar, now called Bashi Pati after its current owner, forms a tongue-shaped plateau consisting of thick layers of gravel and compact soil. This geological composition made it attractive for those who preferred underground chambers over brick or stone constructions. The plateau gradually descends northward, ending near the present road where the two ravines merge. This is the precise location of the Butkara III site, with part of it currently occupied by the shanty houses of the Bashi family.
The excavation of Butkara III was conducted by the writer over two seasons: first in November-December 1982 and then from May to October 1985. The site was found to be well-preserved and undisturbed, unlike many sites that suffer from looting of sculptures. The excavated area spans approximately 54 x 48 meters, although it is believed that the site extended over a larger area. The Nari Khwar divides the site into two unequal halves. Excavation work on the western side of Nari Khwar (referred to as area B) revealed a row of six rooms carved out of the natural clay deposit. These rooms had a front wall made of masonry, facing area A to the east, which was the primary focus of the excavation. Traces of thick plaster and remnants of red color can still be seen on the front side of the wall. Various artifacts such as pottery shards, iron nails, earthen lamps, terracotta beads, and charcoal were discovered. The iron nails, some with umbrella and conical heads, suggest that the entrances were once adorned with wooden doors secured with a variety of nails. Not far from area B, to the north, the remains of a small dam were found, indicating the presence of a water regulation system for Nari Khwar.
AREA A:
The structural remains in area A were buried beneath a thick layer of hill-wash, which effectively sealed them after the site was abandoned. These structures can be categorized into two main groups: (i) those in the open court, and (ii) those in the underground chambers referred to as shrines A, B, C, D, E, and F. Stratigraphically, group ii partially predates group i while some structures are contemporary with each other.
i. The Open Court:
The open court area contains ten stupas, numbered from 1 to 10. Eight of these stupas are arranged in two parallel rows in front of the shrines, while the remaining two are
1
are symmetrically placed
a little outside
the rows - one
each on the southern and northern sides of the
court. These stupas are square in shape (the size varies from 1.52 to 3.33 m a side, the tallest being 2 m in height) and in elevation show two different stages: (a) square
platform with mouldings at the
bottom and top and (b) a circular drum having similar mouldings at the top. No traces
of a dome or umbrella or spacers were found near them. This is a problem which still
remains a puzzle. Some of the stupas
showing late diaper masonry
have preserved patches
of lime plaster. The
building material consisted of (i) irregular slabs of local limestone from the
Katokhpa hill for those showing
diaper masonry (our type A) and (ii) dressed rectangular blocks of light grey granite (nowadays generally quarried at
Malakand but also found in many other
parts of Swat) for those showing
ashlar masonry (our type B). Some of these stupas have been provided on all the
four sides with a paved circumambulation path which, on the outer side, is marked by stones standing on edge. These
structures are so closely packed together that it is difficult to establish
stratigraphic relationship between them. Yet general expansion of the site from south to north shows that our type A is earlier than type B.
Most
sculptures found in association with
type B were lying topsy-turvy on the
floor, some heavily encrusted and corroded because of water action. In stupa
no. 1, h�wever, which looks more like a platform than a stupa, because of its
unusual dimension on this site and
also because of the complete absence
of a drum, all the sculptures were found in situ.
Some of these
stupas were considerably damaged by the hill torrent which has been flowing in
the middle of area A - the torrent which was later to
contribute so much towards saving the
site from all kinds of human
hazard by putting
a thick envelop of hill-wash
upon it, in the initial stages
seems to have done considerable harm to
the sacred structures.
ii.
The Shrines (Pls. 1-4)
The
most interesting aspect of the structural remains on this site is represented by its underground chambers or shrines, six of which have so far been
exposed. The shrines are the first of their kind so far discovered in Gandhara
and show us how successfully the Buddhists of
Butkara, in view of the wet
climate of Swat, tackled the problem of having a covered space for
the more lavishly decorated stupas and clay sculptures without actually
building it. The thick clay deposit at Bashi Pati offered the right kind of
solution. A vertical section in the
natural deposit was first of all obtained
by removing clay from the area of the open court and then underground chambers
were dug into it at regular intervals, strengthening the section with retaining
walls where necessary.
Each of these shrines
consists of a porch and
an inner chamber
at its back.
The floor of
the porch in every case
is unpaved and, being slightly
raised above the
level of the open
court, is provided on the front
side with a small retaining wall having projected mouldings and steps in the middle.
Only the front
side of the
porches is open
and admits light
and air into the inner chambers. The other
three sides, in some cases
at least, were provided with offset or bench-like projections which supported clay sculptures. It may be interesting to note that a stone sculp
ture was found within the body of a much damaged clay
figure of a seated Buddha.
In one late example the porch
contains three nicely
built square-shaped stupas
in a row. These stupas
were made up of dressed stones, carefully plastered and painted in blue and red colours,
but unfortunately they were almost
completely demolished by some late
occupants of the site in need
of a living room.
In front of this porch,
flanking the entrance, were two square
columns of stone blocks. Debris of these
columns and the stupas just referred to was found
dumped on one side
of the front wall of this porch.
In one case
however the porch
shows masonry walls,
but there is
evidence to show that it was a later addition
introduced at the time when
the original clay-
cut porch collapsed and had to be replaced. The roof in this case
probably consisted of two shells. The inner
shell which is fairly intact is a corbelled vault and the outer shell of which only traces
are left behind looked probably
like a gable. Adjacent to this porch are two viharas
with domical roofs. In this case also the existence of an upper
gable can be surmised from the fact
that a number of sculptures mixed up with numerous stone blocks were found on top of these viharas.
THE INNER CHAMBERS
The inner chamber in every case consists of a
square room, almost 4 m a side, with a
roof cut in the form of the underside
of a dome. Access to the inner chamber is provided through a
metre-wide masonry entrance
flanked in some
cases by two ventilators and decorated by panels
of lotus flowers fixed at the door-sill
level.
The stupas found in these inner chambers are all
circular in plan and are fairly well preserved upto the level of the harmika
except where they were demolished by some
late occupants of the site. The tallest of these structures measures 3.20 m from
the floor to the level of
the harmika; the average diameter
of the base being 2.70 m. The style
of masonry varies
from early to the late diaper. Extant patches of plaster, in some cases
showing traces of blue and red
colours, indicate that these structures were externally plastered and.finished
off with different colours. The stupas are very nicely built and, in elevation, each comprises of three parts- base, drum and dome - all being separated by projecting
mouldings. In one case, however, which alone yielded 42 sculptures, the drum of
the stupa is composed of two tiers.
The number of umbrellas found
in every case is three. Spacers and harmika.s have also been found
in a good state of preservation. The harmika.s are generally square
blocks of solid
stone with carvings
on all the four sides. In one late example however
different parts of the harmika
were prepared separately and then joined together,
leaving the core empty. These parts were found scattered in the chamber and have now been put
together. Numerous brackets with volute ends, some bearing traces of gold wash, were recovered from the
debris associated with these stupas. The relic chambers, often only one,
but in some cases two,
were found sunk
in the dome of the stupas down to
the level of their drums and yielded
nice caskets and stupa models containing thin gold leaves
and tiny little beads.
PHASES
Four structural phases
supported by a limited
stratigraphy were observed. Phases ii and iii
are associated with the coins of Soter Megas and Vasudeva respectively.
Phase
i: represented by shrines B,C, D and inner chamber of A; early diaper masonry.
Pre-Soter
Megas period.
Phase ii: represented by stupas
1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 (all in the open court);
porch of shrine A, viharas
1, 2; kitchen; workshop area; sculptures from shrine B probably reused
in stupa 1; semi-diaper
masonry. Associated with a coin of Soter Megas.
Phase iii: represented by stupas 2, 5, 6 (all in the open court)
and shrine E together with its clay sculptures; clay sculptures
in the hall adjacent to the 'workshop' to the north. Masonry partly late diaper
and partly ashlar. Associated with a
coin of Vasudeva.
SCULPTURES
Out of 188 antiquities found in this site 180 are represented by sculptures (Pls.
5-11).
Out
of these 19 are free-standing human figures in high relief, wearing in some
cases princely
costume,
and the rest are rectangular panels of phyllite or green schist. The
distribution of princely figures is as follows: 4 belong to shrine 0, 2 were
found in debris belonging to shrine A, 2 in shrine E and the rest in debris
belonging to shrine F. In shrine D they were found at level with the dome
indicating that they were fixed on top of it on four different sides.
The largest number of
sculptures recovered from this site is represented by panels of varying sizes. These are very
nicely carved in low relief and are in
a very good state of preservation, a number of them being found in situ. Except for those showing garland-bearers (Pl. 5), all
the panels are independent units by
themselves and in no case is the
subject matter carried over to the neighbouring panels. Nevertheless, a very broad relationship among them was
observed in shrine C where most of the panels showing garland-bearers were
found at one, level and those
depicting human figures
under arches at another. Similarly panels showingjata.ka
stories or scenes from the life of the Buddha were found at a different level.
The
level at which these sculptures were fitted on the stupa is evidenced in
shrines B and. D where, although sculptures were not found in situ, their position could be easily
ascertained from the sockets or little holes left behind
all around the springing point
of the dome. It is
interesting to note that the number of tenons found on panels belonging to shrine D corresponds to the number of
sockets left behind on the stupa, making it easier to put the sculptures back
in their original positions. In this case the top of the panels was covered by
a separate wreath-like frieze
showing traces of gold wash.
In some other
cases however this
wreath like frieze is made
part of the individual panels.
In the
subject matter depicted
on these panels,
the most frequent
is the scene
showing human figures - standing or seated - under arches. Next is the scene
showing a seated
Buddha flanked in most
cases by Indra
and Brahma (Pl.
8) but in some
cases by two devotees or monks. Next in order
of frequency are garland-bearers followed
by standing princely
figures in high relief
and then
by panels showing
lotus flowers. On the scenes
relating to the Buddha's life
the most frequent is 'the birth
scene' followed by the scenes called
'bath of the child and seven steps', 'horoscope reading', 'Gotama going
to school', 'Gotama at school', 'the Great Departure', 'farewell to Kanthaka', 'Kasyapa
and the Buddha', 'taming and hurling
of the elephant' (Pl. 6), and 'cremation'. The jata.ka stories are represented by Syama Jataka and Oipankara Jataka (Pl. 9). Other scenes
include stupa worship
(Pl. 10), worship of the Three Jewels
(Pl. 11), turban worship, bowl worship,
caitya worship, feasting monks,
Nagarajas (Pl. 7), tug-of-war scene
and acrobats.
A very
important feature of this site is the existence of a workshop in which a number
of unfinished architectural members of stupas and panels meant for carving
sculptures were found reclining against a wall.
CHRONOLOGY
There
is no numismatic evidence for the earliest phase. Phase ii however can be dated
on the evidence of a coin of Soter Megas. Similarly phase iii can be assigned
to the period of Yasudeva on the basis of a single copper coin of this ruler.
Again there is no numismatic evidence for phase iv, but the site seems to have
continued to be occupied even long after the period ofVasudeva. Gradual extension of the site from south
to north shows that new additions were made in the area now occupied by the Bashi family.
Archaeological evidence suggests
that the site came to an end
at the hands of a people who were equipped with bows and arrows and who professed a faith different from Buddhism, for, they levelled
up some of the stupas
and used the shrines for
living purposes, leaving hearths, charcoal, bones, and potsherds behind.
PLATES
Pl. 1 - Scupa in an underground chamber. The front portion of the chamber
together with its porch has been removed.
The stupa, preserved
only to the height a little above the level of the drum,
shows fine diaper masonry. Its core is made of clay filling.
Shrine B. Period I.
Pl.
2 - Detail of stupa in shrine C. Period I.
Pl.
3 - Stupas in shrines C (right) and D. Porches
in front of these shrines
have disappeared.
Period
I.
Pl.
4 - Masonry porch (left) in front of shrine A. The entrance at the back
leads to an underground chamber still
unexcavated. On the right are a vihara
and some stupas in the open court. Period II.
Pl.
5 - Four amorini support an undulating
garland on their shoulders. Attached to the
centre of each loop of the garland
at the bottom are three fruit-like
objects or flowers and above them floral
designs and birds.
The foliage of the garland varies, each loop carrying a different
design. The garland
is bound at regular
interval by eight ribbons
with flowing ends, which divide
it into nine sections. The two halves
of a loop carried on the
shoulder of an amorino are identical. Green Schist. Porch of shrine A. Size 70x16 cm. Period II.
Pl. 6 - Panel relief, divided in the middle
by an encased Inda-Corinthian column
into two halves, depicting taming (right) and hurling of the elephant. Green Schist. Shrine
C.
Size 32x16 cm. Period I.
Pl.
7 - Panel relief showing a Naga king
emerging from a lotus flower.
Green Schist. Shrine
A.
Size 25x25 cm. Period I.
Pl. 8 -
Panel relief
showing Buddha seated
cross-legged, with auspicious marks on the soles,
on a raised platform in meditation
pose with Indra (on the right) and Brahma exhorting him to preach
the law, while
two d.evas scatter
flowers from above
with their raised right hands. At the back of the head Gan be seen twigs of a fine tree sprouting from behind with a wreath
in the centre. One of the twigs passes through
the wreath. Two more wreaths or malas can be seen hanging from
the foliage above the Buddha's shoulders. Green Schist. Stupa
1. Size39x26 cm. Period II.
