Garland Bearer Reliefs from Butkara III, Swāt

Abstract

The site of Butkaṛa-III located on a mountain cliff and buried under a thick natural deposit was a well preserved Buddhist site in the Swāt Valley (see Map). It was explored by Professor Abdur Rahman and subsequently excavated by him in 1982 and 1985 respectively. There are a monastic and a stūpas’ establishment (called ‘Area B’ and ‘Area A’ correspondingly by the excavator) both separated by a hill torrent called Narey Khwaṛ, which at sometime was dammed as a stone lining of the sides of the Khwaṛ and remnants of the dike suggest. The establishment of stūpa has two constructional divisions: a covered area on the north, east and south and an open courtyard in the centre (see Butkaṛa III: Ground Plan). The covered area represents cells either free standing or hewn out of the living clay-rock (see Pl. A). Almost every cell is provided with a porch, facade and an entrance in early diaper masonry. Some of these cells have stūpa and they are called shrines. The courtyard has also a number of stupās which are later in date from those of the shrines. According to the excavator, who based his conclusion on stratigraphy, masonry of the structure, numismatic evidence, and life of the site witnessed at least four phases. As no coin was found in Phase I it is called pre-Soter Megas in relation to the succeeding Phase II from which a coin of Soter Megas was collected. Phase III yielded a coin of Vāsudeva, while the last or Phase IV like Phase I did not yield any numismatic find and is relatively dated to Post-Vāsudeva period. Due to limitation of this paper we are not going into structural, sculptural or any other detail rather than to highlight the salient features and classification of a few carved panels called garland bearer reliefs.