The Bajaur casket, also called the Indravarma reliquary, year 63, or sometimes referred to as the Avaca inscription, is an ancient reliquary from the area of

Bajaur Bajaur District ( ps, باجوړ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, then during restructuring that merg ...

in ancient

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Val ...

, in the present-day

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

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 is dated to around 5-6 CE.Metropolitan Museum of Art. It proves the involvement of the

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

kings of the

Apraca The Apracharajas (Kharosthi: 𐨀𐨤𐨿𐨪𐨕𐨪𐨗 ', ', 𐨀𐨤𐨕𐨪𐨗 ', ' Richard Salomon, ''An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman'', Journal of the American Oriental Society, V ...

, in particular King

Indravarman Indravarman or Indravarma (Kharosthi: 𐨀𐨁𐨎𐨡𐨿𐨪𐨬𐨪𐨿𐨨 ', '), also called Itravasu on his coinage, was an Indo-Scythian king of the Apracas, who ruled in the area of Bajaur in modern northwestern Pakistan. He was the son of ...

, in

Buddhism 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 ...

. The casket is made of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

. The inscription which is written in

Kharoshthi The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and e ...

: The inscription was highly useful in clarifying the little-known

dynasty.

Notes

References

*Baums, Stefan. 2012. “Catalog and Revised Texts and Translations of Gandharan Reliquary Inscriptions.” In: David Jongeward, Elizabeth Errington, Richard Salomon and Stefan Baums, ''Gandharan Buddhist Reliquaries'', pp. 207–208, Seattle: Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project (Gandharan Studies, Volume 1). *Baums, Stefan, and Andrew Glass. 2002–
''Catalog of Gāndhārī Texts''
no
CKI 242
*

Notes

References

See also