
The Kashmir Smast () caves, also called Kashmir Smats, are a series of natural limestone caves, artificially expanded from the
Kushan ''Kushan'' or Kushana may refer to:
* Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan ...
to the
Shahi periods, situated in the Babuzai Sakrah mountains in the
Katlang Valley Mardan
Mardān is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). ...
in Northern
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. According to recent scholarship based on a rare series of bronze coins and artifacts found in the region, the caves and their adjacent valley probably comprised a sovereign kingdom in
Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
which maintained at least partial independence for almost 500 years, from c. 4th century AD to the 9th century AD.
[Waleed Ziad (2006), "Treasures of Kashmir Smast, followed by interview with Ijaz Khan" in ''Oriental Numismatic Society Journal- Volume 187''] For most of its history, it was ruled by
White Hun (or
Hephthalite
The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE, ...
) governors or princes.
Name
"Smast" is a mistranscription of the
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
word for 'cave,' which is actually ().
As for "Kashmir", the Gazetteer of the Peshawar district 1897-1898 describes that “the name
ashmir Smastmay be derived from the fact that the gorge here is fairly and picturesquely wooded, and this may have suggested Kashmir.” Another explanation is that according to legend, the network caves was so vast that it stretched from Gandhara to the kingdom of
Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
.
[ Hephthalite History and Coins of the Kashmir Smast Kingdom- Waleed Ziad](_blank)
/ref>
Description
A number of the cells had wooden architectural interiors, carved with elaborate Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
and Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
iconography. Examples of these panels can be found in the British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
in London.British Museum Collection
/ref> Excavations at the Kashmir Smast site uncovered one of the most well organized town planning systems in ancient Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
.
Sir Alexander Cunningham
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Sappers who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly crea ...
in “The Ancient Geography of India” and in the “Archaeological Survey Reports” outlined the principal ancient sites in Gandhara, which at that time was part of the Yusufzai
The Yusufzai or Yousafzai (, ), also referred to as the Esapzai (, ), or Yusufzai Afghans historically, are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. They are natively based in the northern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ( Malakand, Dir, Swat, Shangl ...
subdivision. Among the sites covered is the Kashmir Smast.
The Kashmir Smast sites are described by Cunningham as cave temples situated near the summit of the Sakri ridge of Pajja, and approached from the village in Babozai in the tappah Baezai, it can easily be approached from village Pirsai. Cunningham associated the Kashmir Smast with the cave of Prince Sudana in Mount Dantalok, described by the contemporary Chinese traveler Xuanzang
Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...
.
A detailed discussion of the site in the Gazetteer of the Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
district 1897-1898 states the following:
:“This cave has not been thoroughly explored yet… A little way below the level of the cave, and opposite, there are the ruins of a small city, the walls of which still stand and are in good preservation…”
:“The cave is situated on a cliff looking towards the south-west below the ridge on which the Kashmir Burj stands. A road from Pirsai crosses the ridge, which is practicable for most of the distance for a good hill pony. Another footpath leads to Babozai direct from the cave…”
It goes on to describe the layout of the caves:
:“There are three chambers in the limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
rock, of which the first two open into each other, and the third is reached by a winding flight of steps. The length of the first two chambers from the entrance is , and the height of the first about 60, and of the second about . The width of the first cave is and of the second , and fully between them about . The third cave is high, and above in diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...
, with an opening in the roof which admits light and air, so that the air throughout is pure…”
:“In the third cave there is a square temple built on a dome-shaped rock of stalagmite
A stalagmite (, ; ; )
is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist ...
, which was evidently the holiest shrine. In the first cave there is an octagonal shrine just inside the entrance which contained a large wooden coffin
A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English.
A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...
, and in a similar shrine
A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...
near the right wall some carved wooden plaques with figures of a fakir dancing and a woman giving flowers to the fakir, and portions of a wooden box were found. In the center room there is a large square shrine, and a water tank wide, long, and deep. About below the cave towards Babozai on a plateau there are remains of a considerable fort… The Kashmir Burj and another on a western spur of Pajja were also evidently outposts to guard this shrine. The entrance to the cave is difficult as the old masonry steps have fallen down and the cliff is very precipitous…”
:“There are well built stone castles dating back to Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
times all along the northern hills. One near Saughar in Baezai is specially interesting, as the care taken to bring down in a small stone duct that scanty supply of water from a spring, which still exists in the hill above the castle or monastery, would seem to show that the water supply was not much more plentiful then than it is at present.”
What is being described here is an enclosed and fortified complex comprising a city and temples built into natural caves. The presence of walls and a water system serving the area would indicate a certain level of economic independence exerted in the region.
Numismatic discoveries
Given the fact that exact find data is not available for the coins of the Kashmir Smast, and that numerous symbols, legends, and images on the coins have come to light which have never before been encountered in 150 years of Hunnic numismatic
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects.
Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...
study, the attribution and dating of these specimens becomes an arduous task. In the varieties of coins found in the Kashmir Smast, it becomes apparent that during the period of the Kidara, the Alxon, the Nazek, the Turk Shahis, and the Hindu Shahis, a minor kingdom based in this region maintained some level of autonomy from the greater Hunnic hordes which ruled Gandhara. This is evidenced by the use of hithertofore unrecorded images, stylistic peculiarities, and tamghas (royal symbols).
The bronze coins found in cave and its adjacent valley can be divided into seven groups:
1) Kushano-Sassanian. The hoard includes numerous Kushano-Sassanian bronzes of the dumpy fabric, including mostly known varieties in addition to unpublished fractionals, and a number of anonymous Hunnic imitations minted in the dumpy Kushano-Sassanian fabric.
2) Kidara
Kidara I (Late Brahmi script: ''Ki-da-ra'') fl. 350–390 CE) was the first major ruler of the Kidarite Kingdom, which replaced the Indo-Sasanians in northwestern India, in the areas of Kushanshahr, Gandhara, Kashmir and Punjab.
Reign
Kidara ...
. Kidarite coins in the hoard comprise the majority of unpublished specimens. The obverse of some varieties closely resemble, or are crudely rendered versions of, known Kidarite drachms. The busts portrayed on these coins are depicted wearing headdresses associated with particular Kidara princes, often in turn borrowed from contemporary Sassanian
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
/ Kushano-Sassanian monarchs. This group also includes thin AE units featuring bearded busts occasionally with Brahmi legends. As they are notably different from other recorded Kushano-Sassanian bronzes, they may be attributed to Kidarite governors or princes under Kushano-Sassanian or Sassanian sovereignty.[Waleed Ziad (2006), "A queen consort of the early Kidarite principality of Kashmir Smast" in ''Oriental Numismatic Society Journal'' Vol. 187.]
3) Alxon (or Alchon
The Alchon Huns, (Bactrian language, Bactrian: ''Alkhon(n)o'' or ''Alkhan(n)o'') also known as the Alkhan, Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alakhana, and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4t ...
) Huns. The hoard includes a number of coins which are stylistically similar to the Alxon Hunnic series. Some feature the royal Hunnic tamgha, or royal symbol, most often associated with the first of the Alxon Hunnic kings in Gandhara, Khingila and his immediate successors.[Waleed Ziad (2006), "Unpublished bronzes of the Alchon Hunnic period from Kashmir Smast" in ''Oriental Numismatic Society Journal'' Vol. 187.]
4) Nezak. Common published Nazek bronzes abound in the hoard. In addition to these, a number of unpublished varieties with stylistic similarities to Nezak bronzes have also been discovered, notably featuring a trident tamgha.
5) Turk Shahi. These include small AE units imitating larger silver Turk Shahi drachms. They are either anepigraphic or feature Bactrian Greek legends.
6) The Shahi Kings of Kabul and Gandhara. This category includes coins stylistically similar to the coins of Samanta Deva and Spalapati Deva, characterized by linear stylized anthropomorphic or zoomorphic representations.
7) Anonymous coins which cannot be stylistically attributed to any particular Hunnic period or clan.
8) Bronze imitations of Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...
n drachms of Menander I
Menander I Soter (, ; ), sometimes called Menander the Great, was an Indo-Greek king (reigned /155Bopearachchi (1998) and (1991), respectively. The first date is estimated by Osmund Bopearachchi and R. C. Senior, the other Boperachchi –1 ...
and other dynasts.[ AE Hunnic Imitations of Indo-Greek Drachms from the Mardan Valley- Waleed Ziad](_blank)
Political and monetary independence
Scholars contend that the bronze currency found in the region were issued by local semi-independent governors, or Tegins, in the Kashmir Smast valley, paying allegiance to the greater Hunnic Tegins of Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
and Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...
. The feudal and tribal nature of the ancient Central Asian
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
' states allowed for substantial independence to be exercised by local governors.
It is worth noting that all the new varieties found in this area are small bronze pieces, varying in weight between 0.5 and 1.1 g. (referred to as the Kashmir Smast standard). They are occasionally small versions of more common drachms circulating in the region, or feature entirely new portraits/images with some or no resemblance to commonly circulating coins of the period.
Given the fact that these pieces have not been found elsewhere in Hunnic domains, we can infer that they were not considered acceptable currency outside of the Kashmir Smast region. However, imitating the coins of the contemporary rulers of Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
, and employing certain of their dynastic symbols and portraits, alongside a totally new set of portraits, names / titles, and symbols, may indicate that while they were issued independently for use in the local kingdom, the local rulers must have paid homage to and acknowledged their Hunnic overlords. The fact that they were allowed to use some of their own tamghas and titles and that the greater chiefs gave them the privilege of minting their own currency strengthens this argument. The minting of coins was a prerogative of the rulers, and carried with it a certain degree of governing authority. Numismatically speaking, this can be likened to the period of Hephthalite and Turk Shahi sovereignty over Sogdiana
Sogdia () or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, and l ...
, during which civic bronze coinage circulated alongside silver drachms referencing a Hunnic or Turkic overlord (the Bukharkhoda). The fact that such independent issues continued throughout five separate dynasties, until the Hindu Shahi
The Hindu Shahis, also referred to as the Kabul Shahis and Uḍi Śāhis, were a dynasty established between 843 CE and 1026 CE. They endured multiple waves of conquests for nearly two centuries and their core territory was described as having c ...
period, means that to a degree this principality maintained its status for perhaps as long as three to four hundred years.
Notes
Literature
H.A. Deane, Note on Udyana and Gandhara. ''JRAS'' 1896, pp. 655–675.
H. Falk, A Copper Plate Donation Record and Some Seals from the Kashmir Smast. ''Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie'' 23 (2003), pp. 1–19.
{{Protected areas of Pakistan
Caves of Pakistan
Nomadic groups in Eurasia
Archaeological sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Hinduism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Buddhism in Pakistan
Buddhist caves