Bajaur casket
The Bajaur casket is an ancient reliquary from the area of Bajaur, in Gandhara (Peshawar), khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is dated to around 5-6 CE.[1] It proves the involvement of the Scythian kings of the Apraca, in particular King Indravarman, in Buddhism. The casket is made of schist.
The inscription which is written in Kharoshthi, translates into English as:
”In the sixty third year of the late great king Aya (Azes), on the sixteenth day of the month of Kartia (Kartika), at this auspicious (?) time, Prince Indravarma (Indravarman), son of the king of Apraca, establishes these bodily relics of Lord Sakyamuni; …. He produces brahma-merit together with his mother, Rukhunaka, daughter of Aji…. And these bodily relics having been brought in pocession from the Muraka cave stupa, were established in a secure (?), safe, deep (?), depository…
— Text of the Bajaur casket, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Notes
- ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art, museum notice.
References
- Richard Salomon (January - March 1982). "The "Avaca" Inscription and the Origin of the Vikrama Era". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 102 (1). Journal of the American Oriental Society: pp. 59–68. doi:10.2307/601111. JSTOR 601111.
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