Niches, Columns, and Figures in Some Petroglyphic Stūpa Depictions of the Karakorum

Highway
Author(s): Jorinde Ebert
Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 54, No. 3/4 (1994), pp. 268-295
Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3250059 .
Accessed: 19/10/2011 11:02

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Artibus Asiae Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Artibus Asiae.

http://www.jstor.org
 JORINDEEBERT

NICHES,COLUMNS,AND FIGURES
IN SOMEPETROGLYPHIC
STUPA*DEPICTIONS
OFTHE KARAKORUMHIGHWAY

T he petroglyphs of the Upper Indus Valley (pls.

1-2)'
show a great number of stzipa depictions
that have until now not been discussed systematically. The material has been roughly dated by
palaeographical2 and other evidence from the first to the eighth century A.D.3 Judging from in-
scriptions and copious stfZpa
depictions, Buddhist travellersseem to have been expecially active in the
region from about the fifth to the eighth century A.D. There is no evidence as yet pointing to any
indigenous Buddhism. Similarly, the stzpa depictions of the petroglyphs, rather than revealing an
indigenous homogeneous style, mirror developments of the stfzpawhich can be associated with the
broadspectrumof northernandcentralIndian,as well as CentralAsianart. Fromthe eighth to the
tenth or eleventh century A.D., probably due to Tibetan expansion, there may have been what Karl
Jettmarcallsa "hiatus".While therearea numberof interestingsub-groupsandsomegroupsof later
date that have as yet received little attention, the close relationship between petroglyph inscriptions
and inscriptions from the Buddhist centers of Gilgit and Khotan has been studied carefully by Oskar
von Hiniiber.4LoreSanderhasaddednew insightsto von Hiniiber'sobservations,pointingout con-

Sinceit is verydifficultto decidewhetherthe petroglyphsshowa stzupa or a caitya,I havechosenthe termstuzpa as a generalworking

term, which, for the moment, includesboth the stupaand the caitya,though the two areclearlydifferentiatedin texts. Forthe
Indiandefinitioncf. FranklinEdgerton,BuddhistHybridSanskritDictionary II, 17(1975),147.GustavRothquotesYasunoriEjima's
translationof Chineseterminologywhichsays"Itis calleda stzupa thathasrelicsin it, andit is calledcaityathathasnot relicsin it".
Cf. Roth, "Symbolismof the BuddhistStupa,"in TheStupa,its Religious,Historicaland Architectural ed. by AnnaL.
Significance,
DallapiccolaandStephanieZingel-AveLallement(Wiesbaden,1980),i95.
This paperis concernedwith only a very small selectivegroupof stuzpas in andaroundChilas.PI. I is takenfromthe catalogue
ZwischenGandharaunddenSeidenstrassen. FelsbilderamKarakorum Highway.Entdeckungen deutsch-pakistanischer Expeditionen1979-
1984(Mainz:Philippvon Sabern,1985).P1.2 is takenfromVolkerThewalt,"Pferdedarstellungen in Felszeichnungenam oberen
Indus,"in JakobOzols/VolkerThewalt,Aus demOstendesAlexanderreichs (Cologne:Dumont, 1984),afterKarlJettmar, "Neu-
entdeckteFelsbilderund Inschriftenin den NordgebietenPakistans.Ein Vorbericht,"in Allgemeine undVergleichende Archdologie
(BAVA),vol. 2, (Munich,1981),159-99.
2 The Indianscriptshavebeendividedinto two groups,the olderbeingKharosthi,the youngerin Brahmi.Within the lattergroup
the differentformsof scriptrange,accordingto the dating of LoreSander,froma late Kusanaor earlyGuptatype of the fourth
centuryA.D.to the fullydevelopedSarada- in the latterpartof the eighthor ninthcenturyA.D.Besidethe Indianscripts,whichare
in the majority,therearealsoabout6oo Sogdian,someChineseandsomeTibetaninscriptions.
Cf. KarlJettmar'sintroductionto Antiquitiesof NorthernPakistan,Reports and Studies(ANP), vol. I (Mainz,1989),xix. Volker
Thewalthas discussedthe earlystuzpas in a paperentitled, "Somestuipa-typesas depicted in the rock-carvingsfromthe areaof
Chilas,"in InternationalConference (cf. Thewalt,op.cit., 20o8,and footnote 12). UnfortunatelyThewalt does not seem to have
publishedthis paperandI havenot beenableto readthe manuscript.ThereforeI havenot discussedthe stuzpas fromthe firstto the
third centuriesA.D., which can be dated quite accuratelyby comparisonwith earlydepictions, as well as the archaeological
materialstill availablefromotherIndiansites. Therecanbe no questionthat the stuzpa depictions,thoughoften reducedto cursory
lines, do show the characteristictraitsof the structuresthen extant.It is especiallynoteworthythat, contraryto archaeological
finds,the stupasin the petroglyphsfaithfullyshowthe mostlywoodenand,therefore,perishablesuperstructures.
4 Oskarvon Hintiber,"DieKolophonederGilgit-Handschriften (FundebuddhistischerSanskrit-Handschriften, I)",in Nachrichten
derAkademieder Wissenschaften im GUttingen, KI.,Jg. 1979,Nr. 12 (Gattingen1980),329-59;and "Die
I., philologisch-historische
Erforschung derGilgit-Handschriften (Nachtrag)",in Zeitschrift derDeutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft(ZDMG)130(1980),25.

268
nections between the inscriptions in Chilas and its surroundings to Bamiyan and other centers on the
Northern Silk Road like Kizil from around the fifth to the beginning of the seventh century A.D.5
Although it may seem too early to attempt even preliminary scrutiny of some of the distinct char-
acteristics of stz7pasin the petroglyphs from around the sixth to the thirteenth century, as they are
found in the environs of Chilas, an art historian's viewpoint may prove useful in corroboratingsome
of the insights hitherto gained by other means.
It may sound trivial, but most stuZpa depictions in the petroglyphs can be arranged in a rough
chronology according to the size of their cupola (including the drum) in relation to the rest of the
structure. Displayed in a simple percentage chart which divides the entire stuzpastructure into base,
dome and superstructure,some interesting results can be obtained.6

chartof thecupolaheightin relationto thetotal heightof the building:

Percentage
Ist centuryB.C.-IstcenturyA.D........................ ................. 63-60%
2nd-3rdcenturyA.D............... ................................... 48-41%
6th-8th centuryA.D. 22-18%
......................................................
Ioth-I3thcenturyA.D. ....................................... 6-I4%7
Given the few monuments measured, these very rough results provide only an overall idea of the
structures'chronological dates. Ideally one would have to measure all monuments available from the
Upper Indus Valley to gain a more sophisticated chronological chart. Since this is not yet feasible, for
the moment, the only means of developing a more refined chronology is to single out and describe
conspicuous traits in the monuments and discuss their origin and development in relation to extant
material from other sites.

Stipas from the Tenth to Thirteenth CenturyA.D.

I would like to proceed by first examining some structures that have a cupola and that can
definitely be considered to representstuzpas
from around the tenth to thirteenth century.
Ahmad Hasan Dani8 was the first to publish the depiction of a stupa from Chilas, New Colony
(pls. 3a & b),9 which he describes as,
a very crude type of a temple on a terracedpedestal with a circularfetish at the base of the
interior. The temple is crownedby a 'trifula' and its interior has a series of horizontallines
enclosed within a curved '*ikara'.This simplified version of a temple is more imaginary than
real... On a nearby rock we get... names in a writing (No. 67) which can be dated to the medi-
aeval period, sometime in the fourteenth or fifteenth century.
LoreSander,"Remarkson the FormalBrahmiof Gilgit, BamiyanandKhotan,"in ANP, 1o7-30; andalsovon Hintiber,"Brahmi
Inscriptionson the History and Cultureof the Upper Indus Valley,"and "BuddhistischeInschriftenaus dem Tal des oberen
Indus,"both in ANP, 41-72 and73-1o6.
6 While the numberof petroglyphshithertofoundis alwaysgiven as somewherearoundten thousand,most of those arenot stuzpa
depictions.Makinga roughestimateof the amountof petroglyphsdepictingst7pas,I would suggestapproximatelyone thousand,
of which aboutthreehundredcanbe consideredrelevantto a comparativestudyof nichesandcolumns.I havemeasuredall the Ist
cent. B.C.-3rdcent.A.D.examplesavailableto me frompublicationson the petroglyphs,abouttwenty-fiveexamplesof the 6th-8th
cent.A.D.,andsix examplesof the Ioth-I3thcent. A.D.This amountsto approximately fifteenpercent.
7 The height of the cupolasin the stupasof Alchi is evenless, varyingbetween8-7%.
8 AhmadHasanDani,Chilas,theCityofNangaParvat(Dyamar)(Lahore,1983),88-90, nos.66-67.
9 Dani refersto the rockas "Gondophares Rock,"but GerardFussmanhascorrectedhis readingin "Lesinscriptionskharosthide la
plainede Chilas,"ANP vol. I, 25-26.

269
 This "nearbyrock"is, in fact, part of the rock right over the stzpa depiction, as scrutiny of Dani's
illustrations nos. 66 and 67 discloses. A small drawing clarifies the topography (pl. 3c). The in-
scription must very likely be considered to belong to the stzpa depiction.
In 1984,Jettmar published a second very similar stuzpadepiction from Chilas (pl. 4), Station New
Colony, a site nearbythe one given by Dani,io and also called attention to the fact that what Dani has
called "atype of temple" must certainly be considered a stzpa as shown by some depictions from the
Dukhang of Alchi (pl. 5)."Jettmar was the first to point out the similarity between stfzpadepictions
in Chilas and the Dukhang temple of Alchi. Now, it is not only the Dukhang stzpa depiction that we
can take into consideration in this context but also the depiction of another, slightly different
depiction of a stdpain the Sumtsek temple of Alchi (pl. 6).'2 In doing so it is possible to glean a bit of
information hitherto unnoticed concerning a line of development along which some of the stuzpa
depictions in the Chilas petroglyphs may have evolved. Both depictions from Chilas show mediaeval
inscriptions that, to my knowledge, have not yet been read in context. LoreSanderhas kindly given
her first impression of Dani's inscription (pl. 3b), which she believes could be a late Sarada-type of
script datable around the tenth or eleventh century A.D. This would be approximately two hundred
years earlier than the new dates given to the stylistically comparablestupapaintings in the Dukhang
and Sumtsek in Alchi by Roger Goepper; because of newly-discovered inscriptions, Goepper now
tends to date the paintings to the beginning of the thirteenth century.'3 On the other hand, Dani's
dating of the inscription to the fourteenth or fifteenth century would place them roughly two
hundred years later. Be this as it may, the closeness of the Dukhang stuipadepictions to those in Alchi
is so obvious that it seems reasonableto take a close look at the more elaboratepaintings in Alchi first
(pls. 5-6). Goepper describes the depiction in the Dukhang in the following way:
"Thismotif of a Buddhistreliquarycan be found betweentwo large mandalas... The whitish
cupolaof the stilpa... is placedon a complexbasewith a staircasebuilt into it. At thetopweseea
Buddhaandothertinyfigures[my italics].The tall spireemergingfromthe cupolawith its thirteen
discssymbolizingcosmiclevelsappearsto be cloakedby a redveil stretchedoverropesthatsagat
the sidesto forma curve."'4
Dani's belief that the structure is not a stuzpa
is understandable,since he was obviously not familiar
with the depictions in Alchi, which, in their veiled form, are extremely exceptional even there, as
Goepper stresses, "...Other representationsof stutpasat Alchi do not have the spire veiled".'5
In my view, Dani was certainly correct about what he calls the "circularfetish at the base of the
interior";a detail which Goepper does not comment upon in his description of the Dukhang stupa,
even though it is shown very prominently there. Moreover, it is a detail that is clearly a very
important element in this stZpadepiction, becausethe steps lead right up to it, while the dome of the
stuparises from a higher level not reachedby the "fetish"or the steps.
Of interest to us is the fact that Dani's depiction, which shows only the most important and vital
parts of this type of a stzpa, depicts the state of the stzpa's veiled or unveiled spires, as well as what I
'o KarlJettmar,"Felsbilderam Indus:Die NachbuddistischePeriode,"in CentralAsiaticJournal28, nos. 3-4 (1984),216,pl. VI. I
Jettmarforpointingout his articleto me.
wouldlike to thankProfessor
" in einemHimalaya-Kloster
RogerGoepper,Alchi,Buddhas,Gbttinnen, Mandalas:Wandmnalereien (Cologne:Dumont, 1982), 104, pl.
29.
12 Ibid.,70, pl. 12.
'3 RogerGoepper,"Cluesfora Dating of the Three-storeyed Studien2 (1990),159-69.
Temple(Sumtsek)in Alchi,"in Asiatische
14 Goepper,Alchi,104.
'5 Ibid.

270
would like to call the "cupola fetish", which is given at the end of the steps, as in Alchi. The steps,
shown so clearly in Alchi, are not singled out here and have merged into the lower part of the
structure. The same thing seems to have happened to the cupola and the "fetish";they have merged
into one. At the same time, however, a very indistinct engraving or a dot in the center of the "cupola
fetish" seems to indicate a special religious connotation whose meaning is difficult to grasp.
Dani published another example from Thalpan I (pl. 7a)'6where the "dot"has taken the form of a
quatrefoil ornament, reminiscent of a small eleventh-century funerarystuzpaof the priest Hong-bop
from Korea(fig. I), now in the National Museum of Korea.'7Especially interesting are the ornaments
on the lowest base of the stupa from Thalpan I,
which can be compared to the decorative festoons
hanging in an exactly corresponding form in several
murals of the Sumtsek, dated by Goepper in the
thirteenth century.18
Another example from Chilas II (pl. 7b), below
the street, shows a similar globular dome with a
central "dot" enlarged to a star-like ornament.
Though Jettmar feels the structure could be con-
sidered as a "local expression for the veneration of
the sun",'9 I would prefer to interpret the petro-
glyph as a stuZpaas long as there is no sound evidence
for a sun cult in this context. Hong-bop's stuzpa
indicates what sort of structure the artists of the
Thalpan I and Chilas II petroglyphs may have had in
mind.
Such "dots" also appear on earlier stupas over a
trefoil ornament right in the middle of the dome (pl.
8).20 According to Dani,z' and to Sander(in a private Fig. I Funerarystfpa of priest Hong-bop. Korea.
conversation), the inscription accompanying this IIth century A.D. National Museum of Korea.
AfterKim Chewon,Korea.
stuZpamust certainly be considered among the later
ones, close in time - in Sander'sview - to the inscriptionsfoundwith the stuzpadepictionin Chilas,
New Colony(pls. 3-4).22To us, the stZpadepictionis especiallyinterestingbecauseit indicatesthe
"fetish"togetherwith the trefoilnicheonthedrumof thestuZpa. In this specialcase,a comparisonwith
chaityas,for example,fromNalandaor Sarnathis possible.23The petroglyphclearlyshowsthe lobed
and round niches, and the "Kultnische"appearsin profile on both sides. The lotus base of the
structureseemsto havebeenround.The "dot"is nowrevealedto be a smallroundnicheplacedovera
16 Dani, Chilas..., 127,no. 103.
'7 Cf. Chewon Kim, "Korea,"in Burma, Korea,Tibet, Kunstder Welt (Baden-Baden, 1976), 107, fig. 14.
18 Goepper,"Clues...,"pl. 5.
S
9 Jettmar,"FelsbilderamIndus,"207-08, Taf.II.
20 Dani,op.cit., 82-84, no. 63.
21
Ibid.
22
Aurel Stein photographedthis historicallyimportantinscriptionas earlyas 1942,and Oskarvon Hintiberdecipheredit in his
article,"BrahmiInscriptionson the History andCultureof the UpperIndusValley,"in ANP 61-62, pls. 123-25.Von Hintiber
remarksthat the occurrenceof the namevurusamayhint at an earlyformof Burushaski,a dialectspokenin the area.
23 HeinrichG. Franz,"DerStupamit derKultnische,"ArtibusAsiae23(I960), pls. 4, 6, 14,etc.

271
 larger trefoil niche below. The petroglyph clearly shows that both
niches on the sides probably are not an integral part of the dome but
are affixed to the chaitya in front of the drum on four sides (pl. 9).
Niches of this kind are, as Heinrich G. Franz has shown,24an inde-
pendent Indian mode of stfipadecoration that appeared in Nalanda
around 55o and was in use almost everywhere in India at least until
the ninth century A.D.25It is absolutely clearthat this stuzpa
depiction
from Chilas I can be closely associated with votive stipa types of this
- e-.,
kind, for example, from Ajanta and Nalanda (fig. 2), which Franz
tends to date in the middle of the sixth century A.D.26

. '

Ioft

a ---
b -- --- -

from (a) Ajanta,Cave z6 (interior),and (b) bronzestupafrom Nalanda. 6th centuryA.D.

Fig. z Stuzpas
NalandaMuseum.

The sixth century A.D. is, therefore, a terminuspost quemfor the stzpa depiction of Chilas I. But
since the petroglyph shows the trefoil niche on the drum it must be compared to later, related forms
that evolved from them, such as the extant dated Licchavi stuzpasfrom the eighth to ninth century
A.D. (pl. 9). The later date is corroboratedby the inscription accompanying the stupa depiction,
according to which one would tend to date it somewhere in the ninth to eleventh century A.D. This
evidence seems to refuteJettmar's theory of a "hiatus".

Niche and Its Development in Pala Art

The CircularLicchaviStuzpa

In the miniature chaityasof the Licchavi period (ca. 4th-9th century A.D.), round niches with a
tiny pointed tip on their tops surrounded by small pearls are quite common in the eighth to ninth
centuries (pl. 9).17 Not all these niches display the circularform. Some have a more oval arch, while
still others reveal a combination of the rounded and the oval arched niche. But all of them show the
niche somewhere below the stupa dome in the area of the drum, very similar to the niche of the
Dukhang "stzpa"in Alchi (pl. 5). Now, since all Licchavi caityas cannot date later than the ninth
z4 Ibid.,249.
z5 Ibid.,250ff.
26 Ibid.,
pls. 1-4.
27 Thiscaityain the Naka-bahaat Patanhasan addedsubstructureandfinial.

272
century, we have a time gap of about four centuries between them and the depictions in Alchi. What
happened during these four hundred years is difficult to document precisely. It is important to note
that circularniches enclosing a Buddha with a similar pearl ornament, as in Alchi - probably coming
from small votive stupas- can be traced to Pala art of the tenth century. A good example of such a
type is in the Musde Guimet, So we can draw an intersected but, to a certain extent, con-
Paris.z8
tinuous line of development for the niche and its foliated or pearl-roundel decoration from about the
middle of the eighth to the thirteenth century A.D.
Taking the still extant Licchavi and Pala stdpasas a means of comparison, my impression is that
the white bulbous element on top of the flight of steps in the Dukhang "stuzpa" of Alchi must have
been a small circular plastered niche which harboreda small figure of a Buddha, Bodhisattva, god,
goddess, or even an ornament especially meaningful to that stupaor caitya. If we look at the painting
in the Dukhang more closely, we can detect a kind of architecturalornament over the niche: a small
red pinnacle and rowsof bluepearlsleading to it. The innermost part of the niche revealsa tiny figure
that is very difficult to discern. It is important to note that this niche, or cavern, was also depicted in
Dani's "temple"by the small etching (pl. 3) and in the depiction close to it by a small dot (pl. 4). So it
appearsthat, at some point, the "fetish"and the niche must have merged.

Textual Evidence ConcerningStzipaNiches

It is not easy to offer a consistent text or theory that would clarify the cultic meaningof the "fetish"
in the niche that I have singled out.29But since the "fetish"and the stupa niche are connected with
each other, a closer look at the stupaniche30revealssome interesting points.
Roth has collected early textual material on stupa niches and their contents mostly from the
Vinaya of the Mahasarhghikas(ca. 240 B.C.) that are preserved only in the Chinese translation of
Faxian(416-18):31

Accordingto this tradition,King Krkincauseda stzpato be built afterthe Parinirvana of Buddha

KaSyapa, who also made niches installedon the four sides of the body of the stzpa.He had them
decoratedwith beautifulpaintingsof lions andelephants.Insidethe nicheshe arrangedto install
parasolsand hangup bannersof silk... In anotherpassage,they do acceptimagesof Bodhisattvas
inside the nichesof caityas,but insist that, Buddhasand Pratyekabuddhas shouldbe represented
by symbols, the first by the marks of their feet, the latter by caverns... The Dharmaguptakas
speakof imagesmadeof perfumedpaste,representations of hands,wheels,lotus-flowersandalso
of Mahendra,king of gods..."32
What did such "caverns"look like? Were they circular holes like our "fetish"?If so, the caverns,
holes or dots mentioned above might be interpreted as symbolic representationsof Pratyekabuddhas
28 Accessionnumber
MA 2560, "Motifarchitecturale
en forme'd'arcindien,'Inde,Style Pala,Ioe siicle, grisgris, ht. 0,25 m; larg. =
0,345m.
29 Severalinterpretations
of the nichearepossibleaccordingto GustavRoth, "Symbolismof the BuddhistStupa,"183-209,but none
seemsto pertaindefinitelyandonly to the "fetish".
30 For the literature concerning the development of the stuzpaniche and its symbolism, cf. Heino Kottkamp, Der Stupaals
Reprdsentationdesbuddhistischen
Heilsweges. zurEntstehung
Untersuchungen undEntwicklung architektonischer Stud.in. Orient.
Symnbolik.
Rel., vol. 25(Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz,1992).
3' T. XXII, 227a-566c.
32 Roth, "ThePhysicalPresenceof the Buddhaand its Representationin BuddhistLiterature,"in InvestigatingIndianArt, chap.2
(Berlin,1987),304, 2.

273
on caityas.The prominent example of such a "cavern"or circularhole on the dome of the alreadymen-
tioned stZpafrom Chilas I (pl. 8) could perhapsbe interpretedas such a case.
Information on the complex symbolism of niches after the seventh century can also be gleaned
from a MahayanaSanskritfilpa text known as Madijujrfvdstu-vidyddstra 33which has recently come to
light in the form of a Singhalese copy dating to the fifth-seventh centuries. ChapterIII of the work is
dedicated to the construction of the caitya, with minute descriptions that throw some light on the
identity of the Buddhas in the niches along the drum or dome on the outsideof the caitya. These
niches are to correspondto the garbhagrha-or secondchamberlayout insidethe dome.34According to
the text, the niches contain the four Tathagatas (Aksobhya, facing east, Vairocana to the north,
Ratnasambhavato the west, and Amitabha to the south).35The reliquaryof the stepa was, according
to the text, deposited somewhere above these in a small chamber; it is not quite clear where.
Marasinghe suggests that the reliquarywas enclosed in the harmikad.'Indications are then given in
the text about the position of the gajastambhaand the chattradanda,but their reciprocalposition also
is unclear. Marasinghe attempts to demonstrate that the text pertains especially to the stz7pasof Sri
Lanka. But, as Giovanni Verardi has already remarked in his final report on the excavations at
Harigaon,37the text is much better suited to a context in the Indian and CentralAsian area.

The StzipaNiche in Gandhara,Its Origin and Development

If the round niches are a special, albeit late form in Indian art, what about the general develop-
ment of earlystz7paniches as such? Going back as far as possible in the evolution of sti7paniches in the
region of Gandhara in its relation to Buddhist cults, there is an interesting relief from Northern
Pakistan published by Maurizio Taddei (pl. Io),38 showing Buddha and a monk circumabulating a
small votive stzpa on a quadrangularbase with staircasesbuilt into it on four sides, which gives us a
hint. On top of the flight of steps, a small burning lamp appears before the sti7pa.This religious
ceremony of depositing a lamp on the upper flight of steps39may eventually have lead to the con-
struction of niches to protect such lamps from wind and weather, which would be the functional
aspect of their development. These "lamp niches"may have merged gradually with "figureniches"or
chapels adjacent to the stzpa containing Buddha figures in the area of the columnated or pilastered
decoration of the drum, forming small Buddha niches. Initially the niches were flanked by columns
or pilasters. One variant of the type is the development shown in Gandhairanreliefs from around the
third century A.D., where a pointed arch extends downward and ends in volutes on either side (pls.
11-12). Sometimes tassels hang from the arch, while the pillars at its sides are subdued, an obvious
indication of early Indian influence. The pointed arch is an imitation of the old Indian a
gavd•ksa,
window form with variations known as "dydkapata","chaityawindow", "gable", "keel", "nd.ika,"
"sulkandsd", etc.
"kudz7", According to Stella Kramrisch,40the shape is derived from the curves of

33 E.W. Marasinghe, The Vdtsuvidya?dstraascribedto Manjurifr(Delhi:Sri Satguru Publications, 1989).

34 Ibid., III, 59 ff.
35 Ibid., III, 6o.
36 Ibid., 193, n. I.
37 Giovanni Verardi, Excavationsat HarigaonKathmandu,2 vols. (Rome: ISMEO, 1992), 75, n. 133(text).
38 Maurizio Taddei, "Neue Forschungsbelege zur Gandhara-Ikonographie,"in Thewalt, Aus demn Osten..., pl. 13.
39 Cf. Maulichand Prasad,A ComparativeStudy of Abhisamdcdrika(Nalanda: Patna, 1984).
40 Stella Kramrisch, The Hindu Temple,vol. i (Calcutta, 1964), 319, fn. 54.

274
pliant lightweight material, such as bamboo or tree branches.4'Niches of a similar kind, with arches
curled at the ends, in the view of Heinrich G. Franz,42are derived from Hellenistic origins and
alreadywere incorporatedinto construction at Sirkap as early as the pre-Kusanastuipa(beginning Ist
century B.C.). Obviously both the India gavdksa and the pilastered niche must have merged at an
early time. The Indian arch was definitely en voguein Gandharaand Afghanistan in the first centuries
A.D., when the rhythmic articulation of wall surfaces by pilastered arches became an essential aes-
thetic conception. The pilastered wall is an architecturalfeature that spread from the Mediterranean
area to India,43with the decoration of the monumental pilastered stzpa from Guldara in Afghanistan
providing a well known example. The Bimaran reliquary, dating from the second century A.D. (pl.
13),44and the ivories from Begram (Afghanistan), from the first or second century A.D., now in the
Kabul Museum,45provide miniature reflections of that tradition in other media. This type of arch
radiatedthroughout the Buddhist world of Central Asia and even reachedChina, as demonstrated by
the niches from the early Dunhuang Caves302 and 427, dating circafifth century A.D. (fig. 3).46

'
?k

?? ,? , .am, ...

1
. . ..f ___
o?.,o~N ,I o? ?

nichein the earlyCaves302band427 of Dunhuang.AfterZhongguo

Fig. 3 Thestuipa shiku.

Searching for early instances of the pointed inner arch in Central Asia, one finds a rudimentary
example from Loulanwhich cannot be dated later than the first quarterof the fourth century A.D. (pl.
I4),47since the site was deserted around 330 A.D. The Loulanexample shows the arch with pilasters at
its sides, as is characteristicof early niches. The site of Loulan gives us the earliest example available
for the pointed inner arch on the Southern Silk Road;we know that it must have existed there around

4' As indicatedby the facadeof caityano. 9, or the vihararoomin cave z2of Ajanta,fromaroundthe firstcenturyB.C.No pilastersor
columnswereemployedin thoseearlytimes.
42 HeinrichGerhardFranz,Buddhistische KunstIndiens(Leipzig,1965),86, fig. 47, pls. 139-40.
43 Cf. GeorgeMichell,"Pilastered Walls on IndianSttipasandTemples,"Dallapiccola,ed., TheStupa,op.cit., 59-71.
44 Now in the BritishMuseum,London,this reliquary,measuring7.0 cm high, andmadeof gold with gem incrustations,wasfound
in Afghanistan.
45 All examplesaretakenfromMadeleineHallade,Indien,GandhdraBegegnung zwischen OrientundOkzident, 2nded. (Fribourg,1975),
Abb. 33,Taf.V, Abb. 49, Abb. 75,Abb. 77.
46 Cf. Zhongguo shiku,DunhuangMogaoku, vol. II (Beijing,1984),226 and228, dating fromthe NorthernZhouandthe beginningof
the Sui periods.
47 AlbertHerrmann,Lou-lan,China,IndienundRomim LichtederAusgrabungen amLobnor (Leipzig,1931),pl. 3 (right).

275
the fourth century A.D. and, because the pointed inner arch is not found anywhere on the Northern
Silk Road at such an early date, that it was not derived directly from that trade route. While the
columnated and pointed inner arch is found in Loulan, there is still no trace of the rounded or trefoil
niche. Wall paintings from Balawaste48prove that the arch with volute ends existed on the Southern
Silk Road too, although it obviously dates around the sixth century A.D. (pl. I5). On the Northern
Silk Road the upper lines of sixth-century arches are rounded and squat, with the ends still rolled.
Examples in Karashahror in Cave 38 at Kizil (pl. 16), dating from the sixth to seventh centuries A.D.,
show a marked tendency to use this columnated or pilastered arch over the Bodhisattva Maitreya.
Although the dates of the Kizil grottoes on the Northern Silk Road are still a matter of controversy,
it is now possible to date the grottoes of the so-called "indo-iranian-style"49- from which my
examples are taken - on the basis of inscriptions, from the late-sixth to the mid-seventh century.50
A similar stipa depiction is found in Dunhuang Cave 303, dating around 700 A.D.,5' where the
niche is rounded as at Balawaste. The first instances of the pointed niche on the Northern Silk Road
appearin the first quarterof the seventh century, as in a depiction from Cave 63 at Kumtura,52and in
Dunhuang, Caves Io3 and 217.3 The Dunhuang material seems to indicate that the pointed stuzpa
niche, confined to the early Tang period (618-906), was not long-lived there. We have no trace of the
rounded or pointed trefoil niche in the early art and architectureof Central Asia or Dunhuang. Some
Song dynasty (960-I279) paintings in Cave 76 at Dunhuang, strongly reminiscent of Indian
decorative modes, provide the only instances of the rounded trefoil,54pointing to an Indian origin for
the rounded trefoil niche on Chinese stupas, too, because many figures of the Pala-Sena school of
sculpture (mid-9th-IIth century A.D.) stand or sit beneath a trefoil niche flanked at its sides by
columns.55 Pointed niches without flanking columns or pilasters seem to have been given up well
before the ninth century at Dunhuang.

The Introductionof Round and "Trefoil"Niches in the Petroglyphs

Precisely when the "Indian"round or trefoil niches imitating windows of lightweight bending
branches or wood without pilasters, that had developed and survived in India, were re-introduced
into some Gandharanart centers still cannot be clearly established. Their distinct form, with the
ornamental outer arch, results from the two branchesbeing fixed at the bottom and tied together at
the top. From about 5oo A.D. onwards, the ends of each of the two branchesforming the arch scrolled
upward to the right and left of the central extension.56 A fully developed trefoil niche without
pilasters with the inner roundedform of the upper trefoil is found at Bodh-gaya (ca. 6th century A.D.)
48 Gerd Gropp, ArchdologischeFundeaus KhotanChinesisch-Ostturkestan. Die Trinkler-Sammlungim Obersee-Museum, Bremen(Bremen,
1974), pl.
49 Albert von5oc.
Le Coq and Ernst Waldschmidt, Die buddhistische Spdtantikein Mittelasienvol. VII (Neue Bildwerke II) (1922-23), 29.
50 Cf. Robert J ra-Bezard, Avant-Propos,to Chao Huashan, Simone Gaulier, Monique Maillard, G. Pinault, Sites Divers de la Regionde

Koutcha;EpigraphieKoutcheenne. VIII (Paris:Centre de Recherche sur I'Asie Centrale et

MissionPaul Pelliot, DocumentsArcheologiques
la Haute Asie, 1987), vIII ff.
5' Dunhuang bihua(Beijing, 1959), pl. 81.
52 Unfortunately the stzpa to the right of the Buddha has been so severely damaged that it is barely visible. Cf. The Kumtula Grottoes

(T6kyo: Heibonsha, 1985),pl. 151.

3 Mogaoku,pls. 153 and 101.
54 Mogaoku,vol. V, pl. 107.

55Susan L. Huntington, The "Pdla-Sena"Schoolsof Sculpture(Leiden, 1984), pls. 34-35, 208-209.

56 Kramrisch, The Hindu Temple,241, 319, fn. 5I.

276
 U S S R
aKashgar al

Dushanbex

r u
1Dary 0

Faizabad
Bactra Op
-I ,Je
Mazar-i Sharif
.-
Samangen
Baghlan

0 ChilehSkao
rd
-

KABUL

Jalalabad
o aren *

PehawarAbbottabad Srinagar
O

Ghazni o Gardez Taxilao ISLAMABAD

Rawalplndi 0

00160200
kmlo. ......Jhelum0
.0 .o oJammu

P1.I The Karakorumareaandits neighboringcountries.AfterThewaltandKauper,Zwischen

GandhdraunddenSeidenstrassen.

5000
18
19

8 75

----- 4
.- -, " -

10
"- , 6• '
2,"
13f 12 1 Set
aTHALPAN

CHILAS 21 "" .
"-
31

0.00o
o 00 ()0 00-
1000,'

:oz

3O
-
P1. 2 Petroglyph sites in the Upper Indus Valley relevant to this article. Elevation in English feet:
(I) Thak Road, (2) Chilas I, (4) New Colony, (5) Soniwal Settlement, (7) Chilas II, (8) Chilas III,
(9) Chilas IV, (io) Chilas V, (II) Chilas VI, (I9) Thalpan Road, (zo) Thalpan Bridge, (21)Thalpan
Village: Shing is approximately zo km to the northeast of Chilas along the Indus River. After
Thewalt, Pferdedarstellungen in Felszeichnungen am oberenIndus.
P1. 3a Stuipafrom Chilas, New Colony (N.C.). Ioth-I3th P1. 3b Rock inscription accompanying the stz7pafrom Chilas.
century A.D.After Dani, Chilas, the City of Nanga Parvat New Colony (N.C.). After Dani, Chilas, the City of Nanga
(Dyamar),88, no. 66. Parvat (Dyamar),90, no. 67.

/ -4
-c;-_r_

3-11
.. . .. -'

N)/

P1. 3c Reconstruction of the position of the stuzpaand its P1. 4 Stupafrom Chilas, Station New Colony (N.C.). Ioth-I3th
inscription in Chilas. century A.D.After Jettmar, "Feldsbilderam Indus: Die
nachbuddhistische Periode,"216, pl. vi.

P1. 5 Veiled stuzpafrom the Dukhang P1. 6 Stdpawith lion pillars from the
of Alchi. 13thcentury A.D.After Sumtsek temple of Alchi. 13th century
Goepper, Alchi, Buddhas,Gottinnen, A.D. After Goepper, Alchi, Buddhas,
Mandalas, 104, pl. 29. Gbttinnen, Mandalas, 70, pl. 12.
P1.7a Stzipawith quatrefoil ornament from P1. 7b Stuzpawith star-like ornament from Chilas II. 8th-Ioth century A.D.
Thalpan I. 7th-8th century A.D.After Dani, After Jettmar, "Felsbilderam Indus: Die nachbuddhistische Periode," 2o7-o8,
Chilas, the City of Nanga Parvat (Dyamar),12, pl. II.
no. 103.

P1. 8 Stzupa with 'dot', trefoil niche and 'Kult- P1. 9 Licchavi-stzpafrom Naka-baha at Patan.
kapelle' from Chilas I. 8th-Ioth century A.D. 8th-9th century A.D.After Slusser, "Nepalese
After Dani, Chilas, the City of Nanga Parvat Caitya as Mirrorsof Mediaeval Architecture,"
(Dyamar),82-84, no. 63. 157-65.

P1.io Stuzpafrom Northern Pakistan showing P1. II Pointed arch with tassels hanging from later Gandharanart. 3rd-4th
lamp on top of the flight of stairs. 2nd-3rd century A.D.Belmont Collection, Basel. After Hallade, Indien,Gandhdra
century A.D.After Taddei, "Neue Forschungs- BegegnungzwischenOrientund Okzident,pl. 75.
belege zur Gandhara-Ikonographie,"pl. 13.
P1. 12 Pointed arch ending in volutes. 3rd-4th century A.D. P1. 13 Bimaran reliquary. 2nd century A.D.
Belmont Collection, Basel. After Hallade, Indien,Gandhdra British Museum. After Hallade, Indien,
BegegnungzwischenOrientund Okzident,pl. 77. GandhdraBegegnungzwischenOrientund
Okzident,pl. 33.

P1.14 Pointedarcheson pilastersfromLoulan.3rd-4th

centuryA.D.AfterHerrmann,Lou-lan,China,IndienundRom
amLobnor,
imLichtederAusgrabungen pl. 3 (right).

P1.15 Stupawith volutednichefrom P1.16 BodhisattvaMaitreyaundera flatvoluted

Balawaste.6th centuryA.D.After archwith columnsfromKizil. 6th-7th centuries
FundeausKhotan
Gropp,Archdologische A.D. AfterVon LeCoq,Waldschmidt,Die buddhi-
Chinesisch
Ostturkestan,
pl. 50oc. stischeSpdtantike
in Mittelasien,
vol. VII, N.B. II, 29.

P1. I7a P1. 17b

P1. 17a-b Trefoil niche on a stz7pawith bound branchesforming the arch above it from Bodh-gaya. Ca. 6th century A.D.After
Hdirtel,IndischeSkulpturen,part I, pl. 31.
P1.18 Stu7pa with trefoil niche from Thalpan I. 6th century A.D. P1. 19a Niches from Grotto XI of
After von Hiniber, "Rock Inscriptions in the Indus Valley," pl. Bamiyan. 6th-7th century A.D. After
107. Tarzi, L'architecture
et le decorrupestre
des Grottesde Bdmiyan,B 142.

P1. 19c Vaulted and trefoil niches form Grotto I of Bamiyan.
6th-7th century A.D.After Tarzi, L'architecture
et le decorrupestre
desGrottesde Bdmiydn,B 133.
P1. 19b Niche with upper bow on top
from Grotto I of Bamiyan. 6th-7th
century A.D.After Tarzi, L'architecture
et le
de'cor
rupestredesGrottesde Bdmiydn,B 130.

P1. 2oa Stuzpaswith trefoil niches from Thalpan I (Thalpan P1. 2ob Stuipawith Buddhas in
Bridge). 6th-7th century A.D.After Thewalt, "Rockcarvings trefoil niches on the cupola from
and Inscriptions Along the Indus," fig. 11. Thalpan I. 6th-7th century A.D.
After von Hiniiber, ANP, pl. 146.
P1. 21 Stzupafrom Chilas I with trefoil niches on the cupola and P1. 22 Stzpa with voluted trefoil niche and
substructureand standing figures on the cupola 7th century A.D. pilastered substructure from Thalpan I. 6th-7th
After von HinUber,ANP, pl. 15o. century A.D.After Jettmar, ZwischenGandhdra
und denSeidenstrassen,pl. 13.

P1. 23 Stzupawith pointed trefoil niche and columnated base P1. 24 Stzupawith pointed trefoil niche inside rounded trefoil,
from Chilas I. 6th-7th century A.D.After von Hiniiber, ANP, Chilas I. 7th century A.D.After Dani, Chilas, the City of Nanga
vol. I, pl. 159. Parvat (Dyamar),pl. 20o.

P1. 25 Example of "star-shaped"stz7pawith freestanding lion P1. 26 Miniature "star-shaped"

pillars from Thalpan I. 6th-7th century A.D.After von Hintiber, stz7pafrom North Pakistan with four
ANP, vol. I, pl. I65. freestanding lion pillars. 2nd-3rd
century A.D.After Taddei, "Neue
Forschungsbelege zur Gandhdra-
Ikonographie," 6.
 P1. 28 Deatil of pl. 21.

P1. 27 Stzpa with staircasefrom P1. 29 Detail of pl. 5. P1. 30 Stupawith pointed trefoil
Chilas I. 6th-7th century A.D. Afte: niche from Shing. 7th-8th century
Thewalt, "Rock-carvingsand In- A.D.Photograph courtesy of Prof.
scriptions Along the Indus," fig. 8. Dr. Oskar von Hiniiber.

P1. 31 Detail of Buddha adjacent to stuzpain Shing shown in pl. 28. Photograph
courtesy of Prof. Dr. Oskar von Hintiber.
 P1. 32 Stuzpa with lion pillars from Shing. 7th-8th century A.D.Photograph
courtesy of Prof. Dr. Oskarvon Hintiber.

P1. 34 Stone reliefs reclaimed from an earlier monument. Nalanda,

Patna, Bihar. Ca. 7th-8th century A.D.After Huntington, The
Pdla-SenaSchoolsof Sculpture,fig. 24.

P1. 33 Rosettes on shoulders of lion from Hodar possibly

reminiscent of Iranianinfluence. Ca. 7th-8th century A.D.After
Jettmar, "IranianMotives and Symbols as Petroglyphs in the
Indus Valley," fig. 7.

P1. 35 Stzpa with donor from Thalpan III. 7th-8th P1. 36 Contemporaryimitation of stz7pa.After Jettmar, "Iranian
century A.D.After von Hintiber, ANP, pl. 137. Motives and Symbols as Petroglyphs in the Indus Valley," fig I2.
(pl. 17).57The introduction of such niches as a new mode of decorationcan be proved to have occurred
in the reworking of considerably older Gandharanstupa structures like the one excavated in Tapa
Sardarin site 41.58 Unfortunately the excavatorsgive only a relative chronology so that no definite
date can be offeredfor the stupa in site 41 (fig. 4).
Structuralcomparisonsare possible to a sub-
stantial amount of later stuzpapaintings from ;u ~-~V~i~w~'''
'?
4.
Kizil (ca. 7th century A.D.), where several .~a

instances of the concavelobeddecorationaround ?i

/r
ly- IC~IYU~I5rrT?-?
the drum - as seen in Tapa Sardar- are depicted
(fig. ),59 though the Buddha niche, here rec-
tangular, is partly concealed by the nimb and
halo of the Buddha seated in front of the stuzpa.
Since the natural result of its outline is a trefoil
form, can we deduce that the trefoil niche
might possibly have developed with slight
r '?o
reference to the Buddha figure in meditation c
'
Ir ..1: L ?,I
': ..~.14~i.~
''~';
with nimb and halo? Though it is tempting to ??.~sjW\d Iv I~ I NL
j~_d?:'
?S??::?f 3?
/ ?I?- ?'~?ii'
speculate on such a connection, there is no
I ~~L?:'
/T ~ ?6~9 ~~~ Y ~C~cl?~~.,.
I r/:???A /
II
sound proof for it. Many trefoil niches in Gupta 'I ~ /I" ,,

art show no Buddha today and, in many cases, it 'YYJ I.

7,i ,-: 1I
is doubtful whether they ever held a Buddha ,,~~((((? ?r
?) i~~..:LC~f~Lt~~4?l?
1'1
5
figure. 1

The appearanceof the trefoil stz7paniche in I

>~a~ ~f''?,
r
r

post-Gandharan,as well as Gupta art, probably

I/ hi"

\. ???~i ?I
somewhere around the fifth to sixth century, \
?.
??..rr ~A CuT 1
)j.
'' r(?C
provides a first clue as to the earliest possible
\
~? '
'
i ,,
time of its diffusion into the petroglyphs. As c

the evidence from Bamiyan proves, there can be ~~/:?~

not doubt that by the sixth or early-seventh Fig. 4 Stz7pa fromTapaSardar(Afghanistan),site 41

with reworked niches.AfterTaddei/N.Labianca.
century A.D. the Indian trefoil niche had
become the best liked mode of decoration in the Gandharan area. It is probably from there, and
possibly via Kashmir, that the decorative mode was introduced into the petroglyph stuZpa depictions,
which, at the same time, still retain the "gandharan"fondness for the rhythmic articulation of stuzpa
bases with columns and pilasters not seen in India proper. No direct line can be drawn from the one
early Gandharapiece at Tapa Sardarto the grottoes of Bamiya-n.But the petroglyphs from aroundthe
sixth century (pl. 18) seem to demonstrate this phase.60

57 HerbertHiirtelwith ErnstWaldschmidt,Indische Teil I: Die Werkederfrihindischen,

Skulpturen, klassichenundfriihmittelalterlichen
Zeit(Berlin,I96o), pl. 31.
58 MaurizioTaddei and GiovanniVerardi,La MissioneArcheologica Italiana in Afghanistanr976-rp79, in ConsigliNazionaledelle
Ricerche
(CNR)(Rome,1985),279, fig. 5.
59 MuralsfromXinjiang,TheThousand-Buddha Cavesat Kizil(Ky6to,1981),pl. 117,GrottoNr.
I86 orpls. 158-59fromGrottoNr. 2o5,
etc.
60 An evenearlierexampleof the nichedevelopmentis perhapsshownin ShatialBridgein the veryelaboratestupastructuredepicted
there.Cf. KarlJettmar,ZwischenGandharaunddenSeidenstrassen,
Felsbilder amKarakorum Highway(Mainz,1985),pl. 19.

285
 Numerous examples of similar niche types
can be seen in the inner grottoes of Bamiyan
()
(pls. 19a-c).6 Though it is difficult to date the
Bamiyan grottoes with absolute precision, ~KD /

certain iconographical and stylistic elements

indicate that they must have originated during rc~~
the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. We do
know for certain that the grottoes must already
have existed in 622, when the Chinese pilgrim
Xuanzang arrived in Bamiyan. Examples from
Bamiya-n display the same outer decorative
element of tying the tip of the niche with a
ribbon (fig. 6).62An especially close example to >~
those from Bamiya-n(figs. 6-7),63 is the lovely
stZpa depiction from Thalpan I (pl. 2ob),64 bu
showing Buddhas in pointed trefoil niches on
the cupola. While the niches in these examples
are displayed only on the cupola, another
example from Chilas I shows an unfolding of
the niche ornament on the cupola, on the drum Fig. 5 Stzipadecorationfrom (a) Grotto i86 and (b)
Grotto2zo, Kizil, bothca. 7th centuryA.D.
(pl. 8), and even furtherbelow on the base of the
stuZpa(pl. 21).Fromthis we gatherthat the trefoilor the pointedtrefoilwasa fashionablearchitectural
decorationmode for nichesin general.I would, therefore,hold that the comparisonto the Bamiyan
niches,displayednot on the outsidebut on the insideof the stuzpastructures,is legitimate.
Fromthe materialavailableto me at the moment, it is difficult to decide whetherthe type of
rounded or thepointedtrefoilnichesmust be consideredthe earlierin the petroglyphs.In anycase,the
pointedtrefoilnichesaredefinitelythe morefrequent.Of courseboth traditionscouldhaveexisted
side by side as in Bamiyan,wherepurelytrefoilnichescoexistwith pilasteredones until aroundthe
sixth to seventh century.But the pointedtrefoil niche might also have developedlater with the
pointednimbandhalo.

The Trefoil St7paNiche in the Petroglyphs from the Sixth to Tenth CenturiesA.D.

A largegroupof stzpadepictionsin ThalpanI and ChilasI showsthe veryspecialtype of niche

that I havecalledthe "trefoil"or "pointedtrefoil".I haveselectedfourexamplesof such nichesfor
furtherdiscussion:ThalpanI (pl. 22),65ChilasI (pl. 23),66ChilasI (pl. 24),67andShing(pl. 32).

6, ZemaryalaiTarzi,L'architecture
etle decorrupestre
desGrottes
deBdmiydn
(Paris,1977),forexampleB 143,B 130,B 132-33.
62 Perhapssuchan ornamentis indicatedin a simplifiedformon a stuzpa
fromChilas(?)in KarlJettmar,Rockcarvings
andInscriptions
in
theNorthern AreasofPakistan(Lahore,1982and1984),Taf.2.
63 Tarzi,op.cit.,pls. D zi andD 13.
64 Von Hintiber,op.cit.,pl. 146.
65 Jettmar,"ZwischenGandh-raunddenSeidenstrassen...," pl. 13.
66 Von Hintiber,"RockInscriptionsin the IndusValley,"ANP, vol. I, 50-5i, pl. 159.
67 Dani, "Chilas...,"no. 120.

286
 \\
\

? .. .?.\
....~?

\ ,,\:?: r
\Ni
\r ra IT ~ \ h

\,
,,

Fig. 6 BamiyanGrottoI andII , 6th-7th centuryA.D. AfterTarzi.

--LT

IN
,'

<.N

Fig. 7 BamiyanGrottofromGroupG3, 6th-7th centuryA.D.AfterTarzi.

While none of the miniature eighth- and ninth-century Licchavi caityasshows the motif of the
trefoil niche, it is not infrequently found in sixth-century Gupta art (pls. 17a-b), as indicated, for
example, by the already mentioned small stzpa cupola with a Buddhapada from Bodh-gaya in the
Museum ftir Indische Kunst, Berlin. We can, perhaps, deduce from this that the trefoil niche went
out of fashion around the eighth century A.D., indirectly providing a rough date for the petroglyphs.
If the trefoil niche mode started around the mid-sixth century in India, arrived at its full-blown
development in Bamiyan around the sixth to seventh century A.D., and went out of fashion in India
itself around the end of the eighth century, then this is roughly the span of time in which we can
expect their depiction as petroglyphs by travellers.Of course there are differencesbetween the niches
at Ba-miya-n and those depicted in the petroglyphs. For example, niches in the petroglyphs show both
the inner and outer upper tip of a pointed trefoil, while in Bamiyan the inner arch is always rounded.
The trefoil niches in the petroglyphs, in comparison to the size of the whole stzpa dome, also are
much larger than those in Bamiyan or their Gandharanor Gupta antecedents. But Bamiyan is still

287
their closest prototype, as can be shown by a comparison of niches and of ornamental devices. The
ornamentsfrom the lowest stzpa bases at Thalpan I (pls. 20oa and b)68are so similar to that in Grotto I
at Bamiyan (fig. 8), that a close connection to the area must be assumed.69So long as we know so
tantalizingly little about earlystzpa niches in Kashmir itself, where the other center of vital influence
must have been, Bamiyan seems of paramountimportance.

I
j

Fig. 8 OrnamentalrinceaufromBamiyanGrottoI, 6th-7th centuryA.D.AfterTarzi.

The petroglyphsrevealthat what we

havecalled "fetishes"without nichesbe-
low them are a relatively late develop- AJ A NTA SIR KAP
ment (IIth-I3th centuryA.D.), probably
stemmingfromthe areaaroundKashmir. 4
Distinctly differentas they may seem at
first glance, those petroglyphs have 0Tjio EGRAI 8 TMA RAN
C

nevertheless evolved from an earlier

Indianmode(mid 6th-9th centuryA.D.),
8 GAsHARIA LoucLAN
wherethe "fetish"or "roundniche"is dis- GANHA•RA

playedtogetherwith the "trefoilniche".

An almostcontemporary developmentof BALAWASTE
TAPA SARDAR THALPANI BoDqH-CrAYADuNHuANG
such nichesin the areaof Gandhara,and ,
especiallyBamiyan,but probablyalso in
Kashmir, must moreover be assumed
where the trefoil niche is displayed on CHLASIr 8 MIYAN DuNHUANcr
THALPAWUI KUMTURA

stzpas with pilastered or ornamented

drumsand/orbase.While thereobviously
existed local variants,as I have tried to
show, I would nevertheless,hold these II
z
variantsto have evolvedalong a distinct Z
C

general line. A rough chart for this

developmentof the stuzpawhichtakesinto
account the petroglyphs can therefore w,- CH ILAS NC. ALC -I

tentativelybe drawn(fig. 9). Fig. 9 Stages in the development of the stzpa niche.

68 The ornamentis quite a commonone,especiallyin Thalpan.Cf.Thewalt,"Rock-carvings..."

(SAA),fig. ii.
69 Tarzi,L'architecture...,
140,pl. D 42a.

288
 The Amount of Finials as Mirrorsof GeneralStzipaArchitecture

Many of the petroglyphic stzpasprobably must be consideredas votive stzipas,70with the exception
of those early stzpa depictions that include smaller figures of monks, men or riders next to the
structure. Since those figures are obviously smaller in scale than the stzfpaitself,7I such petroglyphs
may allude to full-size buildings in famous sites. Be this as it may, the votive or miniature stzpasare
thought to mirror in many ways the larger buildings they stood among.72
Concerning the finials, MaryShepherdSlussermakes the following remarks:
FewLicchavi"caityas" todaybeartheiroriginalfinialsbut arenow crownedwith ill-proportioned
replacementscrudelycementedinto place.In keepingwith all extantNepali "stupas"andvotive
"caityas"of laterdate,the replacementfinialsnormallyconsistof square"harmika" emblazonedon
eachside with pairedeyesandsurmountedwith a tall spireof thirteenstages... Suchrenovations,
one would suppose,weredictatedby doctrinalconsiderations,but what thesewereor when they
took place,we do not yet know. Although "stilpa"finialsof thirteenstagesareknownin Indian
texts redactedin the firstthreecenturiesof the Christianera,it is evidentthat it wasnot the form
favoredby Licchavibuilders.Thereareabouta half-dozenLicchavi"caityas" whichunaccountably
escapedhavingtheirfinialsaltered.All of the originalfinialsaresquatandnoneis providedwith
thirteen stages... The structureswhich embellish the Valley today are clearly not of local
inspiration.Theyrepresentendpointsin a long traditionwhosesourceslie elsewhere.73
The same is true for the petroglyphs. The spires in the stzfpadepictions from Chilas (pls. 3-4) and
elsewhere certainly do not number thirteen; it is doubtful whether one should count seven or ten.
This lesser number may, perhaps, serve as an indication that the stzfpadepiction here is not as late as
those from Alchi with their spire of thirteen stages. We cannot be certain, because some local variants
may have been depicted or, alternatively, the lesser number might indicate other cultic functions.

Pilasters, Posts and Staircaseson "Star-shaped"and Other Stzipas

and the Four FreestandingColumns with the Single Lion

A remarkablestzipafrom Thalpan I (pl. 25)74displays several interesting elements, some of which

we have already encountered. There is, for example, the pointed trefoil niche (barely visible in the
photograph) so that the general tendency should be to date this petroglyph circasixth-eighth century
A.D. The stzfpahas a bulbous dome protruding slightly over a lobed or pilastered drum. The lowest
base depicts a staircase above which five steps lead to the drum. The central shaft of the stzpa, the
harmikd in form of an inverted stepped-pyramid, and the oblique staffs supporting the seven
umbrellas are visible in the superstructure crowned by two streamers and other decorative elements
that are difficult to see. Two bells hang from the left and right of the lowest umbrella. The whole
structure is flanked by two free-standing columns surmounted by single lions facing away from the
stZdpa.Comparisons with a similar stzpa depiction in Alchi - not the Dukhang but from the Sumtsek
temple - dated circa thirteenth century A.D., serve as a means for distinguishing important details in
70 Von Hintiber,op.cit.,75.
7' Thewalt,"Pferdedarstellungen am oberenIndus,"in AusdemOsten..., 204-18, pls. 4-6 (all fromChilasII).
in Felszeichnungen
72 MaryShepherdSlusser,"NepaleseCaityasas Mirrorsof MediaevalArchitecture,"in TheStupa...,157-65.
73 Ibid.
74 Von Hintiber,op.cit.,pl.
I65.

289
images that are formally similar but chronologically distant (pl. 6). The small, slightly squat cupola
of both stupasshows how little the form of the cupola can be used as a means of dating in our context.
If we take into account the length and breadth of the whole structure, however, we immediately are
awarethat the Sumtsek cupola is definitely smaller than in the Thalpan I petroglyph (pl. 25)and that
it has no niche. Both cupolas are placed on a complex base consisting of four tiers or terraceswith a
staircasebuilt into it. In Thalpan the staircaseis elaboratelydefined only in the lowest base (by what
appear to be four steps), and is indicted only by a vertical line in the upper terraces. Perhaps a
structure like the "star-shaped"stzpa of Rawak (4th-7th century A.D.) on the Southern Silk Road
(fig. o),75or Adiina Tepe in Tajikistan (late 7th century A.D.) was meant.

.[. ... ...

-....... .

IL? Now1
b
o
/

0 0

(a) Rawak(afterMaillard),(b) Kaniskain Shah-jiki-dheri,Peshawar,Pakistan,and(c) Top-i-

Fig. Io St@pa:
Rustam,Balkh,Afghanistan.The lattertwo afterRowland,Zentralasien.

The stupaof Rawak in the Khotan oasis must originally have

been at least twelve meters high. Its polygonal plan reminds
one of the Kaniska and the Top-i-Rustam stzpa (fig. I0),76 both
of which must ultimately have developed from stz7pasof Gan-
dhara. There were close contacts between the Khotan oasis and lip
Kashmir, where the form seems to have been taken up and
transmitted until well into the eleventh century A.D., as one Jil

finds similar stuzpasin Parihasapurand in other places (fig. II)

dating circatenth century A.D.

Fig. ii St7pawith lion pillarsfromKashmir.AfterKak.

75 Maillard,op. cit., fig. 73, BenjaminRowland,Zentralasien(Baden-Baden,

1970), I28, fig. 57, HeinrichG. Franz,Sinkiang, 147 ff.
76 Rowland,op.cit.,figs. 58-59.

290
 While we have a good idea of the decoration on the
lower base of the Rawak stuzpa,77 we know virtually
nothing about any sculptural decoration beyond that.
Only the small votive stuzpafrom Gandhara (pl. 26)
indicates that such buildings may have had free-stand-
ing lion-pillars.78 In the Sumtsek temple the staircase
reaches from the base almost to the cupola, while in
Thalpan a kind of columnar or pilastered drum encom-
passes the lower part of the dome. There are similar
ornamental conceptions in Tapa Sardar (fig. 4), Kizil
(fig. 5), and - if the drum is pilastered - in Bamiyan (fig.
12),although there it is on the inside rather than on the
outside of the structure.79Remnants of the sanctuaryM
II from Miran,80 the excavations of many wooden cap-
itals, and the depiction of columns in the paintings8'
attest that columns were a well known means of con-
\ 5).
struction throughout Buddhist Central Asia from early
to late times. The stuzpasin sixth- and seventh-century
petroglyphs frequently display staircases, columns,82 Fig. 12 Bamiyan,GroupA. AfterTarzi.
pilasters and posts as the st7pas disclose (pls. 8, 23-25, 27).83 It is often difficult to distinguish the
positiveform of the stepped columns or pilasters which are in the typical Gandharanmanner used as a
rhythmic ornamentation of the base in the petroglyphs, from the negative or void between the
pilasters, so that in some of them the "void"has been misinterpreted as a "cross"ornament. Columns
or pilasters in the petroglyphs are shown both in the portion of the stzpa below the cupola (taking up
earlier ideas of architecturalornamentation on the drum or the base, as in Guldaraor Miran), as well
as in a more functional role as struts or posts supporting the umbrellas of the superstructureor the
roof below the drum.
The "four free-standing lion pillars" are a third wholly different kind of column depiction. An
interesting detail of the Thalpan I and Alchi stuzpas (pls. 6 and 25) is that both display lion pillars on
the left and right of the structure. There is only one lion on each pillar (if my interpretation of the
photographs is correct),and the lions face away from each other.
Two lions, or other animals, atop single standing columns or pillars and facing away from each
other, are well known in Indian art. Not infrequently they are depicted in third-century Gandharan

77 Gropp, op. cit, discusses the sculptures in great detail, providing excellent photographs and descriptions.
78 Taddei, op. cit., pl. 14 shows the model of a stfzpawith a golden reliquary shrine and four lion-pillars on its corners from northern
Pakistan(photographafterOctagon
XVI, no. I [19791,6).
79 Tarzi, op. cit., pl. D 2.
80 Maillard, op. cit., pl. CIX, c.
Ibid., pls. CVIII, CIX-XI.
82 Thewalt, "Rockcarvings and Inscriptions Along the Indus-The Buddhist Tradition," in J. Schotsman and M. Taddei, ed., South
Asian Archaeology,vol. II, 1983(Naples, 1985), 779-800, figs. 8,
Io.
83 Cf. ANP, op. cit., pls. 137, 158-59.

291
reliefs.84A miniature stfzpa(pl. 26)85discloses that lion pillars with only a single lion were found in
Gandha-ranart of Northern Pakistan in the first centuries A.D.
The combination of the stzpa with staircases on four sides in the "star-shaped"form, with four
lion-columns, can also be observed in Kashmir in the ninth or tenth century A.D. (fig. II),86 in
Patna87 during the period of Uighur reign in Turfan,88and during the thirteenth century in the
Sumtsek of Alchi. Monique Maillard has speculated that the "star-shaped"stfzpaof the northwestern
areas between the sixth to eighth centuries A.D. had a close connection with the teachings of tantric
Buddhism.89 It is interesting to note that none of these ninth-, tenth-, and thirteenth-century
columns is placed on the first ground platform of the stzpa as shown in Thalpan I and in the stzpa
from Gandhara(pl. 26).
Concerning the base and the (lion) pillars of stzpas,Roth makes a very interesting observation,
The customof beginninga descriptionof a shrinewith the fourflights of steps eachat the four
cardinalpoints that lead up to the terracedpedestals or platformsis sharedby our Visnu-
dharmottara-Purdna passage with the one in Divyavaddna244, 7ff... and the beginning of Caitya-
L. Here they follow as the fourth item the ground
(I), the ground-platform (2), the courtyard (3),
and aresucceededby the pillars(4) beforethe descriptionof the stzpaproperstartswhich begins
with the enumerationof the foursubsequentterracedplatformstogetherwith theircorresponding
dogmaticidentifications.9?
It is remarkable that the stzpa rendering of Thalpan (pl. 25) and Shing (pl. 32) are very close to
these canonical texts: the depiction begins with the four flights of steps in the high ground platform
that lead up to the terraced pedestals and to the courtyard where we find the pillars, while in the
Sumtsek stzpa depiction the pillars have moved up to uncanonicalheights onto the second terrace.

The Figures on the Stzpa Dome

Let us now proceed another step in securing more evidence for influences from Kashmir by
looking at the superstructuresin the stzipadepictions found in Thalpan I (pl. 2ob) and in Chilas I (pls.
21 and 28).9' If we compare the figures depicted on the dome with those of the Dukhang in Alchi we
are immediately struck by the similarities that go up to the staves held by these figures (pl. 29).
While the Chilas I and Thalpan I stfzpasonly show standing figures on the dome (in reality there
would seem to have been four figures,92although the artist from the spectator'sviewpoint depicted

84 Accordingto Gritlivon Mitterwallner,"TwoStulpaBasementsof Mathuraof the 4th and 5thCenturiesA.D.,"in TheSti7pa,op.cit.,

80, the varietyof the lion columnsbeganto increasein late Guptatimes. But von Mitterwallnerdoes not mentionany columns
with onlya single lion in the capitalsof the pillarsas theyareshownin ourstuZpadepictions.
85 Taddei,op.cit.,pl. 14.
86 Tarzi,op.cit.,pl. D 63,afterRamChandraKak,AncientMonuments ofKashmir(London,1933),pl. XVIII.
87 Roth,op.cit.,pl. XIV, 3, "Bronzestuipa,ca. Ioth century."FromBronzeImagesin thePatnaMuseum (Patna,I96I).
88 Kottkamp,Stupa,432 ff.
89 Maillard,AsieCentrale, 140.
90 op.
Roth, cit.,zoo.
9' Von Hiniiber,op.cit., pls. I1o and 94 (detailof pl. Iso)fromChilasI, as well as pl. 146 fromThalpanI. ProfessorJettmarhad the
kindnessto informme that the petroglyphsshow about twenty examplesof similarsuperstructures with figureson top of the
dome.
92 At presentit is only possibleto speculateaboutthe meaningof thesefourfigures.The literaryevidencecollectedby Roth seemsto
indicate that they have the following connotation:"The four guardiansof the world (represent)the four constituents of
enlightment:mindfulness,investigationinto dharmas, energy,andconcentration." SeeRoth, op.cit.,194andfootnote52.

292
only two or three), the Buddha being seated in a niche on the side of the dome, in the Dukhang at
Alchi, the Buddha has risen to the very top of the dome between the standing figures in the region of
the harmikd,giving an indication of how decoration, sculpture and architecturetend first to shift and
finally to merge, as demonstrated by comparison with the phases of depictions, up to those related to
Alchi. The standing figures on the dome, that do not appear in any of the other centers mentioned,
obviously belong to a common tradition shared only by the petroglyphs of the Upper Indus Valley
and Alchi. This special tradition, which must have remained alive for about six hundred years, can
only be explained by the existence of a long-lived art center that remained active from the seventh to
the thirteenth centuries. The question as to where such a center could have been located brings us
back to the provenance of the Alchi painters. Goepper feels a very strong influence from Kashmir,
which, he says, can be followed into the Pala school of Northern India.93Could Kashmir also have
furnished the models for the Chilas petroglyphs dating from approximately the sixth to the
thirteenth century?

StZpaDepictions from Shing

Although the evidence uncovered so far seems favorable to the idea that Kashmir might have
provided artistic models, much more researchis needed before the question can be resolved, since the
stzpasdepicted in the petroglyphs obviously mirrora general decorative development spanning six or
seven centuries and extending over a vast geographical area. The petroglyph stzpas also display
variants whose origins cannot always be accuratelypinpointed. Although much of the evidence from
Chilas and its immediate environs suggests a rather homogenous group of travellers connected with
Northern India, Bamiyan and Kashmir, there are other stzpasthat display quite a different style.
Two stfzpasfrom Shing (pls. 30-32)94 are especially instructive regarding the difficulties raised by
puzzling variants. The first example from Shing depicts a very elaborate stzpa with a large trefoil
niche on its dome (pl. 30). As in some other petroglyphs,95there are indications of bases and capitals
on the posts that support a spire of nine umbrellas and rest on the dome. Contrary to all other
petroglyphs, however, the posts here are not slanted but quite straight. Such straight posts also
appear on some circa seventh-century stfzpapaintings from Kizil (fig. 5a). In the Shing example the
posts appearto have corbelled capitals with brackets reminiscent of Chinese architecturaltraditions.
I am not aware of equally prominent bracket depictions in the petroglyphs. The dome displays a
large pointed trefoil niche that is divided into upper and lower elements. Such divisions are not
infrequent; they are especially prominent in Chilas 1,96 and in Thor, Northern Bank.97The structural
details of the sttpa are presented with absolute precision and understanding: below the stzpa drum is
a narrow roof supported by two simple posts that rest on the third step of the base counting from
below, forming a kind of shaded terrace probably running around all four sides of the structure.
While the artist took great care to obtain a correct rendering of the architectural structure, he
executed the ornamentationin an unusually stereotyped manner:there is actually only one ornament,
93 Goepper,"Alchi,"op.cit.,17, 25.
94 I would like to thank Professorvon Hiniiber for his kindness in putting his photographsfrom Shing at my disposaland for
grantingpermissionto publishthem.
95 Von Hiniiber,ANP, pls. 107,146.
96 KarlJettmar,RockcarvingsandInscriptions
in theNorthern
AreasofPakistan(Lahore:Allied Press,1982),pl. 2 andfig. 4.
97 Cf. frontpageof Akademiejournal. derKonferenz
Mitteilungsblatt derDeutschen
Akademien
derWissenschaften,
1/1992.

293
consisting of three vertical strokes that may denote a simplied version of lotus flowers as seen in a
petroglyph on the lowest base of a stzgpafrom Thalpan III,98 that is repeated. If the ornament had
simply been distributed in those places where other petroglyphs depict figures of the Buddha (i.e. in
the niche, on the dome, on the base, etc.), one might have regardedthem as symbolic representations,
but since the bells hanging from the roof are also depicted with the same three strokes, a symbolic
meaning seems doubtful. The meditating Buddhas shown next to the spire of the stfzpaand also a
little further to the right (pl. 31)on an adjacentrock, are of little assistance in ascertaining the date of
the depiction. The figures' relatively small heads, small halos and mandorlas, slim torsos, and the
parallelpleats of their gowns, suggest an earlyTang date.
The second stfgpafrom Shing, executed with the same care, is even more surprising (pl. 32). In the
examples previously examined, the "fetish"was always placed right in the middle of the stzgpadome.
In this stzgpa,however, the "dots"are shown in niches on the corners of the lowest base where their
symbolism may be quite different. It is interesting to note a rosette- or star-like ornament engraved
in the center of the dome and on two steps of the lower basement as well. Similar rosettes appearon
the shoulders of lions from Hodar (pl. 33).99The form of the niches into which the rosettes and
"fetishes"are placed on the lowest step might, at first sight, seem reminiscent of Islamic architecture
such as the funeraryedifices of the twelfth century and later in Pandschab, particularly the tomb of
Bahauddin in Multan.?00On the other hand, close scrutiny of the form of the niches reveals an even
closer relationship to seventh- to eighth-century stone reliefs from the temple site 2 at Nalanda (pl.
The more than two hundred reliefs seem to have been reclaimed from an earlier monument,
34).o0?
probably the mandala-like basement of a temple. In the petroglyph from Shing there is a pilastered
step above the basement, suggesting that this structure, too, might be a star-shaped stzgpa.At the
sides of the stairs are two columns with large square bases and smaller squarecapitals. The columns,
displaying marked entasis, support a narrow roof that probably encircled the entire structure. The
lowest base supports two free-standing columns with single lions on their capitals. Contraryto the
lions already seen, these two face the stfzpa.The stzpa dome, which is ornamented with wreaths and
protrudes over the drum, has a peculiar mushroom-like appearance.It can be generally related to
forms appearingin paintings from Kizil (figs. 5a-b). There appearto be seven umbrellas on the spire,
with long streamershanging from the top. Four straight squat posts, on which there are indications
of bases and capitals, support the umbrellas. The depiction of four posts is quite unusual in early
petroglyphs; only two appearin most other examples. A little to the left of the monument there are
three votive offerings (lamps?) with a small, barely discernable figure that might be interpreted as a
kneeling or prostrating monk.
Again the artist depicted the structual elements with exceptional clarity. The four posts on the
dome, the form of the niches and their ornamentation, and the inverse position of the lions all point
to a different, seventh- to eighth-century tradition, possibly from easternIndia.
Jettmar has published an "almost contemporary imitation" (as he describes it) of a stzpa that he
believes to be a modern copy of the petroglyph from Thalpan III (pl. 35).?02Study ofJettmar's "fake"

98 Von Hintiber, "Brahmi Inscriptions..." (ANP), 4, i1.69.

99 Karl Jettmar, "IranianMotives and Symbols
as Petroglyphs in the Indus Valley," in Rivista degli Studi Orientali,vol. LX, fasc. I-IV,
1986, Rome (1988), fig. 7.
0o Cf. catalogue Die GdrtendesIslam (Stuttgart: Staib and Mayer, 1993), 16o ff., pl. 208.
o' Huntington, op. cit., 24-25, fig. 24.
,02 Jettmar, "IranianMotives...," fig. 12.

294
reveals it to be much closer to the stfZpafrom Shing than to Thalpan III. Although the four columns
were omitted in the imitation (pl. 36), the dome, decorated with crisscrossing wreaths, protrudes
curiously and the very unusual form of the niches from Shing has been crudely copied.

Conclusion

With one exception, two clearly defined groups of stzpa depictions can be identified in the
petroglyphs, one dating from about the sixth to the eighth century A.D., the other around the
eleventh to the thirteenth century A.D. While the sixth-eighth century stzpas reveal a strong
preferencefor sculptural ornamentation on the pedestals, the drum and the dome of the stzpa - with
rounded or pointed trefoil niches, columns and large figures - there seems to be a marked reduction
of those traits by the thirteenth century A.D. The late Chilas stfzpasdisplay a more austere aesthetic:
pedestals and steps gradually become one homongeneous element, and the surface of the dome is
reduced in size and remains almost unadorned. Influences from Northern India and Central Asia,
especially from Bamiyan, are obvious in the early group, while the depictions of later stfpas seem to
have been principally from Kashmir. Although some of the elements appearing in the stfzpa
depictions can be traced to their origins without difficulty, others remain enigmatic. Perhaps the
questions relating to those enigmatic origins will be answered once the bulk of the stzpa material
from the Upper Indus Valley has been systematized. This paper is but a first step in identifying some
elements of sttfpadecoration, proving that the petroglyphs - simple though their drawings may be -
are faithful records of specific artistic trends, allowing us to trace their chronology and paths of
transmission with unexpected precision.

295