ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF NIMOGRAM

Abstract

The current research is focused on an important cultural material, exclusively sculptures, excavated from the Buddhist site of Nimogram in Swat. The antiquities discovered from this site in the late sixties, now lying in the Swat Museum, have not been studied in depth. Only a preliminary report was published by the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan in 1968 (Pakistan Archaeology 1968: 116). As such, we decided to study these unique pieces of sculpture, which remained hidden from the scholarly world for about five decades. We have made an effort here to trace the history of the collection, classify it on the basis of style, analyze it for the subject matter, kind of material and workout its chronology by correlating it to the already established sequence of the Swat Valley. The main objective of the current research is to examine and evaluate the study material for its religious, cultural, historical and artistic importance, overlooked so far. Where there was necessary, we have also traced foreign cultural influences on the collection and have carried out its comparative study for the establishment of chronology. The chronology is established on the basis of style, which indicates that the earliest sculptures were produced during the Saka-Parthian period. The artistic activities reached to the climax in the Kushan time. The height of figures of this site, generally, is rather more than those from other Buddhist sites of the valley. The cultural material also shows that the site was intact up to the Kushano-Sasanian period, i.e., circa early fourth century CE. The reliefs from Nimogram throw a floodlight on the cultural life of the ancient people, for example, skilfully depicted costumes from the princely class to the poor, furnished houses, weapons, sport objects, armour, ornaments, elephant and horse saddles, carts and carriages, horses, yokes, tools, agricultural implements, cult objects, musical instruments, etc. People are portrayed at work: playing, worshiping, and engaged in acts of devotion, marriage, donation, and all sorts of activities. As well as the musicians, ascetics and wrestlers depicted there in not only display the cultural diversity of ancient Uddiyana, but, also, suggest a base for the genesis of folk tales of the Swat Valley. To sum up our research, the dissertation is divided in five chapters. The first chapter discusses geography, cultural history and an account of archaeological investigation in the Swat Valley. The second chapter deals with origin and development of the Buddhist Art in the valley. Activities of the Italian Archaeological Mission and major archaeological sites in chronological sequence are also discussed here, in addition to major rock carvings and inscriptions. The third chapter comprises catalogue of the selected sculptures that is prepared with the help of consulting primary and secondary sources. The Buddhist art of the valley was continually enriched by foreign cultural influences at different periods of time. Such elements in the cultural material of Nimogram are traced in depth in chapter four. Chapter five deals with the descriptive and analytical analyses of the selected sculptures, which illustrate almost all major events related to the life of the Buddha. The style of the sculptures shows that all the figures are carved with great care, keeping the socio-cultural environment of the area in view. The artist has tried to display natural mobility of the figures. Architectural members, either carved individually or shown in relief panels, indicate contemporary building tradition of the valley. The figures and decorative elements chiselled on the architectural members of the main and votive stupas as well as those of the monastery are also given due attention in the present study.