Stone Sculptures from Takht-i-Bāhī found during archaeological excavations from 2002-2003 to 2012

Abstract

Archaeological excavations were conducted at Takht-i-Bāhī by the Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM), Government of Pakistan for three consecutive years from 2002-03 to 2004-05 and the Directorate of Archeology and Museums (DoAM), Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar in 2012 after about 90 years of the last excavations conducted at this site during colonial era by Dr. D.B. Spooner and H. Hagreaves from 1907-08 to 1911-12. However, the most discouraging aspect of both these excavations was that none of the two institutions published the findings of these exercises despite the fact that precious artifacts were recovered and many important buildings were brought to light.

When I decided to do my M. Phil in archaeology from the University of Peshawar after my retirement from active service, I chose Takht-i-Bāhī for my research. I approached Dr. Abdul Azeem, then Director General of Archaeology of the Federal Department who had conducted the first of the above two excavations as Assistant Director of Archaeology in the now defunct Sub-Regional Office of the Federal Department and asked him if he had no objection on my research on the objects found by him from Takht-i-Bāhī. Since he had only described the objects in one or two lines and had no intention to undertake any serious research on these objects, he willingly agreed to to my request to use the unpublished preliminary report on his excavations for my research.

By that time, archaeology as a subject erstwhile on the concurrent list of the constitution of Pakistan was devolved to the provinces along with archaeological sites and historic monuments, museums and artifacts in the reserve collections of the Federal Department under Constitution (Eighteenth) Amendments, 2010. So the custodianship of the artifacts had shifted from the Federal Department to the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On my request, Dr. Abdul Samad, the Director General of the Provincial Department allowed me to examine the artifacts from Takht-i-Bāhī from the above two excavations and also allowed me to take fresh photographs of these objects, where possible without any injury to the fragile objects.

After securing formal permission from both the Federal and the provincial institutions, I submitted my topic for my M. Phil thesis entitled “The Buddhist Monastic Complex of Takht-i-Bāhī : A Study of the Archaeological Context, Structures and Stone Sculptures from Latest Excavations (2002-03 to 2004-05 and 2012)”. Study and research on the stone sculptures found during these excavations was an integral part of my thesis. Since these sculptures were found outside the sacred precinct of the Monastic Complex and after 90 years of the last excavations conducted at the site during the colonial period, their importance obviously cannot be overemphasized. I am sharing part of my M. Phil research with scholars at large interested in the Buddhist art in general and Gandhara art in particular.