The Bimaran casket, with the Buddha, surrounded by Brahman (left) and Indra (right). British Museum.

The Bimaran casket is a small gold reliquary for Buddhist relics that was found inside the stupa no.2 at Bimaran, near Jalalabad in Afghanistan. Here the underlined vowels carry the Vedic Sanskrit udātta pitch accent. ... Indra (इन्द्र), god of weather and war, and Lord of Heaven or Swargaloka, was the supreme deva of Hinduism during the early Vedic period. ... The main entrance to the British Museum Londons British Museum is the United Kingdoms - and one of the worlds - largest and most important museums of human history and culture. ... A reliquary is a container for holy relics. ... A stupa in Tibet A stupa (from the Sanskrit) is a type of Buddhist structure found across the Indian subcontinent and Asia. ... Jalalabad (Persian: Jalālābād) is the capital of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, 150 km east of Kabul near the Khyber Pass and west of the Kunar River. ...

When it was found by the archeaologist Charles Masson during his work in Afghanistan between 1833 and 1838, the casket contained coins of the Indo-Scythian king Azes I, suggesting a date around 50 BCE, or slightly posterior. 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Indo-Scythian King of Kings Azes II (c. ... Coin of Azes I (57-35 BCE). ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC 51 BC 50 BC 49 BC 48 BC 47...

Description

The casket features hellenistic representations of the Buddha, surrounded by the Indian deities Brahman and Indra, inside arches niches (called "homme arcade") of Greco-Roman architecture. There are altogether eight figures in high-relief (two identical groups of Brahman-Buddha-Indra, and two devotees in-between) and two rows of rubis from Badakhshan. Owing to their necklace, bracelets, and armbands, the two devotees might be representations of Bodhisattvas. The casket is made in gold-repoussé and is very small, with a height of 7cm (2.75 in.), and is probably Indo-Greek work. It is considered as a masterpiece of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Here the underlined vowels carry the Vedic Sanskrit udātta pitch accent. ... Indra (इन्द्र), god of weather and war, and Lord of Heaven or Swargaloka, was the supreme deva of Hinduism during the early Vedic period. ... Greco-Roman refers to the culture of Ancient Greece and Classical Rome and reflects the essential unity of the Mediterranean world at the time when those cultures flourished, between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD. Categories: Historical stubs | Ancient Rome | Ancient Greece ... Badakhshan is a region comprising parts of northeastern Afghanistan and of Tajikistan. ... Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ... Maximum extent of Indo-Greek territory circa 175 BCE. The Indo-Greeks (or sometimes Greco-Indians) designate a series of Greek kings, who invaded and controlled parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BCE to around 10 BCE. They are the continuation of the Greco-Bactrian dynasty of Greek... Gandhara Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE. Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century... Buddhas First Sermon at Sarnath, Kushan Period, ca. ...

Datation

The coins of Azes I found inside the Bimaran casket.

The archeological find of the Azes I coins inside the casket would suggest a date of around 50 BCE or slightly later. Azes I would have employed some Indo-Greek artists in the territories just conquered, and made the dedication to a stupa. Indo-Scythians are indeed known for their association with Buddhism, as in the Mathura lion capital. Such date would make the casket the earliest known representation of the Buddha. Since it already displays quite a sophisticated iconography (Brahma and Indra as attendants, Bodhisattvas) in an advanced style, it would suggest much earlier representations of the Buddha were already current by that time, during the rule of the Indo-Greeks, as advocated by Alfred A. Foucher. Coin of Azes I (57-35 BCE). ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC 51 BC 50 BC 49 BC 48 BC 47... A stone image of the Buddha. ... Maximum extent of Indo-Greek territory circa 175 BCE. The Indo-Greeks (or sometimes Greco-Indians) designate a series of Greek kings, who invaded and controlled parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BCE to around 10 BCE. They are the continuation of the Greco-Bactrian dynasty of Greek... Alfred Foucher (1865 - 1952), a French scholar, identified the Buddha image as having Greek origins. ...

The first representations of the Buddha are generally assumed to be around the 1st century CE, around a hundred years later than the reign of Azes I, under the rule of the Kushans. For these reasons, it has been suggested that the casket may represent a 1st century CE re-deposit of the Buddha relics inside the stupa, so that its actual date maybe later than the coins suggest. In that case it is unclear though why a later ruler (1st century Kushan?) would use Indo-Scythian coins for such a high-profile dedication. Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ... (Redirected from 1st century CE) (1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century - other centuries) The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 99. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ...

Stylistically, the Kanishka casket, with an iconography broadly similar to the Bimaran casket, but a much coarser (barbarized?) execution, is securely dated to around 127 CE. The Kanishka casket, dated to 127, with the Buddha surrounded by Brahma and Indra, and Kanishka standing at the center of the lower part, British Museum (drawing). ...

The Bimaran casket is on display at the British Museum (Joseph E. Hotung Gallery), which dates the casket to 60 CE. The main entrance to the British Museum Londons British Museum is the United Kingdoms - and one of the worlds - largest and most important museums of human history and culture. ...

Another face of the Bimaran casket, featuring a devotee, possibly a Bodhisattva. Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ...	Detail of the Buddha.	Detail of Brahma.	Detail of Indra.
Detail of Hamsa goose.	Detail of a devotee, possibly a Bodhisattva. Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ...

References

• "Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné", Osmund Bopearachchi, 1991, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ISBN 2717718257.
• "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.

See also

• Kanishka casket