Rock art on the Karakoram Highway

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rock paintings on the Karakoram Highway (Pakistan)
Arch dam 12x12 se.svg
Pakistan

The Karakoram Highway follows one of several routes that lead from the Central Asian steppe regions over the more than 4000 m high mountain passes of the glaciated Himalayas and Karakoram into the Indo-Pakistani lowlands. The arduous climb has been used by hunters and nomads since the end of the Ice Age , later by merchants, Buddhist pilgrims , Chinese envoys and foreign conquerors. In their itineraries , the Chinese monks vividly described the adventurous route through the gorges of the Indus and its tributaries , along steep mountain slopes and over swaying rope bridges. The monk Faxian was the first to reach the "Kingdom of Jiecha" (probably Baltistan ) as far as "Tuoli" in 400 AD on his 15-year pilgrimage from the imperial city of Chang'an, after overcoming the Karakoram. This was a nationally known, religious center, which was probably near Chilas , today an important location for rock art.

Research history

Apart from these pilgrimage reports and a few later chronicles, no historical records of its own have been preserved from the region on the upper Indus. One of the largest collections of rock art in the world offers insights into the history of the high mountain region. At the time of the British Empire , access to the impassable hinterland of the occupied territories, which the British regarded as a natural barrier against possible intruders, was restricted to a small group of people (government officials). That was the reason why the rock art, whose existence had been known since 1906 at the latest, was not examined more closely. However, when Sir Aurel Stein received interesting news from this area during the Second World War , he decided to travel to the Indus Valley in 1942. He became the real discoverer of the rock art. But since he died in 1943, the evaluation of his findings came to nothing. Their systematic exploration began only after the completion of the Karakoram Highway. The first regular expedition took place in 1980 under the direction of Karl Jettmar , Heidelberg and Ahmad Hasan Dani, Islamabad, and others followed from 1981 to 1983. In 1985 the first exhibition "Between Gandhara and the Silk Roads - Rock paintings on the Karakoram Highway" was shown. Thereby, color images were presented after slides by members of the PAK-German Study Group.

Temporal order

prehistoric animal representations

Pre-Buddhist art

With the retreat of the large glaciers, the environmental conditions became more favorable from the beginning of the Holocene (9500 to 6200 BC). As a result of stronger precipitation grew in the valleys a rich vegetation , the food for a diverse wildlife fauna offered. This attracted hunters who created the earliest rock art. On the prehistoric depictions one finds ibex , screw goat and blue sheep , occasionally hunting scenes with people who are generally represented smaller than the animals. Images from this older period date from the fifth to the second millennium.

Scytho-Sakian motifs on the "altar rock"

In the first millennium BC, new Scytho - Sakian tribes appeared on the upper Indus . Men in western Iranian costume (helmet, wide belt, fringed skirt and gaiters ) dance, introduce themselves as warriors or are about to slaughter a goat, as can be seen on the so-called "altar rock". In the sixth century BC, when the Achaemenid Empire expanded eastward, Iranian influences also reached the upper Indus valley. They are made clear in mythical creatures with curved horns and tails, but also in stylized pictures of horses, often shown in the knee-run characteristic of the art of the Near East .

Monk with incense bowl, worshiping stupa (1st century AD)

Buddhist art

In the first century after Christ, during the rule of the Kushana , Buddhism became established as a new religion on the upper Indus . In the early Buddhist period (first to third centuries AD) appear engravings , the stupas , worshipful pilgrims enthroned ruler and the first inscriptions in Kharoshthi represent.

Shatial: Sibi-Jataka, stupas and inscriptions

The Buddhist era reached its peak in this area between the fifth and eighth centuries. The inscriptions and drawings are increasing, especially in the sacred centers. There the Karoshthi inscriptions are gradually being replaced by the Brahmi script . In addition, there are over 700 Sogdian inscriptions. The Sogdians played a major role in trade on the Silk Roads , but also as mediators between the great religions. Many of them joined Buddhism, others Christianity, and still others Manichaeism . The occasionally depicted Nestorian crosses and Iranian fire altars can be traced back to them. Their engravings are more likely outside the religious centers and more goods handling areas . One suspects such a thing at the Shatial Bridge .

Kargah: standing Buddha (8th century)

Chilas could also have been a political center (seat of a regional prince), because inscriptions often name distinguished clients for the images shown. On the opposite, the northern bank of the Indus, near the village of Thalpan, there was apparently an important Buddhist shrine. However, large landslides and tidal waves destroyed the structures with the exception of small remains (of stupas?). Thalpan itself was devastated in 1841, although it was higher than the sacral district. Scenic representations of the sixth century of high artistic quality, which depict the prenatal existences of the Buddha ( Jataka scenes), stand out among the pictures . They adorn the rocks of Chilas-Thalpan and show clear influences from Gandhara . An example of this is the Sibi-Jataka : King Sibi, one of the many pre-existences of the Buddha, offers his flesh to save a dove.

In the northern regions there are also rock reliefs, such as the meditating Buddha of Manthal near Skardu and the approximately three meter high relief of a standing Buddha in the Kargah near Gilgit , which reveals Tibetan influence.

Anti-Buddhist currents

It has been observed since the ninth century that works from the Buddhist period were supplemented or destroyed in many places by coarser drawings. They indicate a break-in by foreign equestrian peoples who apparently could neither read nor write. There are pseudo-inscriptions that keep repeating the same circle. Frequent motifs are battle axes and sun symbols , occasionally stupas are redesigned anthropomorphically . It was probably about an upgrading of popular belief. On some rocks there are even real battles between attacking battle ax people and Buddhists who apparently defend stupas. However, such images are localized, and in many cases Buddhism seems to be "recovering", as is indicated by representations from the 10th to 11th centuries.

  • Anti-Buddhist currents

  • anthropomorphically transformed stupa

  • Battle ax

  • Sun symbols

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jataka representations at Chilas and Shatial on the Indus on thewalt.de