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{{Short description|Buddhist structure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Butkara Stupa
| native_name = {{nq|بت کړہ سټوپا}}
| alternate_name =
| image = File:General_View_of_the_main_Butkara-I_Stupa.JPG
| alt =
| caption = Remains of the Butkara Stupa
| map_type = Pakistan#Gandhara
| map_alt =
| map_size =
| relief = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|34.7571|72.3622|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Swat, Pakistan|Swat]] <br> [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] <br>[[Pakistan]] {{flagicon|Pakistan}}
| region =
| type = Buddhist stupa
| part_of =
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| builder =
| material =
| built = 2nd century [[Common era|BCE]]
| abandoned =
| epochs = [[Gandhara]]
| cultures =
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| notes =
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}}

The '''Butkara Stupa''' ([[Pashto]]: بت کړه سټوپا) is an important [[Buddhist]] [[stupa]] near [[Mingora]], in the area of [[Swat (Pakistan)|Swat]], [[Pakistan]]. It may have been built by the [[Mauryan]] emperor [[Ashoka]], but it is generally dated slightly later to the 2nd century BCE.

The stupa was enlarged on five occasions during the following centuries, every time by building over, and encapsulating, the previous structure.

==Excavation==
[[Image:ButkaraStupa.jpg|thumb|Evolution of the Butkara stupa]]
The stupa was excavated by an Italian mission (IsIOAO: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), led by archaeologist Domenico Faccenna from 1956, to clarify the various steps of the construction and enlargements. The mission established that the stupa was "monumentalized" by the addition of Hellenistic architectural decorations during the 2nd century BCE, suggesting a direct involvement of the [[Indo-Greeks]], rulers of northwestern India during that period, in the development of [[Greco-Buddhist art|Greco-Buddhist architecture]].<ref>"De l'Indus a l'Oxus: archaeologie de l'Asie Centrale", Pierfrancesco Callieri, p212: "The diffusion, from the second century BCE, of Hellenistic influences in the architecture of Swat is also attested by the archaeological searches at the sanctuary of Butkara I, which saw its stupa "monumentalized" at that exact time by basal elements and decorative alcoves derived from Hellenistic architecture".</ref>

An [[Indo-Corinthian capital]] representing a Buddhist devotee within foliage has been found which had a reliquary and a coin of [[Azes II]] buried at its base, securely dating the sculpture to earlier than 20 BCE.<ref>The Turin City Museum of Ancient Art [http://www.palazzomadamatorino.it/nuovo3/mostre/index.php?lang=2 Text and photographic reference: Terre Lontane > O2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212064946/http://www.palazzomadamatorino.it/nuovo3/mostre/index.php?lang=2 |date=12 December 2006 }}</ref>

The nearby Hellenistic fortifications of [[Barikot]] are also thought to be contemporary.

A large quantity of the artifacts are preserved in the [[National Museum of Oriental Art]] and the City Museum of Ancient Oriental Art in [[Turin]] (M.A.O.).

<gallery>
File:Buthkara-1 A broad view.JPG|Ruins of Butkara I.
File:Scythian devotee Butkara I.jpg|[[Indo-Scythian]] devotee, Butkara I.
File:Capitello corinzio con busti di devoti clarified - Butkara I (Swat).jpg|[[Indo-Corinthian capital]] representing a Buddhist devotee wearing a Greek cloak ([[chlamys]]) with [[fibulae|fibula]]. Butkara Stupa, [[National Museum of Oriental Art]], [[Rome]].
File:PilarImage4.jpg|The [[Indo-Corinthian capital]] from Butkara Stupa under which a coin of [[Azes II]] was found. Dated to 20 BCE or earlier ([[Turin City Museum of Ancient Art]]).
</gallery>

==Coinage and datation==
The oldest core strata (GSt 1) revealed a coin of [[Chandragupta Maurya]] and is therefore dated to the Ashokan period.<ref name="HB">[https://books.google.com/books?id=C9_vbgkzUSkC&pg=PA49 Handbuch der Orientalistik, Kurt A. Behrendt, BRILL, 2004, p.49 sig]</ref> A coin of [[Menander I]] was found in the second oldest stratum (GSt 2).<ref name="HB"/> A coin of [[Azes II]] was found under a plinth of the third stratum (GSt 3), which is therefore dated to the end of the 1st century BCE or the beginning of the 1st century CE.<ref name="HB"/> The 4th stratum (GSt 4) contained late coins of Azes II and coins of the Kushan [[Kujula Kadphises]].<ref name="HB"/>

==Seated Buddha statue==
[[File:Butkara I stupa in-situ seated Buddha.jpg|thumb|right|Butkara I stupa, in-situ seated Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE.<ref name="JHR">{{cite journal |last1=Rhi |first1=Ju-Hyung |title=From Bodhisattva to Buddha: The Beginning of Iconic Representation in Buddhist Art |journal=Artibus Asiae |volume=54 |issue=3/4 |date=1994 |pages=220, Fig.12 |doi=10.2307/3250056 |jstor=3250056 }}</ref>]]
The in-situ seated Buddha (or [[Bodhisattva]]) statue at Butkara is considered one of the earliest, if not the earliest, known iconographical statues of the Buddha in northwestern India.<ref name="JHR"/> Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw considers that the statue dates to the late 1st century BCE to the early 1st century, as it was discovered in the GSt 3 stratum that contained a coins of [[Azes II]].<ref name="JHR"/> More conservative estimates date it to the 1st-2nd century CE, roughly at the same time the first known statues of the Buddha were made in the [[Mathura art|art of Mathura]].<ref name="JHR"/> Probably the earliest known statue of the Buddha in the [[Mathura art|art of Mathura]] is the "[[:File:Isapur Buddha.jpg|Isapur Buddha]]", dated to circa 15 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Quintanilla |first1=Sonya Rhie |title=History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004155374 |pages=199–206, 204 for the exact date |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA199 |language=en}}</ref> This would make the creation of the Buddha image an approximately simultaneous phenomenon between the two geographical areas.<ref name="JHR"/>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:BuddhaSwatButkaraI2ndcentury.JPG|Head of the Buddha. Butkara I, 2nd century CE
Image:SwatButkaraI1stcenturyRelief.JPG|Buddhist relief with warrior. Butkara I, 1st century CE.
File:Butkara I Swat 1.jpg|Statue at the site
File:Alchon devotee, Butkara I (construction phase 4), 5th century CE.jpg|[[Alchon Hun]] devotee, Butkara I (construction phase 4), 5th century CE.<ref name="Vaissiere2007">{{cite journal |title=A Note on the Schøyen Copper Scroll: Bactrian or Indian? |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |year=2007 |last=de la Vaissiere |first=Etienne |volume=21 |page=127 |jstor=i24047314 |url=https://ja.scribd.com/document/346304237/A-Note-on-the-Schoyen-copper-scroll-Bact-pdf |format=PDF |access-date=8 July 2018 }}</ref>
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Butkara}}
* [[Chakhil-i-Ghoundi stupa]]

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060507232303/http://www.isiao.it/DOC/Missione_ArcheologicaItaliana_IsIAOPakistan.pdf Report of the Italian Archaeological Mission] (Pdf, Italian)
* Domenico Faccenna, Butkara I (Swat, Pakistan), 1956–1962, Roma, 1962-1981

==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/OnTheCuspOfAnEraArtInThePreKuaWorldDMSrinivasanEdBrill_201807/page/n459 Other capitals from Butkara I] in {{cite book |last1=Srinivasan |first1=D.M. |title=On The Cusp Of An Era Art In The Pre Kuṣāṇa World|date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |pages=Fig. 7.18 and 7.19 |url=https://archive.org/details/OnTheCuspOfAnEraArtInThePreKuaWorldDMSrinivasanEdBrill_201807/page/n459 |language=English}}

{{Gandhara|state=expanded}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]
[[Category:Buddhism in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Stupas in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Buddhist sites in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Maurya Empire]]
[[Category:Mauryan art]]
[[Category:Indo-Aryan archaeological sites]]

Butkara Stupa - Revision history

Bharatwiki Socrates at 01:21, 14 January 2024