Foreign Influences on the Sculptures of Nimogram, Swat Valley

Nimogram, a very significant Buddhist site of Swat Valley has yielded considerable number of artifacts; the total number of artifacts recovered from this single Buddhist site is 466. The sculptures are intermingled with stones from the stupas. Not a single piece has been found in position. Side by side with the sculptures in schist there is stucco work, where a few were still in position.Many of the pieces found are fragmentary and in decay condition.The art pieces of Nimogram inform us that, that the interest of artists, is by no means limited to their religious and aesthetic aspects, important though these are to students of Buddhism and art historians. Such sculptures no doubt were used for religious purposes, but eventually became purely decorative and architectural in purport rather than exclusively religious in character. Leaving aside some individual statues the major portion is decorative and forms architectural ornamentation of stupa.The art pieces of Nimogram throw a flood of light on the life of people, the land of U iyana, the costumes of all classes from princes to poor, the furnishing of houses, weapons of war, sports, armour, ornaments, seat for riding elephant and horse, carts and carriages, horses and yoke, tools, agricultural implements, cult objects and musical instruments are all skilfully depicted and provide evidence for the origin of folk tales of the present Swat valley. People are depicted at work, play and worship, engaged in acts of devotion, marriages, donations, sports and visits of ceremony. The appearance of musicians, ascetics and wrestlers display various occupations of the people of U iyana. The forms which fairies, nymphs, water spirits and demons assumed in popular imagination are all depicted, in some cases battlemented and guarded city walls and gateways are shown suggesting security measures for the citizens. These architectural features can be seen even today in the tribal belt of Dir and Bjaur Agency.This art enjoyed an exceptionally long life. Initiated in the early Kushan times it witnessed its zenith and artistic development in the 2nd, 3rdcentuies AD. It was a long period of prosperity resulting in the production of countless sculptures, first in stone, stucco and bronze and later on the rock surface.The artifacts of the Nimogram particularly the sculptures have typical Swat style features. These typical features are thick drapery and wooden architecture. While studying the artifacts of Nimogram foreign influence can be observed on a variety of sculptures. Influences from the Greeks, Saka-Parthians and Kushan and Kushano-Sassanian were noticed.It is worth mentioning that the socio-religious forces lay the root of the Buddhist art of the Swat Valley. These forces heavily relied on the great spiritual gift made by Buddhism to the cultural life of the regions. With the introduction of Buddhism many Indian elements penetrated into Buddhist art of Swat. The foreign influence can be observed on the Individual images of Buddha as well as the relief panels fixed in stupas.For the current research some selected sculptures were selected to trace the foreign influence. There are almost 236 different sculptures of Buddhist period in the collection of Nimogram upon which foreign influence was studied. Different foreign motifs such as caryatids, atlants, Persepolitan, Corinthian, Doric and Ionic pilasters, drinking scenes, dresses, Buddha dhuni (fire alters), wine scrolls, acanthus leaves, marines deities, the god of Olympus, the entourage of Dionysus and many others from Persian and Greek art were noted in the collection of Nimogram.While studying the Buddhist art of Greater Gandhara, the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, part of the northern Panjab and eastern Afghanistan, foreign cultural influence is observed due to its cosmopolitan nature. This is why some scholars think that Gandhara art was the product of Greek or Roman artists. Alternatively it is believed that the concept of art was indigenous, but influences from all over the interacting places such as India, Central Asia, Persia, Greece and Rome were genuinely received as shown by the evidence of sculptures. …