The Silver Reliquary of Indravarman is an inscribed silver Buddhist reliquary dedicated by Apracaraja king Indravarman in the 1st century BCE,The item belongs to the Shumei Culture Foundation in Otsu, Japan and was loaned to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, when it was studied by Richard Salomon of the University of Washington, who examined and studied the inscriptions and published his results in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol 116, No 3, 1996, pp 1418-452. which has been found presumably in the Bajaur area of Gandhara.IMPORTANT: Kapisa formed the heart of ancient Kamboja. In fact, scholars assert that Kapisa is an alternative name for the Kamboja. See main article: Kapisa Province Believed to have been fabricated at Taxila, the silver reliquary consists of two parts—the base and the cover—both being fluted,Fluting is an Iranian motif (Richard Salomon). and the cover being topped by a figure of long horned Ibex. It has been dated to around the eighth or ninth decades of the 1st century BCE and bears six inscriptions written in pointillē style, in Kharoshthi script and Gandhari/north-western Prakrit. In form, the silver vessel is wholly atypical of Buddhist reliquaries and is said to have been a wine goblet, similar to others found in Gandhara and Kapisa regions. The vessel was later reused by Apraca king Indravarman as a Reliquary to enshrine Buddhist relics in a stüpa raised by Indravarman. The inscriptions on the silver reliquary provide important new information not only about the history of the kings of Apraca dynasty themselves but also about their relationships with other rulers of the far north-western region of traditional India i.e. modern northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan around the beginning of Christian era.
The inscriptions on the silver reliquary have been investigated by Richard Salomon of the University of Washington, in an article published in the Journal of the American Oriental Society.
Form and function The lower part of the reliquary with fluted surface, carination and small stem and foot is extremely similar to the "drinking goblets" that have been found in good numbers mainly in Gandhara (Taxila) and Kapisa (Kapisi). The lower part of the reliquary resembles the ceremonial drinking cups depicted in ancient Gandharan art and culture relief. Gandharan art of Bacchanalian or Dionysiac drinking scenes are the motifs which represent assimilation of local folk traditions of remote river valleys of the Kafiristan where viticulture and wine festivals are known to have been widely practiced. Similar customs are also well documented in recent times in the region of Nuristan (pre-Islamic Kafiristan) which area had formed integral parts of ancient Kapisa. Bajaur, the presumed provenance of the silver reliquary, was part of the ancient Kapisa. In this very region of Kafiristan or ancient Kapisa, the heirloom silver wine cups Called ürei in Waigali. with features very similar to those of old Gandhara and Kapisa goblets are still found and before the Islamization of Kafiristan, these silver wine cups were important ritual objects and symbols of social status.Dolke, Pokaler og Magiske Soer i Nuristan / Silver, Gold and Iron: Concerning Katara Urei, and Magic lake of Nuristan, KUML, 1974, pp 253-255, Schuyler Jones Martha Carter associates the well attested wine festival tradition of the valleys of Hindukush with Dionysiac scenes in Gandharan art in general and heirloom silver cups of the modern Nuristanis with Gandharan goblets in particular which is quite persuasive.Dionysiac Festivals and Gandharan Imagery, Res Orienttales 4, pp 51-59, Martha CarterIt is worthy of note here that the warlike, highly independent and militarily dominating Siyah-posh clans like Kam/Kamoj/Kamtoj of Kafiristan/Nuristan the modern representatives of the ancient Kambojas of Kapisa territory (See: Mountstuart Elphinstone, "An account of the kingdom of Caubol", fn p 619; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1843, p 140; Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1874, p 260 fn; Die altpersischen Keilinschriften: Im Grundtexte mit Uebersetzung, Grammatik und Glossar, 1881, p 86, Friedrich Spiegel; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 133, fn, Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Banerjee; The Achaemenids and India, 1974, p 13, Dr S Chattopadhyaya; Vishnu Purana, p 374, fn, H. H. Wilson; The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval India, Numdo Lal Dey).
According to Dr Richard Salomon, "if the association is even approximately correct, it may explain what the new silver reliquary originally may have been. It was undoubtedly a ceremonial silver drinking cup of Indo-Iranian king Kharaosta and later of his successor prince Indravarman who converted it into a sacred reliquary for the bones of Buddha". The Nuristani customs represents the survival in remote region of a local (Bajaur) tradition of ritual wine drinking which, in Buddhist world of Gandhara, may have been assimilated to and rationalized by the cosmological realm of the 'Sadamattas', who dwell on the slope of Mt Meru."Dionysiac Festivals and Gandharan Imagery." Res Orientals 4 ("Banquets d'Orient"), 1992, p 57, Martha Carter. The figure of Ibex topping the cover of the reliquary definitely implies Trans-Pamirian (Central Asian) influence and establishes a proof of early migration of people (Kambojas) from the Transoxian region (i.e., the Parama Kamboja of Central Asia or Scythian region) into the Kabul valley. The Ibex motif is quintessentially characteristic of Iranian and Central Asian (Scythian) art and culture. It reflects the arrival and assimilation, by whatever geographic route or routes, of this ancient Central Asian/Iranian motif into the Gandharan world in Pre-Christian times. And lastly, the fluting in the surfaces of the silver reliquary is also an Iranian motif. Thus the Ibex motif combined with wine drinking culture of the goblet itself amply illustrates the influx of regional and extra-regional cultural elements into the eclectic art and culture of Gandhara of the Indo-Iranian/Indo-Scythian period which is indeed reflected in the silver reliquary of prince Indravarman.
Contents of inscriptions + Inscription of the Silver Reliquary of IndravarmanBaums, Stefan. (2012). Catalog and Revised Text and Translations of Gandhāran Reliquary Inscriptions. Gandhāran Buddhist Reliquaries. D. Jongeward. Seattle, University of Washington PressRichard Salomon, An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1996), pp. 418-452InscriptionOriginal (Kharosthi script)TransliterationEnglish translation Inscription I naṃ Inscription II Of the son of the great satrap, the yagu king, Kharahostes, 28 staters, 4 dhānaka, 2 māṣa Inscription III Of prince Indravarma, 28 staters, 1 drachm Inscription IV Of prince Indravarma, 43 staters Inscription V The son of the general Viśpavarma, the prince Indravarma, with his wife, here these relics establishes in his personal stupa. General Viśpavarma and Śiśireṇa, the general'swife, are honoured. Indravasu, king of Apraca, and Vasumitra, who has a living son, are honoured. General Indravarma and Utara, the wife of the general, are honoured.Vijayamitra, the Avaca king, together with his wife, is honoured. The community of all relatives is honoured. All beings are honoured. All beings are brought to nirvana. Inscription VI The son of the general Vispavarma, the prince Indravarma, together with his wife, here these relics establishes in his personal stupa. The general Vispavarma and Śiśireṇa,the wife of the general, are honoured. Indravasu the Apaca king, and Vasumitra, who has a living son, are honoured. General Indravarma is honoured. Utara,the wife of the general, is honoured. Vijatamitra, king of Avaca, together with his wife, is honoured. The community of all beings is honoured and all beingsare honoured. All beings are brought to nirvana.
Apracarajas' relations with yuvaraja Kharaosta The inscriptions refer to several well-known historical figures and also introduce some previously unknown persons. Noteworthy among the former are prince Indravarman and king Khara(y)osta who is to be identified with ruler Kharahostes or Kharaosta who had been known from numismatics and Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions. The Inscription no. II also establishes that king Kharaosta was also the original owner and the silver vessel was later inherited by Apraca dynasty. Thus it very offers tantalizing hints of some close relationship between king Kharaosta and the Apraca kings of Bajaur.
Bajaur, the home of Aspasioi clan The territory around the findspot for the silver reliquary was the stronghold of the warlike Indo-Iranian people called AspasioiArrian calls them Aspasioi. The people derived their name from Iranian Aspa = horse. Pāṇini calls them Aśvayanas. (Aspasian) who had formed the western branch of the AshvakasFrom Sanskrit Ashva = horse. Arrian calls them Assakenoi. They were the eastern branch of the Ashvakas mentioned as Ashvakayanas by Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi, Ashvakas in Mahabharata. of the Sanskrit texts.It is also important to note that the name of one of the kings of Apraca dynasty is Aspavarman. This king has also been referred to simply as Aspa i.e. Aspa-bhrata-putrasa. Aspavarman was son of Apraca king Indravarman. The "Aspa" part of the name (Aspavarman) alludes to connections with the Aspasians or Aspasioi of Arrian.Many kings of Apraca dynasty have used Varman as the surname or last name. Varman as surname implies Kshatriya caste and has been used by Ksatyriya lineages in ancient times (See entry "Varman" in Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary; See also entry "Varman" in: Cologne Digital Sanskrit English Dictionary). It is worthy to note that the Kambojas have repeatedly been described as Kshatriyas in ancient Indian texts (See:Pāṇini's Astadhyayi Sutra 4.1.168-175; Harivamsa 14.19-20; Vayu Purana, 88.127-43; Manusmriti X.43-44; Mahabharata 13.33.20-21); Cf also: (Mahabharata 13.35.17-18); Kautiliya's Arthashastra 11.1.1-4. Thus the fact that many kings of the Apraca dynasty used Varman last name indicates that the Apraca dynasty belonged to Kshatriya lineage and hence most likely belonged to the Ashvaka branch of the Indo-Iranian Kamboja tribe. Prashant Srivastava of the University of Lucknow, has in a research monograph highlighted the significant role played by the family of the Apraca kings in ancient Indian history, and connected this family of the Apraca kings with the Ashvaka clan. But, the Ashvaka clan was none else than a sub-branch of the greater Kamboja tribe spread on either side of the Hindukush. (See Ashvakas.) These people, identified as sub-branch of the Kambojas, had earlier offered stubborn resistance to Macedonian invader Alexander in 326 BCE and later also constituted an important component of the grand army of Chandragupta Maurya.Mudrarakshasa Act II; History of Porus, 1967, pp 9, 89, Dr Buddha Praksha.They find pre-eminent mention as Kambojas in the Rock Edicts V as well XIII of king Ashoka (reign 273 BCE to 232 BCE) located in Shabaz Garhi in Peshawar Valley and Mansehra District of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. According to Dr Bailey, the dynastic/geographic title Apraca/Apaca/Avaca may underlie the modern toponym Bajaur.; cf.
Kharayosta or Kharaosta king vs Apraca dynasty