The Afghans are said to be the first to have Buddha statues and give a face to Buddha. The Bimaran Casket is a small, gold reliquary which bears the earliest dateable representation of the Buddha in human form. Earlier portrays of the Buddha took the form of symbols, such as footprints, a dharma wheel, or an empty throne shaded by a parasol. The reliquary was discovered with coins of the 1st century AD in one of the many Buddhist stupas scattered across the valleys and foothills of eastern Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush.
The size and intricate detailing of the Bimaran Casket set it apart from the handful of other, much smaller and plain gold reliquaries that have been found in Greater Gandhara. Questions still remain about where and by whom it was manufactured, although there are links with the spectacular gold objects found in the burial mounds of Tillya Tepe, in northern Afghanistan, which are believed to date to c.1st century AD.
The size and intricate detailing of the Bimaran Casket set it apart from the handful of other, much smaller and plain gold reliquaries that have been found in Greater Gandhara. Questions still remain about where and by whom it was manufactured, although there are links with the spectacular gold objects found in the burial mounds of Tillya Tepe, in northern Afghanistan, which are believed to date to c.1st century AD.
