The Bajaur casket, also called the Indravarma reliquary, year 63,Nouvelles inscriptions Saka : ère d'Eucratide, ère d'Azès, ère Vikrama, ère de Kaniska, Gérard Fussman, Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, Year 1980 Volume 67 Number 1 pp. 1-44 or sometimes referred to as the Avaca inscription, is an ancient reliquary from the area of Bajaur in ancient Gandhara, in the present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is dated to around 5–6 CE.Metropolitan Museum of Art. It proves the involvement of the kings of the Apraca, in particular King Indravarman, in Buddhism. The casket is made of schist.
The inscription which is written in Kharoshthi: + Inscription of the Bajaur casketBaums, Stefan. (2012). Catalog and Revised Text and Translations of Gandhāran Reliquary Inscriptions. Gandhāran Buddhist Reliquaries. D. Jongeward. Seattle, University of Washington PressInscriptionOriginal (Kharosthi script)TransliterationEnglish translation Line 1 In the year sixty-third - 63 - of the great king Azes I, during the month of Kārttika, on the sixteenth day, at this moment, the Caitrika prince Indravarma, son of the king of Apraca Line 2 established this relic of the Holy Śākya sage in a secure, deep, and previously unestablished, place. He produces Brahman merit together with his mother Rukhuṇaka, who has a living son, wife of the king of Apraca; Line 3 together with his maternal uncle Ramaka, together with his maternal uncle's wife Daṣaka, together with his sisters and wife, Vasavadata, Mahaveda, and Ṇika, and the lady of the house, Utara, Line 4 and in honour of his father Viṣṇuvarma, king of the Apraca. Line 5 His brother, Vaga, the general, is honoured, and Vijayamitra, king of the Apraca. His mother's sister Bhaïdata is honoured. Line 6 And these relics from a Maurya period stupa, on which a miracle has been performed, are established in a safe, secure, and central establishment Line 7 vasia fifty
The inscription was highly useful in clarifying the little-known Apraca dynasty.
Notes
References
See also Cetiya Bimaran reliquary Kanishka reliquary Rukhuna reliquary Apracharajas Bajaur