Kashmir Smast - Description

Description

A number of the cells have wooden interiors, carved with elaborate Hindu and Buddhist iconography. Remarkably, excavations at the Kashmir Smast site have not only brought forth artifacts of extreme historical importance but have also uncovered one of the most well organized town planning systems in ancient Gandhara.

General Cunningham in “The Ancient Geography of India” and in the “Archaeological Survey Reports”, outlines the principal ancient sites in Gandhara, which at that time was part of the Yusufzai subdivision. Among the sites covered is the Kashmir Smast.

The Kashmir Smast sites are described by Cunningham as cave temples situated near the summit of the Sakri ridge of Pajja, and approached from the village in Babozai in the tappah Baezai. Cunningham associated the Kashmir Smast with the cave of Prince Sudana in Mount Dantalok, described by the contemporary Chinese traveler Hsuan-tsang.

A detailed discussion of the site in the Gazeteer of the Peshawar district 1897-1898 states the following:

“This cave has not been thoroughly explored yet… A little way below the level of the cave, and opposite, there are the ruins of a small city, the walls of which still stand and are in good preservation…”

“The cave is situated on a cliff looking towards the south-west below the ridge on which the Kashmir Burj stands. A road from Pirsai crosses the ridge, which is practicable for most of the distance for a good hill pony. Another footpath leads to Babozai direct from the cave…”

It goes on to describe the layout of the caves:

“There are three chambers in the limestone rock, of which the first two open into each other, and the third is reached by a winding flight of steps. The length of the first two chambers from the entrance is 322 feet (98 m), and the height of the first about 60, and of the second about 100 feet (30 m). The width of the first cave is 81 feet (25 m) and of the second 90 feet (27 m), and fully between them about 40 feet (12 m). The third cave is 80 feet (24 m) high, and above 80 feet (24 m) in diameter, with an opening in the roof which admits light and air, so that the air throughout is pure…”

“In the third cave there is a square temple built on a dome-shaped rock of stalagmite, which was evidently the holiest shrine. In the first cave there is an octagonal shrine just inside the entrance which contained a large wooden coffin, and in a similar shrine near the right wall some carved wooden plaques with figures of a fakir dancing and a woman giving flowers to the fakir, and portions of a wooden box were found. In the center room there is a large square shrine, and a water tank 13 feet (4.0 m) wide, 20 feet (6.1 m) long, and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep. About 100 feet (30 m) below the cave towards Babozai on a plateau there are remains of a considerable fort… The Kashmir Burj and another on a western spur of Pajja were also evidently outposts to guard this shrine. The entrance to the cave is difficult as the old masonry steps have fallen down and the cliff is very precipitous…”

“There are well built stone castles dating back to Buddhist times all along the northern hills. One near Saughar in Baezai is specially interesting, as the care taken to bring down in a small stone duct that scanty supply of water from a spring, which still exists in the hill above the castle or monastery, would seem to show that the water supply was not much more plentiful then than it is at present.”

What is being described here is an enclosed and fortified complex comprising a city and temples built into natural caves. The presence of walls and a water system serving the area would indicate a certain level of economic independence exerted in the region.