DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36956#0139
The final period of rock-art in the Indus Valley
Certainly, the situation is different here. The latest petroglyphs observed
in this area display peculiarities that bring them close to the paintings in
the monasteries of Alchi, that is to say, under the influence of the second
wave of Buddhist missionary activities in the 11th century A.D. They
had permanent success in Ladakh as well as in Baltistan, which, how-
ever, later became Islamic due to inroads from Kashmir. The inscrip-
tions observed in the same context would allow a dating parallel to that
of Alchi.
There was an attempt to take these carvings as a starting point for dis-
cerning a last Buddhist horizon. We should rather adopt a more modest
explanation, namely the appearance of pilgrims on the way to Swat,
which was considered to be the fabulous homeland of Padmasambhava.
A similar inscription was identified at the eastern entrance to the defile
of Rondu; the vivid description of a journey to Swat was published by
Tucci (1940). More inscriptions in Tibetan were discovered in the neigh-
bourhood of a former Buddhist monastery situated in the mountains
above the township of Shigar. Perhaps they were made by later pilgrims.
The general tendency in the areas south of the Pamirs and west of the
Tibetan Plateau was a decline in writing skills. Even the Iranian sect that
had opposed the Buddhists and had left a symbolic representation of the
conflict, was illiterate. The usual argument for the scholar, in pursuit of
exact dates and palaeographic identification, suddenly fails. This may
have occurred in the 9th century, and apparently, no Little Tradition
perpetuates the Great one. North of the Gilgit River there are rocks
abounding with simple figures, goats which cannot be distinguished
from poorly depicted ibexes, and men on horseback, but no inscriptions.
Thus, exact datings are not possible (Hallier 1991).
There is another group of carvings which is certainly late and not in-
spired by religious ideas. In the valley which descends to the site of Chi-
123
Certainly, the situation is different here. The latest petroglyphs observed
in this area display peculiarities that bring them close to the paintings in
the monasteries of Alchi, that is to say, under the influence of the second
wave of Buddhist missionary activities in the 11th century A.D. They
had permanent success in Ladakh as well as in Baltistan, which, how-
ever, later became Islamic due to inroads from Kashmir. The inscrip-
tions observed in the same context would allow a dating parallel to that
of Alchi.
There was an attempt to take these carvings as a starting point for dis-
cerning a last Buddhist horizon. We should rather adopt a more modest
explanation, namely the appearance of pilgrims on the way to Swat,
which was considered to be the fabulous homeland of Padmasambhava.
A similar inscription was identified at the eastern entrance to the defile
of Rondu; the vivid description of a journey to Swat was published by
Tucci (1940). More inscriptions in Tibetan were discovered in the neigh-
bourhood of a former Buddhist monastery situated in the mountains
above the township of Shigar. Perhaps they were made by later pilgrims.
The general tendency in the areas south of the Pamirs and west of the
Tibetan Plateau was a decline in writing skills. Even the Iranian sect that
had opposed the Buddhists and had left a symbolic representation of the
conflict, was illiterate. The usual argument for the scholar, in pursuit of
exact dates and palaeographic identification, suddenly fails. This may
have occurred in the 9th century, and apparently, no Little Tradition
perpetuates the Great one. North of the Gilgit River there are rocks
abounding with simple figures, goats which cannot be distinguished
from poorly depicted ibexes, and men on horseback, but no inscriptions.
Thus, exact datings are not possible (Hallier 1991).
There is another group of carvings which is certainly late and not in-
spired by religious ideas. In the valley which descends to the site of Chi-
123