Begram Web

The consistent subject matter in the majority of bone and ivory carvings from Begram has been viewed by some scholars as supportive of their larger argument that the finds as a whole were a royal treasure located in the palace of the summer residence of the Kushan kings. In particular, it has been argued that the subjects depicted are narratives from the women’s quarters or harem of the palace, and that these quarters exclusively within the royal prerogative indicate that the items on which they were displayed were likewise part of the royal retinue. This section reexamines these assessments of the carving subject matter, and concludes that the depictions may just as well, and perhaps more likely, support the argument that the objects fell outside the exclusively royal confines and were instead intended for a wider world of trade.

The great majority of images presented on the Begram carvings are of women, and most of the scenes in which they are depicted are set in semi-enclosed spaces suggested by gateways, doors and fences. The most beautiful and elaborate examples of women standing under a gateway is presented by an ensemble of high relief plaques (Plates 78, 79 and 80) in which the gateways are depicted consisting of various types of carved pillars and architraves. A less intricately carved series of plaques shows similar scenes of pairs of women standing under an arched gateway or door (Plates 26-45). In other plaques in which an entryway is not so clearly distinguishable, such as those which depict, within a square frame, pairs of women sitting on a bench or bed, the frames give the viewer a sense of looking through a window or door (Plates 12-20).

Larger settings in which groups of women are depicted are offered in a series of plaques in relief (Plates 121-144). Small gateways are depicted at regular intervals, either topped by an Indian arch or joined by slightly curving architraves. Parts of balustrades are shown on either side of the gateways, which seems to indicate that the area was enclosed but not completely sealed off. This is also indicated by the doors of the gateways which are left slightly ajar, as if to invite the viewer to the secrets behind it. Between the gateways are scenes of women relaxing and playing musical instruments. In one example, a woman is shown riding a horse while her companions hold musical instruments (Plate 139).

In addition to the above scenes which are set at the entrance or perimeter of some type of enclosure, a few depictions suggest what takes place within the enclosure. In the beautiful incised plaque described in section 3.1 and thought to be the top of a footstool, two women are shown relaxing on small stools with two women in attendance. The central scene is surrounded by a band with a geometric motif which might be an abstract indication of an architectural enclosure; this, in turn, is surrounded by a garden, with animals and flowers indicated by an outer band depicting a scroll (Plate 57).

Regardless of the setting or the specific scene, many women are shown in quite seductive poses, as if inviting the viewer to step through the doorways into their world. It is a world shown not only as sexual but also as tranquil and relaxing, with time for dancing and other playful activity. The multiple depictions of trees and flowers suggest gardens or forests in which different types of animals are depicted, including those that can be considered tamed, such as ducks, parrots, and cats, those that may be either wild or domesticated, such as a water buffalo and elephants, and lions. In some cases, a decorative band depicting waves may be considered suggestive of the presence of a body of water.

Men are shown hardly at all on the Begram ivory and bone carvings, and rarely in the company of women, save for one example a scene which depicts a man flanked by rows of female attendants (Plate 207) and another with a woman joining men attacking an elephant (Plates 197-198). The few men who do appear are shown as elephant tamers and hunters in scenes set outside any enclosed structure. The only scene in which a man seems to be depicted within an enclosure flanked by women is that of the male with his attendants, described above.

Some scholars have considered the imagery on the carvings as a whole to present a unified topic, given the consistency of themes. J. Auboyer came to believe that the depictions are actual scenes from the royal women’s quarters, especially in view of the small numbers of male figures shown (1954:61). Although the harem itself would have been forbidden to artisans, Auboyer argued that they may have gotten their subject examples from the abodes of courtesans.

At first glance, the hypothesis of depictions on the majority of the Begram carvings of a harem seems quite plausible when compared with Kautilya’s description of a harem in chapters XX an XXI of the first book of his Arthasastra:

Much of the description of the harem in the Arthasastra correlates with imagery found on the Begram ivory and bone carvings: for example, the separate compartments, the animals present, the women guards and the small ‘dwarfish’ figures. However, one dominant aspect of the imagery may militate strongly against the interpretation of a harem. That is the suggested accessibility of the enclosure, as indicated by the slightly open doors and gateways, combined with the presence of the women in the entryways to the enclosure in seductive alluring poses. Given the extraordinary precautions taken to isolate the harem -- the Arthasastra specifically states that no outsider was to have contact with the harem and not even “women of high birth” had access -- it seems unlikely that an actual king’s harem would be depicted with such openness.

A way to reconcile the seductive openness of the imagery is to consider the scenes not of the harem but rather of the houses or enclosures belonging to courtesans. J. Auboyer, when proposing her hypothesis of the harem, recognizes that the images may have come directly from the quarters of courtesans. And if they literally represent these quarters, it may also be possible that they are intended to be viewed as such. To begin an examination of this hypothesis, it should first be noted that courtesans were a social class which enjoyed high status in ancient India. They were connected not only to the court but to other high echelons of society, as is revealed in the Arthasastra:

The fact that the courtesans formed a respected class is further indicated by an undated inscription on a carved stone Jain votive slab found at Mathura, which reads:

According to these and other sources, then, courtesans had a special, relatively well-respected place in society, with fixed rights and duties. They could choose to be affiliated either with the court or with private individuals (such as merchants, or the hunters and horse riders depicted in the Begram carvings) and could entertain in their own dwellings. And a particular aspect of the courtesan’s duty was to be trained in the art of “attracting and captivating” men.

In sum, the images on the Begram carvings of women seeking to entice and to draw into their quarters seem much closer to the descriptions of courtesans than of the denizens of a tightly-sealed harem. And it may also be argued that artisans would have been more likely to take the liberty of portraying women in such openly seductive (un)dress and poses if the women they represented were, at least as a class, accessible to those artisans and to the merchants and upper echelon customers of those merchants who may have been the ‘market’ for both the courtesans and the carvings.

The second general category of imagery on the Begram carvings are mythological beings. Judging from the lack of attributes characteristic of the divine and semi-divine in Indian mythology, the majority of women depicted on the Begram ivory and bone objects should not be viewed as anything other than fully worldly beings. However, there are a few examples of anthropomorphic figures interacting with mythological beings, and here it may be warranted to view the mythological imagery as something more than common decorative themes.

Three freestanding ivory figurines from Begram, which may have formed part of furniture, are shown standing on the mythological creature known as the makara (Plate 199, 200 and 201). As discussed in section 3.1.2, the makara appeared frequently as a decorative motif in ancient Indian art and also was associated with the river goddess Ganga. The three figurines seem to have formed part of the same ensemble, as indicated by their close proximity to each other upon discovery. In fact it seems likely they formed the caryatids of a single piece of furniture, such as a small table; this is indicated by the similar makara bases, which give stability in unison. Though they were intended to stand together, each female figurine appears somewhat different. The joint function and character differentiation among these female figures, then, seems to indicate that they probably were not each meant to be a representation of the same individual goddess but were rather making decorative use of the makara as a common motif from Indian art.

Other scenes showing a combination of human and mythological beings are depicted on several plaques in relief with openwork. Double-faced plaques show women seated on top of composite creatures (Plates 202, 203, 204 and 205). One of these creatures has the body of a horse or feline and the head of a human, and another has the head of a feline with the beak of a parrot (see Sardula in section 3.1.2). Possibly derived from the Classical centaur or Near Eastern examples of hybrid human-animal figures, these types of images are known in India as ihåm®ga, or hybrid animals (Liebert 1986:106). They are well known decorative themes from the arts of Sañci and Mathura, although their exact representational meaning is unclear.

Another arguably mythological theme is shown on several incised plaques previously described in section 3.2.3. These depict hunters on some type of platform chasing and attacking a flying feline, a bovine and elephants (Plates 191- 196). The mythological character of these scenes is suggested by the floating platform which appears without wheels or any source of power, by the winged felines and by the flaming tail of the bovine. In the same style and technique, another plaque in this series depicts two kinnaras (see section 3.1.2) facing each other (Plate 341). It could be that the hunters on the platforms form part of the same group of semi-divine beings which includes the kinnaras and gandharvas[1], which live in a sphere directly above the earth.

The presence of these few scenes which may be based on mythological themes does not alter the fact that the vast majority of the imagery on the carvings from Begram fully belong to the mundane world. There seems to be no basis for arguing that the presence of a few scenes with mythological elements somehow transforms all the scenes to a semi-divine setting. Most of the mythological imagery used is secondary to the main themes depicting mortal women and animals and seems to have functioned either as decorative motifs or as enhancement to the sense of sexuality in the main scenes (such as the nagas or snakes and the yak∑as and yak∑is which are symbols of fertility).

Aside from these combined anthropomorphic forms, the second general category of mythological imagery also includes a few particular emblems which symbolize religious creeds, and a narrative relief which may harbor elements of a religious moral code. As described in section 3.3, the symbols include several well known in Buddhism and Jainism, such as the purnaghata, triratna, srivatsa, matsyayugma, and the dharmacakra. The vase of flowers, purnaghata, the wheel, dharmacakra, and the conch, or sankha, can be conceived of as mere decorative, geometric and naturalistic images, respectively; the srivatsa, which is in the shape of the honeysuckle, can also be considered a decorative motif. The triratna, however, cannot be taken for either a geometric or naturalistic image; its peculiar form does not permit either reading. And when the several motifs mentioned above are combined, they form an auspicious group known as a∑†ama∫gala which would have been well-known, at least as a form, to the Begram artisans.

religious purpose in the occasional inclusion of such symbols by the carvers of the Begram ivory and bone objects. There was no focus on nor centrality to these symbols within the scenes in which they appear, and the incorporation of some of these symbols seems to indicate that their content was not intended to distract from the otherwise mundane character of the Begram imagery, a casual incorporation which is itself characteristic of the art of ancient India.

Finally, within the category of mythological or religious imagery, two carvings in flat relief depicting some type of narrative need to be addressed. In one plaque, a horse is depicted in the company of a woman and a man wearing a pointed cap is being visited by a group of men and women (Plate 171). In the second plaque, a hermit is standing in front of a small hut, with a deer sitting next to the entrance (Plate 172) the hermit, recognizable by his plaited hair, is greeting a group of visiting women, the first of whom is kneeling and holding her hands in añjali or reverence; in the background, another hermit watches the scene in the foreground.

These two narratives were identified by A. Foucher as Jataka[2] N°253, and as the Rsyasriga Jataka (Isisinga Jataka) (Foucher 1947:124-130). Jataka N°253 tells the story of a merchant who buys a thoroughbred horse and sells it to a king; the horse is not given the proper treatment and so has gone on a hunger strike. According to Foucher, the scene in the Begram plaque depicts, from left to right, the noble animal, the queen, the horse trader, the king and his amazons. The horse trader, who is depicted in a Scythian costume and so probably is meant to be from the northwest, holds up a small oil lamp for the night visit of the king and his entourage. An interesting point regarding the possible place of origin of some of the Begram carvings is Foucher’s remark that the garb worn by the king is too heavy for the climate of central India and so places the carver of this ivory plaque in the northwest (Foucher 1947:126 footnote).

The second Begram plaque which, according to Foucher, shows a scene from the R∑yaß®∫ga Jataka, depicts a group of men and women visiting a hermit or sage. In the left a simple hut is shown, in front of the door of which lies a deer. Next to this scene, the hermit is shown greeting three women and a man who seems to be another hermit, recognizable by the loose, hanging hair. The woman in front is on her knees and holds her hands in the gesture of reverence, añjali. The Jataka tells the story of the romance of a young hermit, born to the Bodhisattva and a deer, and a princess. The scene depicted in the Begram plaque seems to be the moment when the young hermit and his princess visit his father at the hermitage to receive his blessings on their union. This particular Jataka was a popular theme in the sculptural art of India, as shown by reliefs from Sañci, Mathura and Gandhara.

If Foucher is right, these plaques are doubly unusual. They are the only ones from Begram which have a recognizable narrative. And they are also relatively unusual in style. Carved in a flat relief with the undecorated parts chiseled away, there are only two other plaques depicting human figures (pairs of women) in this style (Plates 61- 62). The other flat relief plaques are few and all have zoomorphic designs.

The depiction of Buddhist narratives raises the question of the extent to which these plaques are out of harmony with the rest of the Begram carvings. Two points can be raised in this regard. First, while there are two other Begram plaques in this style and technique, those plaques depict pairs of women in the same fashion of most of the other Begram carvings, which is to say without any recognizable narrative. And second, the other religious images (such as the triratna, discussed above) which appear in the carvings seem to be used as mere decorative motifs devoid of a specific religious content.

Thus, it could be argued that this particular pair of carvings was made for a specific, different ‘consumer’ than the other Begram plaques, such as a monastery, or for a private person who would make them a religious donation. These possibilities remain highly speculative, however, since it is also likely that the carvers of these Begram plaques were merely representing narrative themes that were familiar to them without any specifically religious ‘market’ for the objects.

In conclusion, it seems that the imagery in the Begram ivory and bone objects may give some indications about the carvers and the audience or ‘market’ they were intended to serve. J. Auboyer’s hypothesis that this Begram furniture would have belonged to the harem of the royal court in Begram can be rebutted by the argument that the imagery on the carvings seems more likely to depict scenes set in the dwellings of courtesans. In contrast to a harem, these dwellings would have been accessible to higher ranking artisans and merchants. And the images could well have been chosen and executed specifically for their enticing qualities, making the objects well suited to commercial trade in eastern ‘exotica’[3]. The presence of religious symbols and narratives are neither dominant nor prevalent enough to undercut the general theme of ‘accessible’ women in their quarters, which is presented on the great majority of the Begram carvings, and so fail to detract from the notion that these worldly depictions were intended for equally worldly destinations.

[1] Gandharvas are often known as musicians to the gods and are sometimes represented in an hybrid form, half human and either half bird or half animal.

[2] Stories of the Buddha’s former births.

[3] Commercial trade in such items that is witnessed, for example, by the find of similar ivories in a private house in Pompeii and Dalver’zin-tepe, Uzbekistan, respectively. See section 4.2

Begram Ivory and Bone Carvings