3 days ago
A photography exhibition puts the spotlight on the oldest Buddhist site in Jammu & Kashmir
Artefacts yielded from an excavation of Ambaran between 1999 and 2000, an archaeological site in Jammu's Akhnoor, form the subject of an ongoing photography exhibition at Delhi's National Museum.
Titled 'Ambaran: The Historic Buddhist Citadel of J&K' the show by journalist and photographer Vijay Kranti features images of terracotta heads, pottery, coral jewellery and silver coins.
Situated on the bank of Chenab, the site is located at the entry point of Akhnoor, about 30 km north of Jammu. Kranti notes that the Buddhist site, most probably a monastery, remained active for about 900 years between the 2nd century BC and 7th century AD, a period belonging to the Pre-Kushan, Kushan and Post-Kushan Gupta periods.
One of the photographs show a circular stone and brick base which helped archaeologists conclude the existence of a spoked wheel stupa. 'It was the most distinguishing proof,' the exhibition notes, adding, 'This circular base of eight-metre diameter, presents eight spokes, distributed in typical geographic Buddhist style, is supported on the outside by a 1.20 metre thick wall of baked bricks.'
A version of the exhibition was showcased in 2011, first in Delhi and then in Jammu, after Kranti was invited by the late Congress politician from the state, Madan Lal Sharma, to photograph the findings in order to put Akhnoor on the map. 'As a photographer, I have always been interested in the Buddhist way of life, as a result of which I had extensively photographed Tibet and its people. When I was invited to photograph Ambaran, I was more than happy to take it up,' says Kranti adding, 'When I reached there, I realised that the artefacts lay scattered across different locations in Jammu.'
While some were displayed in the small one-room Site Museum at Ambaran, some were at the Dogra Art Museum in Raja Mandi and others at the local ASI office in Gandhinagar. 'In the end, I had a good collection of artefacts to be photographed,' says Kranti.
While the pottery items – basins, bowls, spouts, lids, lamps, storage jars – point towards a noteworthy terracotta workmanship, figure moulds show the skills of the artisans in carving statues and reproducing them in large number. If gold caskets evidence the burying of precious things along with bodies, iron nails establish the knowledge of metallurgy during this period.
Besides photographs, the exhibition also features images of scenic locations from present-day Akhnoor, including the Gurdwara Shri Tapo Asthan, Jia Pota Ghat and the Akhnoor Fort. 'I believe Jammu has been left out of the tourist circle. I wanted to show people that there are equally beautiful, if not better, places there as well,' says Kranti.
The exhibition closes on May 31.
