Salt Range Temples, Pakistan

Michael W. Meister, W. Norman Brown Professor, Department of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania, and Consulting Curator, Asian Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, has served as Chair, Departments of South Asia Studies and History of Art, and Director of Penn's South Asia Center

Along the Indus River and in the Salt Range mountains, temples dating from the sixth to the early eleventh century survive in upper Pakistan. A joint project with Professors Abdur Rehman, past Chairman of the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, and Farid Khan, founder of the Pakistan Heritage Society, has begun to analyse and document these important monuments in the history of South Asian temple architecture. Two seasons of excavation have been carried out at the site of North Kafirkot.

A preliminary review and analysis of this tradition, "Temples Along the Indus," was published in Expedition, the Magazine of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 38.3 (1996): 41-54. To download a pdf, click here.

The text as well as the preliminary typescript have been posted. Waisab and Seraiki have also provide links to this material.

The Salt Range Temple Project excavated an important new temple designated Temple E at north Kafirkot in 1997. To download a report on both seasons of excavation published in Expedition 42.1 (2000): 37-46, click here.

Views of Kafirkot following excavation are available, as well as hypothetical reconstructions of Temple E based on neighboring Temple A.

Support for the Salt Range Temple Project has been received from the Middle East Center and South Asia Regional Studies Department, University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, and the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.

For a full list of project publications, see below.

Salt Range Workshops

Cultural Heritage Issues in Pakistan: Archaeology, Museums and Conservation

Further archaeological work and exploration begun at the Salt-Range site of Amb, in association with the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of the Punjab, have been suspended.

Amb, Temples A and B

Sites

• Taxila, fifth-century encasement of Dharmarajika stupa
• Murti, stupa mound and Gupta-period temple-remains
• Katas, pilgrimage site, tank, temples, and traces of Buddhist remains
• North Kafirkot, fortress, citadel, and five temples;
  destroyed temple at Kanjari-kothi; the newly discovered Temple E is just south of Temple A.
• Bilot (South Kafirkot), fortress, citadel, and remains of ca. eight temples
• Mari-Indus, remains of three temples and habitation site
• Kalar, brick temple
• Amb, fort and two temples
• Malot, temple and gateway
• Shivganga, grove, tank, and temple ruins
• Nandana, fort, temple, and platform

For more views of these monuments, see also Selected Enlarged Views of Salt Range Temples.

Monograph Published

Michael W. Meister, Temples of the Indus: Essays in the Hindu Architecture of Ancient India (Brill Indological Library 35), Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2010.

For a full .pdf set of Plates download PORTFOLIO.

Other Salt Range Temple Project Publications

• "The Discovery of Siva-Mahesvara Figure at Kafirkot." Lahore Museum Bulletin 9/2 (1996) [1998]: 51-56.

• "Archaeology at Kafirkot." In Catherine Jarrige and Vincent Lefevre, ed., South Asian Archaeology 2001, Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2005, pp. 571-78.

• "Discovery of a New Temple on the Indus." Expedition, 42.1 (2000): 37-46. [.pdf available]
• "Temples of the Indus & the Salt Range, A Fresh Probe (1995-97)." The Pakistan Heritage Society Newsletter 1 (1998): 2-5.

• "Architectural Originality in the Punjab." Kala, Journal of Indian Art History Congress 6 (1999-2000): 27-35.
• "Chronology of Temples in the Salt Range, Pakistan." In South Asian Archaeology 1997, ed. Maurizio Taddei and Giuseppe De Marco. Rome: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, 2000, pp. 1321-39.
• "Crossing Lines, Architecture in Early Islamic South Asia," Res, Anthropology and Aesthetics 43 (2003): 117-30.
• "Discoveries on the Indus." In The Ananda-Vana of Indian Art, ed. Naval Krishna and Manu Krishna, pp. 95-102. New Delhi: Indica, 2004.
• "Exploring Kafirkot: When is a Rose Apple Not a Rose?" Pakistan Heritage 1 (2009): 109–28.
• "Gandhara-Nagara Temples of the Salt Range and the Indus." Kala, the Journal of Indian Art History Congress 4 (1997-98): 45-52.
• "Gumbat, Talash Valley, Dir: An Indus Temple in Greater Gandhara." Gandharan Studies 4 (2010):: 245-54..
• "Malot and the Originality of the Punjab." Punjab Journal of Archaeology and History 1 (1997): 31-36.
• "Multiplicity on the Frontier: Imagining the Warrior Goddess." Pakistan Heritage 2 (2011): 87-98.
• "Pattan Munara: Minar or Mandir?" In Hari Smiriti: Studies in Art, Archaeology and Indology, Papers Presented in Memory of Dr. H. Sarkar, New Delhi: Kaveri Books, 2006.
• "The Problem of Platform Extensions at Kafirkot North." Ancient Pakistan 16 (2005): 41-48.
• "Temple Restoration and Transformation." In South Asian Archaeology 1999, ed. E. M. Raven, pp. 415-426. Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 2008.
• "Temples Along the Indus." Expedition, the Magazine of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 38.3 (1996): 41-54. [.pdf available]
• "Temples of the Salt Range." In Religion, Ritual & Royalty, ed. N. K. Singhi and Rajendra Joshi, pp. 132-39. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1999.

In Press

• "'Indo-Aryan' Temples: Noodling Seventh-Century Nagara." Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art.
• "Indus Temples and Saurashtra." Ancient Pakistan 18.
• "Northwest India and the Punjab." In M. A. Dhaky , ed., Art and Architecture in India: North Indian Art and Architecture (Pre-Medieval).
• "Restoring Temples in the Kafirkots, N.W.F.P., and Katas, Panjab, to Discussions of the Origins of Nagara." In M. S. Nagaraja Rao, ed. K. V. Ramesh Felicitation Volume.

Farzand Masih

Then a student of Professor Abdhur Rehman's at the University of Peshawar and team representative from the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan, Farzand Masih travelled and worked with the Salt Range Temple Project for several seasons while he prepared his doctoral dissertation, "Temples of the Salt Range and North and South Kafirkot: Detailed Analysis of Their Architecture and Decorative Designs" (Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, 2000). Dr. Masih is curently Professor and Chair, Department of Archaeology, University of the Punjab, Lahore. His publications on Salt Range temples include

last modified 21 June 2011

Michael W. Meister, mwmeister@yahoo.com; mmeister@sas.upenn.edu