{"id":132,"date":"2018-12-14T04:02:39","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T04:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/?page_id=132"},"modified":"2018-12-18T15:31:29","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T15:31:29","slug":"archaeological-research-in-the-gandhara-region-during-the-pre-and-post-independence-period","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/archaeological-research-in-the-gandhara-region-during-the-pre-and-post-independence-period\/","title":{"rendered":"Archaeological Research in the Gandhara Region During the Pre- and Post-Independence Period"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mortimer Wheeler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This essay, written by the head of Pakistan\u2019s federal department of archeology and museums, is used to facilitate a discussion of Gandhara\u2019s rediscovery by the British colonial administration in greater detail than mentioned within the introduction. Within the work, the author Fazal Dad Kakar appears to act as a representative of his nation, taking a firm stance against colonial practice and casting the colonization of India as a \u201cconquest of the Indian subcontinent.\u201d1<\/sup>While maintaining the position that the British were invaders and their interest in antiquity was merely an \u201caspect of national competitiveness\u201d which emerged in nineteenth century Europe, Kakar paints a clear progression of those foreigners whose contributions have shaped our understanding of Gandharan art in the modern day.1<\/sup>His outline includes such figures as William Jones, who discovered the close relationship between Sanskrit and Germanic\/Celtic languages, and Mortimer Wheeler, the last person to head the Archeological Survey of India prior to the bloody 1947 secession of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. From here, the essay flows into the present day, in which Kakar reports on the foreign projects at work on Gandharan excavation as well as those national organizations which have \u201ccarried out extensive exploratory work and excavations in the Gandharan region\u201d such as the \u201cFederal Department of Archeology and Museums\u201d (of which Kakar is the head) \u201cand other sister organizations \u2013 that is, the Department of Archeology, University of Peshawar; and the Provincial Department of Archeology, North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP, now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province).\u201d1<\/sup>By drawing attention to such accomplishments as the \u201c380 new sites\u2026recorded\u201d and the\u00a0further excavation of old sites to uncover discoveries, such as in Sangao Cave and the Taxila Valley, the essay drives home the important work being done in the modern day and lays further claim to the region and its history in apparent defiance of the old rhetoric of British imperil importance.1<\/sup>In a sense, the essay serves to emphasize that while British collecting began the process of discovery in Gandhara and must be treated with respect for that reason, it\u2019s time has long since passed and the Pakistani people are more than ready to make their own mark on the region. This claim stands in stark contrast against the political commentary of the period, which defines Pakistan as terroristic and dangerous, unable to protect their own history. It should be noted that nowhere within the essay does Kakar make reference to the Taliban present in the country and neighboring Afghanistan.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ed. Proser, Adriana. The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. \u201c2001-2014; A Timeline of Terror Attacks in Pakistan.\u201d Haaretz.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This essay, written by the head of Pakistan\u2019s federal department of archeology and museums, is used to facilitate a discussion of Gandhara\u2019s rediscovery by the British colonial administration in greater detail than mentioned within the introduction. Within the work, the author Fazal Dad Kakar appears to act as a representative of his nation, taking a firm stance against colonial practice and casting the colonization of India as a \u201cconquest of the Indian subcontinent.\u201d1While maintaining the position that the British were invaders and their interest in antiquity was merely an \u201caspect of national competitiveness\u201d which emerged in nineteenth century Europe, Kakar paints a clear progression of those foreigners whose contributions have shaped our understanding of Gandharan art in the modern day.1His outline includes such figures as William Jones, who discovered the close relationship between Sanskrit and Germanic\/Celtic languages, and Mortimer Wheeler, the last person to head the Archeological Survey of India prior to the bloody 1947 secession of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. From here, the essay flows into the present day, in which Kakar reports on the foreign projects at work on Gandharan excavation as well as those national organizations which have \u201ccarried out extensive exploratory work and excavations in the Gandharan region\u201d such as the \u201cFederal Department of Archeology and Museums\u201d (of which Kakar is the head) \u201cand other sister organizations \u2013 that is, the Department of Archeology, University of Peshawar; and the Provincial Department of Archeology, North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP, now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province).\u201d1By drawing attention to such accomplishments as the \u201c380 new sites\u2026recorded\u201d and the\u00a0further excavation of old sites to uncover discoveries, such as in Sangao Cave and the Taxila Valley, the essay drives home the important work being done in the modern day and lays further claim to the region and its history in apparent defiance of the old rhetoric of British imperil importance.1In a sense, the essay serves to emphasize that while British collecting began the process of discovery in Gandhara and must be treated with respect for that reason, it\u2019s time has long since passed and the Pakistani people are more than ready to make their own mark on the region. This claim stands in stark contrast against the political commentary of the period, which defines Pakistan as terroristic and dangerous, unable to protect their own history. It should be noted that nowhere within the essay does Kakar make reference to the…<\/p>\n

    Continue ReadingArchaeological Research in the Gandhara Region During the Pre- and Post-Independence Period<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1064,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-132","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1064"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}