Senavarma and the century of the Odirajas (1st cent. CE). Archaeological, Epigraphical, and Historical Notes

This study analyses, from various perspectives, the materials of an important Buddhist reliquary dating back to the end of the 1st century CE. The reliquary contained an inscription on gold foil, various ornaments and probably some relics. The reliquary, discovered during illegal excavations in the Swat Valley at the end of the last century, was purchased a few years ago, along with part of its contents, by a major museum in Abu Dhabi. The most famous piece, the dedicatory inscription of the Oḍi king Senavarma, has unfortunately been lost. Although this inscription has been discussed many times, it deserves to be reconsidered, together with the reliquary and other materials, in light of new archaeological data. This new data concerns both the archaeology of cities, shrines and funerary monuments, and human genetics and the environmental history of Swat in the 1st century CE, i.e. the place and time of the Oḍi dynasty’s rule. The study proposes the archaeological site of Tirat, on the right bank of the Swat River, as the place of origin of the reliquary. This is the same site (Tira) mentioned in two other donation inscriptions of the Oḍi dynasty. The epigraphic part of the study was written by Stefan Baums, the archaeological part by Luca M. Olivieri, while the historical comments are by Omar Coloru. The study is completed by two appendices: one on the stupa of Uttarasena (LMO) and the other dedicated to the nāga in early Buddhist art in Swat, edited by Anna Provenzali.