A Comparative Study of the Relation between Sculpture and Bas Reliefs of Butkara Site in Pakistan and Historical Period of Iran

Sculpture was born in ancient civilizations. In the past eras, due to abundant raw material, especially stone and wood, glorious statues were made which have a significant share in representing various human cultures. Butkara is an ancient site in the eastern borders of Iran which was used by Buddhists in different reigns from 3rd century (BC) to 2nd century (AD). Undoubtedly, most neighboring lands had various kinds of cultural and artistic interactions with each other. Thus, we can consider the amount of such interactions in Butkara site and Persian civilization. Since the most important objects discovered by archaeologists in this area in recent years are Stopas, bas reliefs and various statues, the amount of cultural and artistic interactions in these regions can be found out if we study such objects exactly and compare them with the sculpture of Persian historical period. Such exploration can explain various unsaid issue about the emergence, contacts and expansion of artistic aspects and clarifying a number of ambiguities in this ancient site; in a word, it leads to a new insight for understanding this issue. Hence, the following question is raised: although Butkara was governed under the auspices of an independent government and its artistic styles were under the influence of Buddhist religious thoughts, Greece and Kushani state, why we cannot separate it from the culture and art of Iranian historical period? It seems that though Butkara site was outside political borders of Iran, its proximity to the ancient and great civilization of Iran made its artists and governors pay a lot of attention to the culture of Iran. This matter, in turn, led to Iran’s prominent share in the formation of Butkara culture and art, especially sculpture. Of course, it is most probable that there was a mutual relationship between the two. The data of this study was gathered via library. The aim of this study is to explicate the rate of interaction between sculpture and bas reliefs of Pakistan’s Butkara site and Iranian historical period.