page_title: Bimaran casket
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Bimaran casket / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Stupa 2 Bimaran Charles Masson
context_page_description: The Bimaran casket or Bimaran reliquary is a small gold reliquary for Buddhist relics that was found inside the stupa no.2 at Bimaran, near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.
context_section_description: When it was found by the archaeologist Charles Masson during his work in Afghanistan between 1833 and 1838, the casket contained coins of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II, though recent research by Senior indicates Azes II never existed and finds attributed to his reign probably should be reassigned to Azes I. The most recent research however (2015) attributes the coins to Indo-Scythian king Kharahostes or his son Mujatria, who minted posthumous issues in the name of Azes.
  
  The Bimaran reliquary is sometimes dated, based on coinage analysis, to 0-15 CE (Fussman), more generally to 50-60 CE (British Museum), and sometimes much later (2nd century CE), based on artistic assumptions only. It is currently in the collections of the British Museum. The datation of this unique piece of art has a strong bearing on the chronology of Buddhist art and the creation of the Buddha image, as its advanced iconography implies that earlier forms had probably been existing for quite some time before.
caption: The Stupa Nb.2 at Bimaran, where the reliquary was excavated. Drawing by Charles Masson.
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