LAHORE, Sept 26: Wapda is reluctant to provide funds to the Federal Archaeology Department to conduct survey in Chilas, where Bhasha dam is proposed to be constructed, to save ancient rock carvings.

Earlier in May, Wapda had given a go-ahead to the archaeology department to conduct a survey of the proposed site so that a comprehensive strategy could be evolved to protect the rock engravings, Buddhist carving and inscriptions. It had also promised to provide funds for the survey.

But now it has conveyed to the department that only 19 rock carvings are located at the site and carrying out a survey would be a futile exercise. However, it proposed that an archaeologist should join its team at the site to assess the number of rock carvings.

According to a survey conducted by the archaeologists over two decades ago, around 26,000 rock engravings, Buddhist carvings, petroglyphs and inscriptions are located in the Chilas belt of the NWFP.

Federal Archaeology Department Deputy-Director Dr Muhammad Arif told Dawn on Friday that one man could not carry out the survey in tough conditions in the mountainous area. “A team of experts is required for the job.”

Without conducting a survey, he said, it would be difficult for Wapda to save all the archives. He said the survey would help ascertain the exact number of important sites in the area. “The number of important rock arts sites is around 10,000,” he added.

Giving details about these, Dr Arif said, the petroglyphs and inscriptions were displayed in the rocky cliffs on the way sides and on rough boulders scattered over there.

He said wordings (history) from pre-historic times to the age of Buddhist from South Asia to the Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan were chalked in its petroglyphs. The enigmatic petroglyphs were found all along the Karakoram Highway and on both sides of the Indus, he said.

Prof Karl Jttmar and Prof Ahmad Hasan Dani, who conducted a preliminary survey in 1979, had discovered thousands of petroglyphs and inscriptions on both sides of the Indus between the Shatial village (few kilometres upstream from Sazin) and the town of Chilas.

In the area of Chilas, a tremendous concentration of Buddhist carvings and inscriptions was discovered. Rock carvings and inscriptions were documented and studied by the international organizations. During the period from Han to Tang dynasty when the “Silk Road” was prosperous enough, the area was a central route from China to central, western and southern Asia. Envoys, merchants, artists and monks used this route, leaving many relics and inscriptions.

After the middle period of Tang (eighth century), the route was cut off from the outside world for over a thousand years. It came to known as “mysterious” when it was reopened in the 1960s. The Karakoram Highway was opened to the general traffic in 1978.

There is also representation of Buddhisattvas. Among those are the pictures of Maitreya, Avalokitesvara and Manju Sri.

Different engravings here show the life of Buddha, his first sermon, the tree of enlightenment and his own stories of his earlier life (Jataka).

The archives also include pre-historic engravings of man and animal styles, anthropomorphic, supernatural beings and motifs.