Type: Archaeological Site - Rock Art
Province: Gilgit-Baltistan
District: Diamir
Period: Historic
Relative Chronology: 6th - 4th Century BCE
Description: In the site of Hodar, petroglyphs were first mentioned by M.A. Stein, who on his scientific journey along the Indus had visited the ruined hilltop settlement kino kot at the opening of the Hodar Gah. After him Prof. Karl Jettmar was the first to visit this place in 1979 and to discover the sites of rock carvings. A first overview was published by Prof. A.H. Dani. The site Hodar is reached from Karakoram Highway through a suspension bridge. The Hodar rivulet coming from north east leaves here its valley, bends to the east and joins the Indus beneath a rock barrier. Around the foot of the mountain slope (Hodar village) and in the east and north east of the Indus from the bridge up to the last pile of rocks (Dom Das- Hodar West) along the Indus cluster of rock carvings and inscriptions on hundreds of boulders were found. Here the valley opens sloping plateau (das) which is covered with fine sand. All requirements for a good resting place are present. As a result of the documentation conducted by the German Archaeological Mission Sogdian inscription were discovered on this site. A comparable amount of them is only known from Shatial, Thor on the right bank of the Indus, and Oshibat. The strong re-patination of some of the carvings, especially of animal drawings and human figures, shows that the place was also visited by people in much earlier times. At Hodar site some structures are syncretistic, where the substructure is like a Buddhist stupa whereas the upper structure looks like a Hindu Sikhara and surmounted by Trisula. Due to such monuments mostly scattered at Hodar site, Prof. Dani is of the view that Hodar site was a stronghold of which shows admixtures of Hinduism and local religious thought Brahmanism (Dani 1983:34). According to Dani, such types of temples are found at Chilas-III, IV, and Hodar sites, can clearly be distinguished from a stupa as they have trident as their finial while stupas have crescent and circles. As other difference is that the temple shows sikhara (temple spire) on the top of the main structure, while, stupas have umbrella (Dani 1983:220).
Latitude: 35.532264863
Longitude: 74.022001243
Ownership: Private
Legal Status: Not Protected
Title of Publication: Archaeological Survey of Gilgit-Baltistan by Baltistan Culture and Development Foundation
Published In: Unpublished
Year of Publication: 2017
Bibliography/Reference: Arif, Muhammad.
