Jason Neelis, “La Vieille Route Reconsidered: Alternative Paths for
Early Transmission of Buddhism Beyond the Borderlands of South Asia”
Stupa veneration scene at Chilas II with a Kharosthi inscription: “By Pusia, resident of Oni.”
In his influential magnum opus, La Vieille Route de l'Inde de Bactres à Taxila (1942-1947),
Alfred Foucher proposed that the “Ancient Route“ across the Hindu Kush
of Afghanistan was the “grande route” for the diffusion of cultural
elements into and out of South Asia. However, petroglyphs and
inscriptions in the Upper Indus, Gilgit, and Hunza valleys of northern
Pakistan demonstrate that an alternative network of capillary routes
provided multiple pathways for early Buddhist transmission directly
between Gandhara and eastern Central Asia.
