Great Departure (?)

It is a fragment of a relief representing a bige coming out of a city. Of the driver, only the hand holding the harness is visible. The edges of the chariot body are crenellated and decorated with a beaded frieze. Inside the city stands a figure. According to Dagens, this could be a guard leaning on a spear. The state of conservation of the relief requires caution. The presence of the chariot could also evoke the story of the Four Encounters, although we know of no representation of this scene in Gandhāra.

The form of the chariot is of Indian inspiration, represented for example in Sāñcī.

The schist reliefs discovered by Barthoux between 1926 and 1928 are mostly from the vicinity of the Great Stūpa K1 of Tapa-i Kafarihā, the south-western part of the main stūpa B12 of Bāgh Gaï (around B13) and the Great Stūpa TK140 of Tapa Kalān.