Gār-Naô

Gār-Naô (abbreviation: A), the "New Cave," is situated at the edge of the valley descending from Bāgh Gaï. The site was divided into three parts: the Stūpa Court, the monastery, and isolated constructions. The area reserved for the stūpa appeared rectangular; however, a wing extended to the north and had almost entirely disappeared due to erosion. Only the monuments on the east and west sides therefore remained. The entrance was on the east side, facing two principal stūpa with different orientations (A1 toward the west, whose decoration evoked the Buddhist heavens, and A2 toward the south), supplemented by other stūpa. At the other end of the enclosure, five stūpa were aligned, the remains of a more extensive group according to Barthoux. Of the northern wing, only stūpa A 10 remained, isolated by a wall. As at Tapa Kalān, a series of stūpa was set against the enclosure wall.

The monastery was located in the south-west corner and had undergone two phases of development with considerable enlargement. Each wall was occupied by rows of cells. The original monastery communicated with the Stūpa Court via a corridor. In the south-west corner, a staircase gave access to the top of the enclosure wall; another led to caves that had been dug beneath the western wall of the monastery. This "enlarged" monastery did not communicate with the other one, but only with the exterior at a point now destroyed. A monk's cell A55, bordered on three sides by a bench devoid of statues, revealed a circular stūpa, probably erected over the remains of a meritorious monk.

A large room A63 occupied the north-east corner. Between this room and the Stūpa Court extended a built-up area. At the time of excavation, it had already been stripped down to ground level by erosion. Similarly, to the south of the monastery stood stūpa of which only the group A73 remained, almost entirely destroyed.

HADB17, Head of Buddha

HADB64, Head of Bodhisattva

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