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Akbarzadeh D. (2021). Indian Bamboo-Stick Carrier in Persepolis. Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud.. 5(17), : 7 doi:10.30699/PJAS.5.17.133
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-494-en.html

Abstract
Obviously Persepolis is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Numerous scholarly works have been published about this site since the last century. However, this article stresses on a specific and new topic concerning a tool on shoulders of an Indian among India’s delegation in Apadana Palace of Darius the Great. The portrait of the delegation has been pre-served in the eastern and (damaged) northern staircases. The author, unlike previous works, be-lieves that this tool reflects a bamboo-stick which is known in India.  Indians used accessible bamboo-sticks, as a native plant, to carry their loads. They put a bamboo-stick on the shoulders while tied two containers in its two sides. The bamboo-stick is also widely used in ritual cere-monies (Hinduism). Clearly, to transfer the holy water of Ganges River to Shiva temples, pil-grims use a bamboo-stick tied to two containers. The bamboo-stick has been a significant tool in Kanwar Cult or Kanwar-yatra in India. Furthermore, Krishna’s Flute is made of a bamboo wood! In the famous Indian story of Shravan Kumar, this devoted child takes his blind parents to pilgrimage with a tool exactly like the one depicted in Persepolis, two baskets attached to bamboo-sticks on the back. Flexible bamboo-stick does not hurt the shoulders, it is easier to control with both hands and it is less likely to break. For this reason, these flexible sticks - un-like scales - do not need handles in the middle and fastenings at the two ends with their bas-kets! In fact, the Indian bamboo-stick carrier arrived at Darius the Great court with a pure Indi-an traditional manner. So, the author relying on the special standing of bamboo stick in Indian culture ranging from ritual ceremonies to the life style challenges previous scholarly works on this subject.
Keywords: CPersepolis, Apadana, India, Bamboo-Stick.

Introduction
Obviously, Persepolis is one of the most important archeological sites in the world. Many sci-entific works have been published about the site since one hundred years ago. Persepolis is lo-cated 60 km northeast of Shiraz in the Marvdasht plain. Around it, the glorious heritage of the Achaemenid to the Sasanian Empire can be seen on the mountains and valleys. The oldest de-scription of Persepolis, according to Diodorus Siculus (Herzfeld, 1941: 230), is based on ac-counts of Alexander’s appearance in the East. Nevertheless, Iranian geographers of the first Is-lamic centuries such as Mas’udi, Ibn Balkhi and Moqadasi ... have also pointed to this area in-tertwined with King Jamshid (cf. Akbarzadeh, 2014: 36). This magnificent national historical site was registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
From the late Qajar period, western scholars began exploring and studying ancient sites and Persepolis was one of them. Shapur Shahbazi (2009: online) has referred to a list of these peo-ple. Among them, I should refer to the masters like Schmidt (1953, 1957, 1970; Herzfeld,1941; Stronack, 1961-1963; Behnam, 1939, Mostafavi, 1951, Shahbazi, 1976) and etc.

Topic of the Article
However, the subject of this article is a new research on the portrait of a tax-paying Indian del-egation on the eastern (also damaged northern) stairs of Darius the Great’s Apadana.
An Indian (of the delegation) is carrying something like a scale (according to previous work i.e Schmidt, 1953-1970; Root, 1979, Callieri, 2004: online; Briant is silent; Briant, 2002: 268). Meanwhile, the main question is that: Can this tool be a scale?
This tool, which is the main topic of this article, will be discussed according to a photo about the delegation (Persepolis). To challenge the previous works, I will refer to Indic texts where I will describe some old significant Indian rites.
In the photo, a long carrying stick all over the man’s shoulder (with protrusions on both sides), two cheek baskets that hang from the end of each piece of wood, without any fasteners is clear-ly visible. Moreover, the man’s hands are the most important factor in maintaining this flexible wood attached to heavy baskets on both sides. The powerful Achaemenid craftsman accurately displayed the flexibility of the wood.

Discussion
A look at the scale’s forms in the ancient world from the Hellenic borders to Egypt and Iran (Buttner & Renn, 2016: 757) as well as text studies (see next) clearly diminishes belief in that the Indian man is carrying a scale!
However, to answer the main question: I should note that this tool can never be a scale as all western and Iranian scholars have been convinced. I would explain it as a bamboo-stick, the fa-mous native plant of the country (India). This plant can be seen all over India, especially along rivers and valleys. The Indians have widely used (even today in villages) flexible bamboo wood to carry light cargo.
In the famous Indian story of Shravan Kumar (Balasokulam, 2005: no. E32), this devoted child takes his blind parents to pilgrimage with a tool exactly like the one depicted in Persepolis, two baskets attached to bamboo-sticks on the back. “Once upon a time, when king Dashrath ruled, there lived a boy named Shravan Kumar. His parents were old and blind. He had to do all the works for them, since they couldn’t see. One day, Shravan Kumar’s parents expressed their de-sire to go on pilgrimage. As an obedient son, he wanted to fulfill their wish; but how would he do that? He couldn’t afford any transportation since he did not have money. He found another way. He took a strong bamboo-stick, tied baskets at its two ends and placed his parents in those baskets…” 
Furthermore, the bamboo-stick is mingled with the Hindu beliefs. Krishna normally appears with a flout which is made of bamboo! Sacred Ganga water carries by bamboo-stick (Kanwar) to Shiva Shrines.  In fact, Kanwar (Kanwar-yatra-) is a genre of religious performances where participants ritually carry water from a holy source in containers suspended on either side of the pole (cf. Singh: 2017, 46). 

Conclusion
The author believes that the portrait of that Indian tribute/gift bearer in Persepolis is only a re-flection of an Indian tradition in which Indians carried their goods in this way. It is strongly be-lieved that the two baskets at the two ends of the stick are the least reason why some scholars have confused it with the scales. In fact, this Indian man, according to his tradition, has brought a gift to the king! The multifunctional bamboo-stick of Persepolis (Skt. Vaina-, Hindi. Behngi and Kanwar (Bihar), probably Sogd. wn-, wn’kh (Apte, 2006: 27; Gharib, 2004: 408) were strongly supported by Indic texts and religious rites. In the story of Sravan Kumar, the loyal child took his parents to the pilgrimage by a bamboo-stick tied to two baskets! Also, Kanwar rite is one of the most important Hinduism beliefs where the bamboo-stick plays a significant role.
A part of religious aspect, flexible bamboo-stick was controllable by hands and it was accessi-ble and none-costly in all parts of the country.  Also, Indians were skilled to bring things by such bamboo-sticks. 
So, the craftsman recorded a detailed Indic tradition in the court of the Achaemenid king, Dari-us the Great, where this Indian man arrived with a bamboo-stick and nothing more. The author thinks that the bamboo-stick’s flexibility is a reason that some scholars mistakenly supposed some heavy things like gold stones (cf. Shahbazi, 2002, 268) can be referred in the boxes (of the baskets).