Itinerari montani del dharma. Su un dipinto rupestre a Chaghdo, in Baltistan (Pakistan)

This article examines a Buddhist rock painting in a small village in Baltistan (north Pakistan), depicting a ritual scene taking place in front of three stūpas. Based on an iconographic analysis of the painting detailing its composition and symbolic elements, followed by a discussion of the artistic, chronological and political contexts surrounding the artwork, the study highlights the interaction of the diverse cultural components at play in this region on the northwestern fringes of the Indian subcontinent. There is reason to believe that the painting most likely dates from the 8th-9th centuries CE, when the area stretching from Ladakh to Wakhan (Afghanistan) was part of the Tibetan Empire. It is also suggested that the ritual scene it depicts probably refers to a ceremony witnessed by the Chinese pilgrim Faxian several centuries earlier.