Kanishka Stupa
کنشک اسٹوپ | |
Location | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
C.E. |
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The Kanishka Stupa ( Sanskrit :कनिष्क स्तूप ) was a monumental stupa established by the Kushan king Kanishka during the 2nd century CE in today's Shaji-ki-Dheri on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan.
The stupa was built during the Kushan era to house Buddhist relics, and was among the tallest buildings in the ancient world.
History
Background
According to Buddhists the building of the stupa was foretold by the Buddha:
- "The Buddha, pointing to a small boy making a mud tope….[said] that on that spot Kanishka would erect a tope by his name." Vinaya sutra [4]
The same story is repeated in a
- "A desire thus arose in [Kanishka to build a vast stupa]….at that time the four world-regents learnt the mind of the king. So for his sake they took the form of young boys….[and] began a stupa of mud....the boys said to [Kanishka] ‘We are making the Kanishka-stupa.’….At that time the boys changed their form....[and] said to him, ‘Great king, by you according to the Buddha’s prophecy is a Sangharama to be built wholly (?) with a large stupa and hither relics must be invited which the meritorious good beings...will bring."[5]
First stupa (150 CE)
The original Kushan stone
Second stupa (4th century CE)
The stupa was rebuilt under Kushan rule in the 4th century CE into a
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Stupa with a square base, and pillars at the four corners, Gandhara 2nd Century.
Reconstruction
The stupa's wooden superstructure was rebuilt atop the stone base,[7] and crowned with a 13-layer copper-gilded chatra.[7] In the 5th century CE, stucco imagery was probably added to the site, in keeping with contemporary popularity for Buddhist imagery.[7]
Destruction
In 726 CE, the Korean pilgrim Hyecho visited Gandhara and saw the Kanishka monastery and stupa, of which he said in his Memoir of the pilgrimage to the five kingdoms of India (Chinese: 往五天竺國傳): "The monastery is called Kanishka. There is a great stupa which constantly glows. The monastery and the stupa were built by the former king Kanishka".[9]
Excavations
The stupa was discovered and excavated in 1908–1909 by a British archaeological mission under
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Statue of the Buddha, probably Shaji-ki-Dheri (Kanishka stupa).
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Excavations in 1910.
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Remains of the stupa.
Contemporary accounts
In the 400s CE, the
In 520 CE,
- "The king proceeded to widen the foundation of the Great Tower 300 paces and more. To crown all, he placed a roof-pole upright and even. Throughout the building he used ornamental wood, he constructed stairs to lead to the top....there was an iron-pillar, 3-feet high with thirteen gilded circlets. Altogether the height from the ground was 700 feet.”
Legacy
The stupa is believed to have influence later constructions of "tower stupas" throughout ancient Turkistan.[7] The construction of wooden towers topped with metal chatras made such buildings act as lightning rods, which could explain why such towers have all but disappeared.[8]
Current status
The site has not been preserved. The location was re-identified in 2011. It is located outside the Gunj Gate of the old Walled City of Peshawar and is called Akhunabad.[11]
See also
References
- ISBN 9780984404308.
- ^ a b Marshall, John H. (1909): "Archaeological Exploration in India, 1908–9." (Section on: "The stūpa of Kanishka and relics of the Buddha"). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1909, pp. 1056–1061.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7017-088-4. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
- ^ Quoted in Kumar 91
- ^ Quoted in Kumar 89
- ^ ISBN 9780984404308.
- ^ ISBN 9780984404308. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9788120601604.
- ^ "Three days' travel from this city to the west, there is a great monastery which was the residential monastery of Bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Asanga. The monastery is called Kaniska. There is a great stupa which constantly glows. The monastery and the stupa were built by the former king Kaniska, so the monastery was named after him. Hyecho. Memoir of the pilgrimage to the five kingdoms of India (往五天竺國傳).
- ^ Spooner, D. B. (1908–9): "Excavations at Shāh-ji-Dherī." Archaeological Survey of India, p. 49.
- ^ Gandhara civilisation: Revered Buddhist site rediscovered near Peshawar, Manzoor Ali, August 27, 2011
Further reading
- D’Ancona, Mirella Levi. (1949): "Is the Kaniṣka Reliquary a work from Mathurā?" Art Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1949), pp. 321–323.
- Dobbins, K. Walton. (1971): The Stūpa and Vihāra of Kanishka I. The Asiatic Society of Bengal Monograph Series, Vol. XVIII. Calcutta.
- Dobbins, K. Walton (1968): "Two Gandhāran Reliquaries." East and West, 18, 1968, pp. 151–165.
- Fenet, Annick (2020): « "In other words, authentic relics of the Buddha himself !" La fouille du stūpa de Kanishka à Shāh-jī-kī-Dherī (février-mars 1909) », in S. Alaura (ed.), Digging in the archives. From the history of oriental studies to the history of ideas, Roma (Documenta Asiana XI), 2020, p. 63-90
- Hargreaves, H. (1910–11): "Excavations at Shāh-jī-kī Ḍhērī." Archaeological Survey of India, pp. 25–32.
- Spooner, D. B. (1908-9): "Excavations at Shāh-ji-Dherī." Archaeological Survey of India, pp. 38–59.