The first time I saw the stupa of Mankiala was in 1989 or 1990, while travelling on the GT Road. Its huge, distinct round shape is quite visible from the road, less than two kilometers away. Subsequently, I saw it many times but could not find any information about it—though I was sure it was not a natural feature. It took me nearly two decades to discover that the curious-looking hill was actually a Buddhist stupa. It is located at 33°26'53.12"N, 73°14'36.59"E.
A stupa is a round, hemispherical structure built by Buddhists for religious purposes. They are used for the burial of holy relics and the ashes of monks. The ashes of the Buddha were buried in eight different stupas. Emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism around 260 BC, and gradually it became popular across India. During this period, Buddhists constructed a large number of stupas in various sizes. Some of them can still be found in northern Pakistan, in the region that was once home to the Gandhara Civilization.
So, after a quarter century, I finally satisfied my curiosity and visited the Mankiala Stupa, just 34 kilometers from Zero Point. We reached the "Tope of Mankiala," as it is locally known, from the direction of Sagri village. It was a hazy and dusty day on 14th December, 2016. Pothohar has a beautiful landscape, but a drought lasting three months had marred the beauty of the region.
According to the archaeologists, somewhere in the mid-1800s, Jean-Baptiste Ventura, an Italian traveler and mercenary, who later served under Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, excavated the site and removed many artifacts that can now be found in museums in Europe.
“There is no record of how many artifacts were carried out of the country. Some notes written by Jean Ventura merely hint at the magnitude of the plunder,” said the official.
The Mankiala Stupa was built by Ashoka as a memorial to the place where Buddha offered his flesh to a hungry tigress and her cubs.
“There are some 550 stories of Lord Buddha’s reincarnations. The eight most famous ones are depicted on relief works and engravings found in museums. Offering his flesh to the tigress is one of these eight which is associated with this place,” said Ghafoor Lone.
The official in the Punjab Department of Archaeology, which is the custodian of the site, did not dispute that the site had been neglected, especially after devolution five years ago. At that time, the administrative control of all protected sites and monuments was taken away from the federal archaeology department and handed over to the provinces.
Tariq Amir
January 3, 2017.
Doha - Qatar.
140 - Taxila Museum: Treasure Trove of the Gandhara Civilization
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