Amlukdara stupa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amlukdara stupa

The Amlukdara stupa is - next to the nearby Shingardara stupa - one of several largely still reasonably well-preserved Buddhist stupas in the Swat district in northern Pakistan .

location

The Amlukdara stupa is located at a height of a good 950 m above sea level. d. About 7 km southeast of the city of Barikot at the foot of Elum Ghar (or Mount Elum ), the highest mountain with about 2800 m in the vicinity of the Swat valley.

history

Buildings in the area of ​​the monastery

The stupa is believed to have been built in the 2nd century AD under the rule of the Kushana ruler Kanishka ; others date it to the 3rd / 4th Century. The site was still in the 7th / 8th Populated by monks ( bhikkhus ) in the 18th century - the unique temple stupa in the area of ​​the monastery complex probably dates from this time. After the Islamic invasion at the latest , the monastery and the stupa were forgotten. The British , more precisely the explorer Aurel Stein , discovered him in 1926; excavations took place in 1938 and some Gandhara- style sculptures were discovered. The stone outer skin of the building has been restored; since then, however, it has gradually declined. A deep breach in the outer shell of the stupa indicates recent activities of predatory graves .

architecture

The filling mass of the stupa, which is around 14 m in diameter and a total of around 20 m in height, consists of uncut stones and earth; only the outer skin was designed with precisely hewn stones. These have largely disappeared from the entire base zone, which is partly still surrounded by a - later added (cf. Butkara stupa ) - square, 4 m high platform ( medhi ). The cylindrical part of the actual stupa, whose hemispherical shape ( anda ) has largely been preserved, was apparently divided into several parts; the lower part shows a pilaster structure , which can also be interpreted as a fence ( vedika ). At the apex of the hemisphere there was originally a fence or box ( harmika ) and an honorary umbrella ( chhatra ) - fragments of the latter were found.

Surroundings

At a distance of approx. 1.5 km there are several - partially destroyed - rock reliefs of Buddha .

literature

  • Domenico Faccenna, Piero Spagnesi: Buddhist Architecture in the Swat Valley, Pakistan. Stupas, Viharas, a Dwelling Unit. Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore 2014, ISBN 978-9693526837 .

Web links

Commons : Amlukdara Stupa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amlukdara Stupa - map with height information

Coordinates: 34 ° 41 ′ 0 ″  N , 72 ° 16 ′ 0 ″  E