MichaleYarbrough at 23:25, 28 March 2026

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{{Short description|Stupa on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Kanishka Stupa
|native_name = {{nq|کانیشکا سټوپا}}
|alternate_name =
|image = ShahJiKiDheriStupa.jpg
|alt =
|caption = 1899 engraving showing the remnants of the Kanishka Stupa in [[Shaji-ki-Dheri]]
|map_type = Pakistan#Gandhara
|map_alt =
|map_size =
| map_dot_label=Kanishka stupa
|relief =yes
|coordinates = {{coord|33.9994|71.5918|format=dms|type:landmark_region:PK|display=inline,title}}
|location = [[Peshawar]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]
[[Pakistan]] {{flagicon|Pakistan}}
|region =
|type = [[Stupa]]
|part_of = [[Kushan Empire]] and [[Hephthalite Empire|White Huns]]
|length =
|width =
|area =
|height = {{convert|400|ft|m}} to {{convert|560|ft|m}}
|builder =
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|abandoned =
|epochs = 2nd [[Common era|C.E.]]
|cultures =
|dependency_of =
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|event =
|excavations =
|archaeologists =
|condition =
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|public_access =
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|notes =
}}
The '''Kanishka Stupa''' ({{langx|ps|کانیشکا سټوپا}}; {{langx|ur|کنشک اسٹوپ}}) was a monumental [[stupa]] established by King [[Kanishka]] of [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Le |first1=Huu Phuoc |title=Buddhist Architecture |date=2010 |publisher=Grafikol |isbn=9780984404308 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&pg=PA180 |language=en}}</ref> The stupa is also famous for its Buddhist relics, which were transferred to the U Khanti Hall at [[Mandalay Hill]], in [[Mandalay]], [[Burma]] after their discovery.<ref name="auto">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.</ref><ref name="Chandra1979">{{cite book|author=Rai Govind Chandra|title=Indo-Greek Jewellery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=97od3sgsAjcC&pg=PA82|access-date=13 December 2012|date=1 January 1979|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-088-4|pages=82–}}</ref>

==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 <ref>Kumar, Baldev. 1973. ''The Early Kuṣāṇas''. New Delhi, Sterling Publishers, page 91</ref>

The same story is repeated in a [[Khotan]]ese scroll found at [[Dunhuang]], which first described how Kanishka would arrive 400 years after the death of the Buddha. The account also describes how Kanishka came to raise his stupa:
:"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."<ref>Kumar, Baldev. 1973. ''The Early Kuṣāṇas''. New Delhi, Sterling Publishers, page 89</ref>

===First stupa (150 CE)===
[[File:Loriyan_Tangai_complete_Stupa.jpg|thumb|upright|Probable initial appearance of the first stupa. [[Loriyan Tangai]], 2nd century CE.<ref name=BA/>]]
The original Kushan stone [[stupa]] was probably built after the death of [[Kanishka the Great]],<ref name="Le"/> between 150 and 300 CE, but probably circa 151 CE, with a shape similar to the contemporary [[Loriyan Tangai]] stupas and the addition of [[schist]] reliefs.<ref name="Le">{{cite book|last1=Le|first1=Huu Phuoc|title=Buddhist Architecture|date=2010|publisher=Grafikol|isbn=9780984404308|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&dq=hephthalite+peshawar&pg=PA51|access-date=24 March 2017}}</ref>

===Second stupa (4th century CE)===
The stupa was rebuilt under Kushan rule in the 4th century CE into a [[cruciform]] stupa with a tower-like structure, with four staircases and four corner bastions, and possibly pillars at each corner.<ref name="Le"/> The stupa's symmetrically cross-shaped [[plinth]] measured {{convert|175|ft|m}}, though the plinth had large staircases at each of the stupa's sides. In total, the base of the stupa may have spanned {{convert|272|ft|m}} on each side.<ref name="Le"/> The plinth was likely decorated with sculpted reliefs,<ref name="Le"/> while niches built into the dome's four cardinal points was inlayed with precious stone.<ref name="Le"/> The tall wooden superstructure was built atop a decorated stone base,<ref name="Le"/> and crowned with a 13-layer copper-[[gilding|gild]]ed ''[[Chatra (umbrella)|chatra]].''<ref name="Le"/> Modern estimations suggest that the stupa had a height of {{convert|400|ft|m}}.<ref name="Le"/>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Shah-ji-ki-Dheri stupa plan.jpg|Ground plan of the second [[stupa]], of a cruxiform shape. The central square plinth is {{convert|175|ft|m}} wide, the full width, including the stairs is {{convert|272|ft|m}}.<ref name=BA>{{cite book |last1=Le |first1=Huu Phuoc |title=Buddhist Architecture |date=2010 |publisher=Grafikol |isbn=9780984404308 |pages=179–180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&pg=PA179 |language=en}}</ref>
File:Jaulian Stupa A11 reliquary.jpg|A Stupa-shaped reliquary, the design of which might be used to explain the reported great height of the Kanishka stupa. [[Jaulian]] monastery.<ref name=BA/>
File:StupaWithPillarsGandhara2ndCentury.jpg|Stupa with a square base, and pillars at the four corners, Gandhara 2nd Century.
</gallery>

===Reconstruction===
The stupa's wooden superstructure was rebuilt atop the stone base,<ref name="Le"/> and crowned with a 13-layer copper-[[gilding|gild]]ed ''[[Chatra (umbrella)|chatra]].''<ref name="Le"/> In the 5th century CE, stucco imagery was probably added to the site, in keeping with contemporary popularity for Buddhist imagery.<ref name="Le"/>

===Destruction===
[[Sung Yun]] noted in the early 6th century that the tower had been struck by lightning at least three times, having been rebuilt after each strike.<ref name="Le"/> The tall stupa with a copper top acted as a [[lightning rod]]. This propensity to attract lightning strikes may explain the dearth of any surviving examples of wooden-tower stupas.<ref name="Longhurst">{{cite book|last1=Longhurst|first1=A. H.|title=The Story of the Stupa|date=1995|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120601604}}</ref>

In 726 CE, the Korean pilgrim [[Hyecho]] visited Gandhara and saw the Kanishka monastery and stupa, of which he said in his ''[[Wang ocheonchukguk jeon|Memoir of the pilgrimage to the five kingdoms of India]]'' ({{zh|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".{{efn|"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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hyecho |title=''Memoir of the pilgrimage to the five kingdoms of India'' (往五天竺國傳) |date=14 February 2023 |url=https://pahar.in/?wpfb_dl=20839}}</ref>}}

==Excavations==
The stupa was discovered and excavated in 1908–1909 by a British archaeological mission under [[David Brainard Spooner]], and led to the discovery in its base of the [[Kanishka casket]], a six-sided rock crystal [[reliquary]] containing three small fragments of bone,<ref>Spooner, D. B. (1908–9): "Excavations at Shāh-ji-Dherī." ''Archaeological Survey of India'', p. 49.</ref> relics of the Buddha (which were transferred to [[Mandalay]], [[Burma]]) and a dedication in [[Kharoshthi]] involving Kanishka.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Chandra1979"/>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Lahore Museum Buddha.jpg|Statue of the Buddha, probably [[Shaji-ki-Dheri]] (Kanishka stupa).
Shah-ji-ki-Dheri excavation 1910.jpg|Excavations in 1910.
Shah-ji-ki-Dheri remains 1910.jpg|Remains of the stupa.
Shah-ji-ki-Dheri Kubera and Hariti.jpg|Statue of [[Kubera]] and [[Hariti]].
</gallery>

==Contemporary accounts==
[[File:KanishkaCasket.JPG|thumb|The inscribed [[Kanishka casket]] found at the site of the Kanishka Stupa and containing [[relic]]s of the Buddha, now in [[Peshawar Museum]], Pakistan, while the relics are in [[Mandalay]], Burma.]]
In the 400s CE, the [[China|Chinese]] Buddhist [[pilgrim]] ''[[Faxian]]'' visited the structure and described it as "the highest of all the towers" in [[Jambudvipa|the "terrestrial world"]],<ref name="Le"/> which ancient travelers claimed was up to {{convert|560|ft|m}} tall,<ref name="Le"/> though modern estimates suggest a height of {{convert|400|ft|m}}.<ref name="Le"/>

In 520 CE, [[Sung Yun]] describes the stupa in the following terms:
:"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 [[Turkestan|Turkistan]].<ref name="Le"/> 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.<ref name="Longhurst"/>

==Current status==
[[File:Buddha relics.JPG|thumb|right|Buddha relics from Kanishka's stupa were transferred to [[Mandalay]], [[Burma]].]]
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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130617190004/http://tribune.com.pk/story/240321/gandhara-civilisation-revered-buddhist-site-rediscovered-near-peshawar Gandhara civilisation: Revered Buddhist site rediscovered near Peshawar], Manzoor Ali, 27 August 2011</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of tallest structures built before the 20th century]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==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.

{{Gandhara|state=expanded}}
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]
[[Category:Stupas in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Buddhism in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Kanishka]]
[[Category:History of Peshawar]]
[[Category:Buddhist holy sites in Pakistan]]

Kanishka Stupa - Revision history

MichaleYarbrough at 23:25, 28 March 2026