Jamal Garhi
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Jamal Garhi is a small town located 13 kilometers from
Mardan Mardān is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). ...
at Katlang-Mardan road in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...
province in northern
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. Jamal Garhi was a Buddhist monastery from the first until the fifth century AD at a time when Buddhism flourished in this part of the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
. The monastery and main
stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
are surrounded by chapels closely packed together. The site is called "The Jamal Garhi Kandarat or Kafiro Kote" by the locals.


Discovery

The ruins of Jamal Garhi were first discovered by the British explorer and archaeologist Sir
Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Sappers who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly crea ...
in 1848. The
stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
at the site was opened by Colonel Lumsden in 1852 but little of value was found at the time. In 1871, the site was excavated by Lieutenant Cromten, who unearthed a large number of Buddhist sculptures which are now part of the collections of the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
and the
Indian Museum Indian Museum (formerly called Imperial Museum of Calcutta) is a grand museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest, as well as the largest museum in Asia, by size of collection. It ...
in Calcutta. At the monastery a
Kharoshti Kharosthi script (), also known as the Gandhari script (), was an ancient script originally developed in the Gandhara Region of modern-day Pakistan, between the 5th and 3rd century BCE. used primarily by the people of Gandhara alongside var ...
inscription was also discovered which is now kept in
Peshawar Museum The Peshawar Museum (''(colloquial)''; پشاور عجائب گھر ''(official)'') is a museum located in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The museum houses a collection of Buddhist artwork from the ancient Gandhar ...
.


Ruins

File:SFAAMBuddha.jpg, The Seated Buddha, dating from 300 to 500 CE, was found near Jamal Garhi, and is now on display at the Asian Art Museum in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
File:Road to Buddhist Remains.JPG, Road to Buddhist remains at Jamal Garhi. File:Side view of the Buddhist Remains.JPG, Side view of the Buddhist remains. File:The main (round) Stupa of Jamal Garhi-2.jpg, The main (round) Stupa File:The Monastery and Water Tank, Jamal Garhi.JPG, The Monastery and Water Tank. File:Jamal Garhi Buddhist Ruins (3).jpg, Jamal Garhi Buddhist ruins File:Court of Votive Stupas at Jamal Garhi.JPG, Court of Votive Stupas. File:Jamal Garhi Buddhist Ruins (2).jpg, Jamal Garhi Buddhist ruins. File:One of the Budhist Remains.JPG, Some of the Buddhist Ruins.


Sculptural remains

File:Stair friezes Jamal Garhi.jpg, Stair friezes at Jamal Garhi. File:Sculptures Jamal Garhi.jpg, Sculptures at Jamal Garhi. File:Hunting scene Jamal Garhi.jpg, Hunting scene. File:Revelers Jamal Garhi.jpg, Revelers. File:The Buddha and nude Vajrapani at Jamal Garhi.jpg, The Buddha and nude Vajrapani. File:Gandhara wedding.jpg, Wedding scene. File:Base of pillar, Indo-Corinthian capitals and elephants from base of stupa, Jarwal-Garhi.jpg, Base of pillar, Indo-Corinthian capitals and elephants from base of stupa. File:Series of Indo-Corinthian capitals from Jamal-Garhi.jpg, Series of Indo-Corinthian capitals from Jamal Garhi. File:Indo-Corinthian capitals from Jamal-Garhi.jpg, Indo-Corinthian capitals from Jamal Garhi.


See also

* Seated Buddha from Gandhara, which was also found at the site. * Ranigat a historical site in
Buner Buner District (, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Before receiving the status of a district in 1991, it was a tehsil within Swat District. Buner's elevation starts at 1200 ft in the S ...
near
Swabi Swabi (; ) is a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located near the bank of the Indus River. It is the 73rd largest city of Pakistan and eighth largest in the province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Swabi is also a major city in ...
. *
Takht-i-Bahi Takht-i-Bahi (Pashto/), is an Indo-Parthian archaeological site of an ancient Buddhist monastery in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The site is considered among the most important relics of Buddhism in all of what was once Gandhara. Th ...
* The frieze of the Buddha and the nude Vajrapani at Jamal Garhi -


References

{{Archaeological sites around Mardan Populated places in Mardan District Asian sculptures in the British Museum Indian Buddhist sculpture Gandhara