Ushkur is an ancient

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

site near

Baramulla Baramulla (), also known as Varmul () in Kashmiri, is a city and municipality of the Baramulla district of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various r ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Baramulla is located on the

Jhelum Jhelum (; , ) is a city, located along the western bank of the Jhelum River, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city in Punjab and 31st largest in Pakistan, by population. Located in northern Punjab, it serves as the capital of the ...

river around 55 km from the capital city

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

. It was an important trading centre during

British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...

, as it formed the western entrance to the

Kashmir Valley The Kashmir Valley, also known as the Vale of Kashmir, is an intermontane valley in northern Jammu and Kashmir, a region in Indian-administered Kashmir.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcont ...

. "The town of ''Huṣkapura'' is undoubtedly the modern ''Uṣkűr'', situated opposite to Varămul (Skr. Varāhamūla, ''vulgo'' Bāramūla) on the left bank of the Vitastā where the latter leaves the Valley of Kaçmlr."

History

Ushkur was called Hushkapur in ancient times. Hushkapur was said to have been founded by King

Huvishka Huvishka ( Kushan: Οοηϸκι, ''Ooēški'', Brahmi: 𑀳𑀼𑀯𑀺𑀱𑁆𑀓; ', '; Kharosthi: 𐨱𐨂𐨬𐨅𐨮𐨿𐨐 ', ') was the emperor of the Kushan Empire from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to ...

of the

Kushan dynasty The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...

. The Buddhist Kushans ruled parts of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and northern India, including Kashmir, during the first three centuries CE. The Chinese monk

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

spent a night here in 630 CE on his way to the main centres of Kashmir; he described Ushkur as a flourishing centre of Buddhism. It was also visited by the Chinese Buddhist monk Wukong in 759 CE. The site has several

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 ...

s. A stupa was found and excavated in the 1870s. Henry Hardy Cole's ''

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

'' report of 1869 claimed, "The locality which includes the remains of a Monastery is called the 'Jayendra Vihar', and the erection is assigned by local tradition to one 'Praverasena' in A.D. 500." Excavations have unearthed the remains of several finely-modelled

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

heads in the

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

n style, which are displayed in 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 others.

General CUNNINGHAM, ''l. c.'', p. 100, states that Rev. G. W. Cowie who visited Uṣkũr on his behalf (probably in 1865), found there a 'Buddhist Stūpa quite instact' ic - read 'intact' It was not destined to remain so much longer. In the summer of 1891 when I first visited the spot, I found there only a mass of shapeless débris covering the site of what was once the Stūpa referred to. According to the villagers' statements the mound had been dug into years ago by some 'Sahib's' orders. He appears to have found there some relics and in the course of his excavations to have levelled the structure to the ground. I have not been able to trace any report of this "exploration"."Notes on Ou-k'ong's account of Kaçmir."
Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, (; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. ...
. 1896, pp. 7-8, n. 6.

Footnotes

References

* "Notes on Ou-k’ong’s account of Kaçmīr." M. A. Stein. In: ''Philosophisch-Historische Klasse'' - Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vol. 137. Wien. 1896, 32 pp. {{coord missing, Jammu and Kashmir History of Kashmir Baramulla district