Mankiala Stupa I Mysterious Mound I House to the Buddha's Ashes I Truth of the Attributed Stories I

The Mankiala Stupa is located around 35 kilometers from Islamabad in the village of Mankiala near the G.T. Road. Mankiala is a union council of the Gujar Khan sub-district of Rawalpindi and well-known for the ancient stupa. According to historians, Mankiala Stupa dates back to the Gandhara period, and there are several tales associated with it. According to the British Library, Mankiala Stupa was built during the period of Kanishka (128-151 AD) and first discovered by British traveler Mountstuart Elphinstone on his way towards Afghanistan in 1908. He also wrote a detailed account of his travels and mentioned this stupa in his memoir “Kingdom of Caubul” in 1815. After its rediscovery, it was restored by the British rulers in 1891. There is another narrative about Mankiala Stupa. According to some historians, it was actually King Ashoka, the son of Bindusara and grandson of Chandra Gupt Mauria, who decided to embrace Buddhism as a religion after the Kalinga war in 261 BC as he was fed up with the bloodshed. Later, he announced Buddhism as the state religion. He also passed an order that the remains of Buddha in Kapilvastu, Nepal, be cremated, and the ashes placed in 84 different boxes of gold or silver. These boxes were then buried in 84 different places in India from Patliputra to Kandahar and stupas were constructed there in a round mound form, having seven umbrellas over them - a sacred sign in Buddhism depicting seven heavens, seven skies, seven earths, seven skin layers, seven colours and seven musical notes. According to some researchers, Mankiala Stupa is one of those 84 stupas. According to another story, the stupa was built to commemorate the spot, where according to the Jataka tales, the Golden Light Sutra and popular belief, Prince Sattva, an earlier incarnation of the Buddha, sacrificed some of his body parts to feed seven hungry tiger cubs. The stupa was discovered by Mountstuart Elphinstone, the first British emissary to Afghanistan, in 1809– a detailed account of which is in his memoir Kingdom of Caubul (1815). The stupa contains an engraving which indicates that the stupa was restored in 1891. Mankiala stupa's relic deposits were discovered by Jean-Baptiste Ventura in 1830. The relics were then removed from the site during the British Raj, and are now housed in the British Museum. Inside SADDAM'S HUSSEIN'S PALACE in Babylon, Iraq (Unbelievable Experience I Quasar E Saddam    • Inside SADDAM'S HUSSEIN'S PALACE in Babylo...   Fort Munro Lake Tour Dera Ghazi Khan Punjab Pakistan | Asia's 2nd Largest Steel Bridge in Fort Munro    • Fort Munro Lake Tour Dera Ghazi Khan Punja...   🇵🇰 Kalabagh ki Sair | Kalabagh Complete History in Urdu \ Hindi | Nawab of Kalabag Dam Tour & Issues    • 🇵🇰 Kalabagh ki Sair | Kalabagh Complete Hi...   Asif Jah Haveli | The History Of Asif Jah Tomb | Shahdra Ravi Canal Lahore Punjab Pakistan    • Asif Jah Haveli | The History Of Asif Jah ...   Hazrat Bilal Habshi ka Roza Mubark | Hazrat Bilal Habshi ka waqia | Bilal Habshi ki Qabar Mubarak    • 🇸🇾 Hazrat Bilal Habshi ka Roza Mubark | Ha...