Mankiala Buddhist stupa- Pakistan

Address

Mankiala Buddhist stupa- Mankiala, Tope Mankila, Punjab, Rawalpindi District, Punjab, Pakistan

Diety

Buddha

Introduction

The Mankiala Stupa is a 2nd-century Buddhist stupa near the village of Tope Mankiala, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The stupa was built by the Kushans and is said to commemorate the spot, where according to the Jataka tales, an incarnation of the Buddha called Prince Sattva sacrificed himself to feed seven hungry tiger cubs. Mankiala stupa is located in the village of Tope Mankiala, near the place name of Sagri and 2nd near village of Sahib Dhamyal. It is 36 km southeast of Islamabad, and near the city of Rawalpindi. It is visible from the nearby historic Rawat Fort.

Puranic Significance

The stupa is said to have been built during the reign of Kanishka between 128 and 151 CE. An alternate theory suggest that the stupa is one of 84 such buildings, built during the reign of Mauryan emperor Ashoka to house the ashes of the Buddha. It is said that Emperor Kanishka used to visit this stupa often to pay respects to Buddha during his campaigns. The stupa was discovered by Mountstuart Elphinstone, the first British emissary to Afghanistan, in 1808 – 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. 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 or his entire body to feed seven hungry tiger cubs