Shaji-ki-Dheri

Shaji-ki-Dheri is the site of an ancient Kanishka stupa about 6 kilometers from Peshawar, Pakistan.[1]

1899 engraving showing the remnants of the Kanishka stupa in Shaji-ki-Dheri.

American archaeologist David Brainard Spooner conducted excavations there in 1908-09 for the Archaeological Survey of India leading to the identification of the Kanishka stupa dated to the 2nd century CE, and the discovery of the Kanishka casket.[2] Spooner published a paper following the excavations: "Excavation at Shaji-ki-dheri: Annual Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India 1908–09".[3]

Many statues of the Buddha at Shaji-ki-Dheri feature a halo similar to the haloes seen in the Buddha coins of Kanishka I, suggesting a 2nd century CE date for the creation of the statues, rather than the usual datation to the 3-4th century CE.[4]

References
  1. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys, Rafi U. Samad, Algora Publishing, 2011, p.146
  2. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys, Rafi U. Samad, Algora Publishing, 2011, p.146
  3. The Cambridge World History: Volume 3, Early Cities in Comparative Perspective, 4000 BCE–1200 CE, Norman Yoffee, Cambridge University Press, 2015
  4. Tanabe, Katsumi (1974). "KANISHKA I COINS WITH THE BUDDHA IMAGE ON THE REVERSE AND SOME REFERENCES TO THE ART OF GANDHARA". Orient. 10: 37. ISSN 1884-1392.

Further reading
  • 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
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