few recent events in Pakistan are helpful in understanding the fundamental antipathy and political rhetoric behind the usual portrayal of the Gandhara civilisation, especially at a time when there has been a lot of focus on promoting religious tourism in the country, and presenting a peaceful image to the world.

In Mardan, a life-size Buddha statue – approximately 1,700 years old – was smashed into pieces with a hammer; in Chilas several ancient Buddhist rock carvings were damaged by painting; and most recently in Taxila, a group of teachers staged a protest against their school principal who allegedly organised a lecture every week focusing on Gandhara civilisation. The protesting teachers called it un-Islamic. Last year when the world marked 20 years of the destruction of Bamiyan’s Buddha statue, the event was missing in the local discourse.

Built heritage belongs to a region and not any of the religionspracticed in that region. Signs of the Buddhist civilisation which once flourished in Pakistan can be seen in the form of stupas, monasteries and other religious structures all over the country.These are a significant part of the country’s heritage.

Stupas are central to Buddhist heritage generally. Many of its last remnants are found in Pakistan. Due to their particular conical shape, stupas are called Toop and Toopi in the Pothwari language. Only one stupa is now intact in Rawalpindi. It is called the Mankiala stupa. Another was razed to the ground during the development of the city into a garrison by the British army. Adjacent to Sagri town along the Grand Trunk Road, the Mankiala village – where this stupa stands tall – was once a city and an important trading centre.

According to the local oral traditions, the Mankiala stupa is the resting place of the horse of Iskandar or Alexander of Macedonia. Not a lot of documented history is available about the city, but there is one book, History of Rawalpindi by an indigenous self-published author Master Muhammad Arif Minhas, that mostly relies on oral histories. He writes, “Mankiala was founded by a Bhatti Rajput named Raja Maanak Rai. The old city was located north-eastward from the stupa. Once there were many Vih ras (Buddhist monasteries) in Mankiala. It is reported that Ashoka’s eldest son got ill and died at Mankiala. This suggests that the city existed around the 3rd Century BCE. Raja Rasalu, a Bhatti Rajput, who lived before the time of King Kanishka, is said to have fought a war against demons and killed some at Mankiala… King Kanishka’s courtier and poet writes that the research papers presented at the fourth Buddhist congress were compiled by Mankiala’s scholars at Mankiala. From the Kanishka period till the Mughal era, Mankiala was inhabited by a Gujjar tribe. Many people believe that Mankiala was founded by the Gujjars. According to research by Raja Sodaagar Khan Bhatti, son of Raja Lal Khan, Sialkot’s prince Nall came to Mankiala and after conquering it ruled over it. He had two sons, Salwaan and Siri Chandar. Salwaan had two sons Raja Rasalu and Pooran Bhagat. In Siri Chander’s seventh generation, Raja Maanak migrated and made Mankiala his home. The etymology of Mankiala is associated with him.”

Stupas are central to Buddhist heritage generally. Many of its last remnants can be found in Pakistan. Due to their particular conical shape, stupas are called Toop ansd Toopi in the Pothwari language.

Central to the Buddhist heritage, history and iconography, Gandhara is the old name of a region in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Hindukush mountains lie west of it and by the Himalayan foothills on the north. The earliest archaeological excavations in the northwestern part of India were done in 1830 at Mankiala. A Buddhist stupa was discovered by a British diplomat in 1808, on his way to meet Shah Shuja in Peshawar. Mankiala, once a large Buddhist site located on the GT Road in present-day Pakistan was first excavated by Jean-Baptiste Ventura, a French general in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Ventura spent his time and finances exploring the hidden treasures of the stupa site. After his excavations, Ventura dispatched a short letter to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Persian saying that the grave of Alexander’s horse had been discovered. Ventura also discovered the first copper coin with Buddha’simage on it at the Mankiala stupa.

During the late 1970s British historian and radio presenter, John Keay visited Mankiala. In his book, India Discovered he writes about the significance of the Mankiala Stupa: “A British mission twenty years (before GenVentura) earlier had thought it might be Greek. This was worth investigating. Like Maddock, Ventura first tried to excavate a hole on the side and succeeded only in collapsing vast quantities of rubble. But, with time and unlimited labour, he adopted a different approach and started burrowing down from the top of the dome. Only three feet down, he found his first coins. More followed at intervals, and then came small compartments containing cylindrical boxes and canisters of gold and copper in which were scraps of material, jewellery and more coins.

The coins, many of which were gold, had important consequences for the reconstruction of Indian history. Ventura’s initiative was a considerable success and brought him, besides some saleable treasure, renown as an archaeologist. Other European officers in Ranjit Singh’s service joined the fray and, in the Punjab and neighbouring Afghanistan, there followed a period of intense stupa raiding. There was little conclusive evidence, but it was beginning to look as if stupas and their relics were Buddhist. Moreover, the success of these new archaeological ventures provided a powerful stimulus to would-be archaeologists across the Frontier in British India.”

In recent years a boundary wall has been erected around the stupa. The enclosure is mostly locked and a local who runs a micro-floor mill adjacent to the site keeps the key to the main gate. If the key-keeper cannot be found, one can forget about seeing the stupa. Neighbourhood children often visit it, going all the way to the top. Many visit the place in pursuit of clues to the Buddha’s wisdom. Monks from all over the orient once came to stay and pray at Mankiala.

The writer tweets at @Ammad_Alee