Written by: Hidayat Khan
Posted on: August 30, 2022 | 
| 中文
Buddhist monks at the Sphola Stupa site
The Sphola Stupa, dating back to the 2nd century, is the sole extant Buddhist relic in Khyber tribal district. A reminder of Kushan rule in the region, the recently restored stupa is situated a few yards to the north of the historic Khyber Pass on a bare rock. This Buddhist-era stupa, also known as the "Khyber Tope", is located 2.5 km to the north-west of the famous Jamrud Fort and 6.0 km northwest of Peshawar's modern town of Hayatabad. According to some archaeologists, this stupa belongs to the early stages of Buddhism in this region, considered a gateway to the Indus delta. In the past, a number of coins and Buddha figures had been recovered in the vicinity of the stupa, dating back to the first century.
On the way to Khyber Pass, Sphola Stupa is visible
The Shpola stupa as a whole was placed as an object of worship. The actual structure of the stupa was built of limestone blocks, with intervening smaller stones and its inner core is filled with rough rubble. The outer layers seem to have a finishing of a coating of stucco, which at places, is more than an inch in thickness.
Sadly, instead of being preserved in all its glory, the Stupa and the many monasteries at the site were heaps of bricks, stone and mud, and was plundered by antique hunters for decades. Archaeologists, Zarawar Khan and Fawad Khan, in their research paper, 'The Shpola Stupa of Khyber Pass: The Twentieth-Century Record of a Proposed Conservation Project' wrote: "Though it was a well-preserved monument until the 19th century of the Common Era; however, with the annexation of Khyber into the British Indian Empire, the stupa suffered from illegal digging."
However, in 2020, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Archeology and Museum started archeological restoration of the stupa. The restoration work was launched under the World Bank sponsored KITE [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Development] project. It was the first time in the history of Pakistan's tribal belt that archeological restoration was started on this Buddhist era site to promote "religious tourism" in the province. The officials said that during the preservation work, Shpola Stupa will be scientifically studied and will be observed from different angles to determine the date of its construction and the history of this region.
The renovation work underway
During the earlier excavation at the site, a number of coins have been unearthed, including three coins of King Kanishka, which have Buddha images and are said to have been issued in the later phase of the Kanishka rule. It also included 12 coins of Huvishka and three of Vasudeva I eras.
The Khyber district remained a part of the glorious Gandhara civilization that flourished in northern Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan, from mid-1st millennium BCE to the beginning of 2nd millennium BCE. According to archeologists, besides Gandhara civilization, the tribal region of Pakistan has high potential with regards to ascertaining the pre-historic culture and civilization that flourished in this region, but vanished with the passage of time because of manmade disasters and natural calamities.
Buddhists offering prayers at the site
This region is considered a "cradle of ancient civilizations", but no effort was made for its scientific and archeological study even during the British Raj. After independence in 1947, the entire tribal belt was governed under the British-era Frontier Crimes Regulation Act (FCR), and this area was not accessible to archeologists due to security reasons. There was also no staff or department to work for preservation of archaeological sites of the district.
Sphola Stupa from the backside
However, recently, Archaeologists have uncovered multiple undocumented pre-historic sites, including 30,000-year-old rock art in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber tribal districts that the archeologists claim would upend popular assumptions about the history of the region. The archaeological survey was conducted as a pilot project by the political administration of the district, with technical support from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Archaeology museums in Jamrud tehsil [sub-district]. The survey report has documented over 110 prehistoric, Buddhist, Islamic and British era sites across the tehsil. However, the findings were assumed to be just a "tip of the iceberg", and it was decided to conduct such surveys in other tehsils of the Khyber district as well.
Earlier this month, besides visiting the renowned Buddhist sites in Jamal Ghari and Takht-i-Bahi, a Buddhist delegation led by Arayawangso, internationally renowned Thai Buddhist monk, also visited the Shpola Stupa. It was a "historic day", as it was the first visit of a high-ranked monk to the stupa. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa directorate of archaeology and museums hoped that "This visit will have a positive effect on global communities as they will have a better understanding of Buddhist sites in Pakistan, especially stupas and monasteries, which in return will boost religious tourism in this region."
Thai monk Arayawangso at the Stupa site
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has a rich Budhist heritage. There is a need to explore new sites, and conserve sites like the Sphola Stupa that have already been discovered.
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