DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0131
Chap. III.
MANIKYALA.
95
B.C. 43,1 it is certain the monument was erected after that
date. The gold coins were all those of Kanishka. This tope,
therefore, could hardly have been erected earlier than thirty
years before Christ. To the antiquary the enquiry is of con-
siderable interest, but less so to the architect, as the tope is
so completely ruined that neither its form nor its dimensions
can now be distinguished.
Another was opened in 1863 by General Cunningham, in
the relic chamber of which he found a copper coin, belonging
to the Satrap Zeionises, who is
supposed to have governed this
part of the country about the be-
ginning of the Christian Era, and
we may therefore assume that the
tope was erected by him or in his
time. This and other relics were
enclosed in a glass-stoppered vessel,
placed in a miniature representa-
tion of the tope itself, 4! in. wide
at base, and 8| in. high (Woodcut
No. 24), which may be considered
as a fair representation of what
a tope was or was intended to be,
in that day. It is, perhaps, taller,
however, than a structural example
would have been; and the tee,
with its four umbrellas, is, possibly,
exaggerated.2
The principal tope of the group
is, perhaps, the most remarkable of
its class in India, though inferior
in size to several in Ceylon. It
was first noticed by Mountstuart
Elphinstone, and a very correct
view of it published by him, with the narrative of his mission
to Kabul in 1809.3 It was afterwards thoroughly explored by
General Ventura, in 1830, and a complete account of his investi-
gations published by Prinsep in the third volume of his ‘ Journal.)
Since then its basement has been cleared of the rubbish that
hid it to a depth of 12 ft. to 15 ft. all round, by the officers
24.
Relic Casket from Tope at
Manikyala. (Found and drawn
by Gen. Cunningham.)
1 Thomas in ‘ Prinsep,’ vol. i. p. 150;
and ‘Journal R. Asiatic Soc.,’ vol. ix.
(N.S.), pp. 217-218.
2 ‘ Archmological Reports,’ vol. ii. p.
167, plate 65. A similar reliquary, with
five umbrellas or chattras, was found by
Gerard in the Burj-i-yak-dereh tope to
the east of Kabul; Jacquet, in ‘Jour.
Asiatique,’ II Ie serie, tome vii. pp. 394-
395 ; Foucher, ‘L’Art Greco-Bouddhique
du Gandhara,’ tome i. pp. 14b and 75.
3 Elphinstone’s ‘ Account of Caubul,’
pp. 78, and 376, ist ed.
MANIKYALA.
95
B.C. 43,1 it is certain the monument was erected after that
date. The gold coins were all those of Kanishka. This tope,
therefore, could hardly have been erected earlier than thirty
years before Christ. To the antiquary the enquiry is of con-
siderable interest, but less so to the architect, as the tope is
so completely ruined that neither its form nor its dimensions
can now be distinguished.
Another was opened in 1863 by General Cunningham, in
the relic chamber of which he found a copper coin, belonging
to the Satrap Zeionises, who is
supposed to have governed this
part of the country about the be-
ginning of the Christian Era, and
we may therefore assume that the
tope was erected by him or in his
time. This and other relics were
enclosed in a glass-stoppered vessel,
placed in a miniature representa-
tion of the tope itself, 4! in. wide
at base, and 8| in. high (Woodcut
No. 24), which may be considered
as a fair representation of what
a tope was or was intended to be,
in that day. It is, perhaps, taller,
however, than a structural example
would have been; and the tee,
with its four umbrellas, is, possibly,
exaggerated.2
The principal tope of the group
is, perhaps, the most remarkable of
its class in India, though inferior
in size to several in Ceylon. It
was first noticed by Mountstuart
Elphinstone, and a very correct
view of it published by him, with the narrative of his mission
to Kabul in 1809.3 It was afterwards thoroughly explored by
General Ventura, in 1830, and a complete account of his investi-
gations published by Prinsep in the third volume of his ‘ Journal.)
Since then its basement has been cleared of the rubbish that
hid it to a depth of 12 ft. to 15 ft. all round, by the officers
24.
Relic Casket from Tope at
Manikyala. (Found and drawn
by Gen. Cunningham.)
1 Thomas in ‘ Prinsep,’ vol. i. p. 150;
and ‘Journal R. Asiatic Soc.,’ vol. ix.
(N.S.), pp. 217-218.
2 ‘ Archmological Reports,’ vol. ii. p.
167, plate 65. A similar reliquary, with
five umbrellas or chattras, was found by
Gerard in the Burj-i-yak-dereh tope to
the east of Kabul; Jacquet, in ‘Jour.
Asiatique,’ II Ie serie, tome vii. pp. 394-
395 ; Foucher, ‘L’Art Greco-Bouddhique
du Gandhara,’ tome i. pp. 14b and 75.
3 Elphinstone’s ‘ Account of Caubul,’
pp. 78, and 376, ist ed.