Shingardar

Shingardar Stupa

Shingardar is a village between Ghalegay and Barikot located in the south end of the Swat valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. Shingardar is site of Shingardar Stupa, the largest Buddhist stupa of the Indian subcontinent.

Shingardar Stupa

Shingardar Stupa is a remnant of Buddhist era, and is one of the thousands ancient monuments in Swat Valley. It was built by Uttarasena, an ancient king of Swat, to enshrine his share of the relics of Buddha. The building of stupa is made of large stones and layers of thin slate. On the way to Mingora there is a statue of Buddha sculptured in a rock on the right side of G.T. road. There are also some remnants in a cave beside this statue.

The Shingardar stupa was identified by Colonel Deane and S.A Stein during the British period.

Who was Uttarasena

Bhim Singh Dahiya writes....Now coming to the Buddhist accounts, we have already noted that according to these versions, Mauryas are a branch of the Sakyas, who were forced to migrate from Magadha under the pressure of its emperor and had to go to live in Udyana. The first Maurya married a Naga daughter and seized the throne of Udyana. His son, named Utalosina (Uttarasena) became king after him and when he was out hunting, Buddha came to his house and told his mother that her son belonged to Buddha's family and therefore, he should take a part of Buddha's ashes from Kusinagar. Uttaraasena, staked a claim for the ashes of Buddha on the ground that he was a Kshatriya of the same clan as the Buddha himself. The kings of other countries treated him scornfully but Buddha again intervened and told the hostile kings of his wishes and so they allowed Uttarasena to get the ashes.

Ghalegay village

Ghalegay (Pashto: غالیګے‎) is a village of Swat Valley, located at a distance of 14 km south of Mingora, on the left bank of Swat River. It is one of the main villages lying between the two cities, Mingora and Barikot.

References

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