The Ancient Buddhist Capital of Punjab, Taki also named Asarur (2018)

Following the footsteps of Alexander Cunningham 

Date of visit: - March 08, 2018

All Pictures are owned

Reference is taken from the book ‘The Ancient Geography of India’ by Sir Alexander Cunningham.

A few years back, I read notes of Sir Alexander Cunningham on Asarur the probable ancient Buddhist capital in Panjab before the Muhammadan period, which was visited by famous Chinese pilgrim Huen Tsang in 633 AD.

I want to visit this site of great historical importance for quite some time but know very little about the exact location of this place.  However, with this incomplete information about the location, I decided to visit Khanqah Dogran to find this site. Fortunately able to find it after a few hours of wandering and with help of a local's guidance. 

The View of Mound

Sir Alexander Cunningham was known as the father of the Archaeological Survey of India which he founded and served as the first director between 1861 to 1865. He spent sixty years in India in the Army and achieved distinction as an archaeologist and scholar of the ancient history and geography of India.

Cunningham was a keen student of Huen Tsang and Fa Hein(Chinese monks who came to India in the 7th and 5th centuries CE, respectively, in search of Buddhist scripture) and decided to retrace the journey of Huen Tsang to identify every single place mentioned by him.

His book, ‘The Ancient Geography of India’ refers here to India's Buddhist period up to the seventh century CE, during which time Buddhism was the subcontinent's dominant religion. In this work, he draws on material ranging from the campaigns of Alexander the Great to the travels of the seventh-century Buddhist pilgrim Huen Tsang, who recorded much about India's geographical, political, religious, and cultural landscape.

A mound near the modern village of Asarur (Now Khangah Dogran tahsil of Gujranwala District, Punjab has been identified by Cunningham as the site of the ancient capital of Panjab. It is visited by Hiuen Tsiang in 630 AD.

The city was then one of great importance and is said by the Chinese pilgrim to have been 3 miles in circuit, a measurement which agrees well enough with the ruins still existing. The antiquity claimed for the place is confirmed by a large number of bricks, 18 by 10 by 3 inches, which are found all over the ruins, and by the great numbers of Indo-Scythian coins discovered after heavy rain. Its history therefore indeed reaches back to the beginning of the Christian era. The ruins consist of an extensive mound, 15,600 feet, or nearly 3 miles, in the circuit. The highest point is in the northwest quarter, where the mound rises to 59 feet above the fields. This part, which Cunningham takes to have been the ancient palace, is 600 feet long and 400 feet broad, and quite regular in shape. It contains an old well, 21 feet in diameter, which has not been used for many years and is now dry. The place is surrounded by a line of large mounds about 25 feet in height, and 8,100 feet, or \\ miles, in the circuit, which were the strongholds or citadel of the place. The mounds are round and prominent, as the ruins of large towers or bastions. On the east and south sides of the citadel, the mass of ruins sinks to 10 and 15 feet in height, but it is twice the size of the citadel and is no doubt the remains of the old city.

The Mound where once citadel present 

Clearly can see old bricks in mound walls

Old Bricks of the Buddhist Era

Old Bricks of the Buddhist Era at the mound 

Debris at Mound

Another picture of Debris

Another Scene of Mound from fields

Mound

Mound

Mound

Mound

Most of  part of mound now converted into fields and residential areas of the village

Mound

An unknown Shrine was constructed on top of the Mound

Another view of Mound

There are no visible traces of any ancient buildings, as all the surface bricks have been long ago carried off to the neighboring shrine of Ugah Shah at Khangah Masrur on the road from Lahore to Pindf Bhattian; but among the old bricks forming the surrounding wall of the mosque, Cunningham found three molded in different patterns, which could only have belonged to buildings of some importance.

Mosque constructed of old bricks extracted from Ancient Mound. The mosque is not in used now

Another view of Mound 

View of Mosque from Inside

Another view of the Mosque 

Another View of Mosque 

Another View of Mosque 

Another View of Mosque 

He found also a wedge-shaped brick, 15 inches long and 3 inches thick. This must have been made for a stupa, or a well, but most probably for the latter, as the existing well is 2 1 feet in diameter. The modern village of Asarur contains only forty-five houses. At the time of Hiuen Tsiang's visit, there were ten monasteries, but very few Buddhists and the mass of the people worshipped the Brah- maniacal gods. North-east of the town, at 10 //, or nearly 2 miles, was a stupa of Asoka, 200 feet in height, which marked the spot where Buddha had halted, and which was said to contain a large number of his relics. This stupa General Cunningham identifies with the little mound of Salar, near Thatta Saiyidan, just 2 miles to the north of Asarur.