March 29, 2018
A monastery was also built here that contained a number of rooms for the students. In addition to these rooms, a large pool for washing was also built here. Two floors are built within the monastery and each floor has twenty-eight rooms. In front of some of the rooms, statues of Buddha are preserved. Stairs were made of stones to reach the upper floor and are still preserved. As a source of some light and the supply of fresh air, each of these rooms had a window. These holes of windows were also used as niche to grip the lamps for students.
Location:- 33.7649 N, 72.8749 E
Buddhist Site
Jaulian monastery is among the prominent
heritage sites of the province and located close to Taxila. Sir John Marshall,
director of the Archaeological Survey of India (1902-28), in his book Guide
to Taxila noted the monastery is at the top of a hill close to the
village of Jaulian. Marshall said there was reason to believe that the
destruction of the Buddhist settlement took place in 5CE at the hands of the
invading Huns.
There are two main parts of these ruins,
one is the main stupa and other one is the monastery and university
of Jaulian.
The
main stupa at Jaulian is surrounded by twenty-one
votive stupas and is badly damaged. Some of the experts believe that
few of these votive stupas here are the tombs of revered monks. There
are statues at stupas and most of the statues are preserved. For the
purpose of exhibition at museum, a number of these statues are
removed. Along with the plaster, at some places, the original structure of the
building of Stupa is preserved.
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| Hall for Main Stupa |
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| Monastery |
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| Monastery |
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| Healing Buddha :- An odd artifact that is a statue of Buddha with a hole in its navel can be seen here that is called “healing Buddha”. People visit this place with the belief that by putting their finger in the naval hole and praying for the alimenting of patients would help to cure the illness. The carved writing under the statue reveals that this statue was gifted by “Budhamitra Dharmanandin” a friar. |
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| Votive Stupas |
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| Votive Stupas |
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| Votive Stupa & Healing Buddha |
A monastery was also built here that contained a number of rooms for the students. In addition to these rooms, a large pool for washing was also built here. Two floors are built within the monastery and each floor has twenty-eight rooms. In front of some of the rooms, statues of Buddha are preserved. Stairs were made of stones to reach the upper floor and are still preserved. As a source of some light and the supply of fresh air, each of these rooms had a window. These holes of windows were also used as niche to grip the lamps for students.
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| Monastery |
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| Monastery |
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| Monastery |
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| Votive Stupa |
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| Buddhist Stupa |
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| Buddhist Stupa |
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| Votive Stupa |
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| Main Stupa Hall |
In 455 CE, White Huns burnt the monastery and thus destroyed.
