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| Is it carved out of rock or covered in accretion? |
Since the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the
Stupa of Takht-e Rostam in Samangan Province is arguably Afghanistan’s most impressive pre-Islamic site.
Unlike other
stupas [
kurgans, Scythian burial mounds, relic domes,
dagobas,
chaityas,
pagodas],
Takht-e Rostam Stupa has not been mounted above ground. It has been carved into the ground, in a style that resembles the
monolithic churches of Ethiopia [or Jordan's
Petra or Buddhism's magnificent
Ajanta Caves].
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| Inside cave-like Buddhist monastery at Samangam, Takht-e Rostam stupa, meditation cells |
 |
| Rare hollow, cave-like stupa in Thailand based on ancient Afghan style (Wat Umong). |
 |
| Perhaps Persian throne rooms were built in the style of earlier Buddhist architecture which, being carved directly in stone, may have been the work of deva architects (pin). |
 |
| Still standing after 700 years, Thailand's Wat Umong shows its age, despite numerous touch-ups. But still the crumbling, weather-worn central stupa towers into the sky (CB). |
At the top of the
stupa is a stone-carved
harmika building, which once held
relics of the Buddha. The trench surrounding the
stupa is around 24 feet (8 meters) deep. A path leads down to the bottom of the trench, where Buddhist monastics once
circumambulated the
stupa clockwise.
 |
| Peaceful meditation room for striving |
Carved inside the outer walls of the trench is a Buddhist monastic complex with five individual caves and several monastic cells for meditation. Small holes in the roofs allow a little daylight to enter the caves, creating a peaceful atmosphere of twilight. The cave monastery is lacking any decorative elements but is impressive as a sheer
engineering feat.
Historians have proposed two possible reasons
why the stupa has been carved in the ground instead of being built above ground. One explanation is that it could have been done for the purpose of camouflage to protect the monastery from invaders. Another much more mundane explanation states that it has simply been done to escape the excessive hot/cold climate extremes of Afghanistan.
 |
| How could Buddhists have built this in stone? |
The Afghan name
Takht-e Rostam ("
Throne of Rostam") refers to a legendary figure in Persian [Aryan, Indo-Iranian] culture. After the Islamization of Afghanistan, when the knowledge of the original Buddhist purpose of the
stupa became lost, the site became known as the place where Rostam supposedly married his bride Tahmina.
The ruins are located up the hill 3 kilometers southwest above the town of
Samangan.
More
Dr. Semir Osmanagić has done great work uncovering what is possibly the world's oldest, largest, highest pyramid. See the Valley of Pyramids and the mountain under it. It's reason enough to visit Bosnia with Daniel Olsen near the Pyramid of the Sun.
