The Great Tope of Manikyala

[Jaap Pranger]

   I've not been keeping up with the literature on (buddhist) archaeology
   in Pakistan for the last fifteen years, but am still being haunted
   by an old question:

   What has become of the 'Great Tope' near the village of Manikyala,
   located to the south-east of Rawalpindi/Islamabad (33' 28", 75'15"),
   since it was "discovered" at the beginning of the last century?

   I think a remark of Debala Mitra (Buddhist Monuments, 1971) on
   the old finds in this stupa (coins of Kanishka and Huvishka), is the
   last information I have about it.

   A reasonable state of preservation of this stupa would be one the
   main reasons for an eventual trip to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

   I guess there may be more appropriate Lists or Groups for dropping
   my question. Most lists about Buddhisme however seem to be devoted
   more to spiritual matters than just old mounds of bricks.

   For any more recent information on this stupa, references to it,
   or suggestions for other platforms to put my question,
   I will be very grateful,

   Jaap Pranger




   ---------
   Reference:

   The "Great Tope" was opened first by General Ventura
   in 1838. The account of its exploration was first published by
   Wilson and afterwards by Prinsep.

   Elphinstone, Mountstuart, "An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul",
   London 1815, p. 78 (with illustrations)

   Wilson, Horace Hayman, "Ariana Antiqua; A descriptive Account
   of the Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan, with a Memoir on the
   Buildings called Topes, by Charles Masson", London 1841

   Prinsep, James, "On the Coins and Relics discovered by M. le
   Chevalier Ventura, General in the Service of Maharaja Runjeet Singh,
   in the Tope of Manikyala", JASBe, no.31, III, July 1834, pp. 313-320,
   pp. 556-62

   Court, A., "Further Information on the Topes of Manikyala, being the
   translation of an Extract from a Manuscript Memoir on Ancient Taxila,
by
   Mons. A. Court, Engineer Officer in the Army of Maharaja Ranjit
Singh",
   JRAS, November 1834, pp. 556-576


   PS
   As I have moved less than a year ago and books
   have not been unpacked, I could not check the
   page numbers in the references.