Kanishka stupa
1899 engraving showing the remnants of the Kanishka Stupa in Shaji-ki-Dheri
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 Shown within Pakistan
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| Location |
Pakistan 
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| Coordinates | 33°59′58″N 71°35′30″E / 33.9994°N 71.5918°ECoordinates: 33°59′58″N 71°35′30″E / 33.9994°N 71.5918°E |
| Type | Stupa |
| Part of | Kushan Empire and White Huns |
| Height | 400 feet (120 m) to 560 feet (170 m) |
| History | |
| Periods | 2nd C.E. |
The Kanishka stupa was a monumental stupa established by the Kushan king Kanishka during the 2nd century CE in today's Shaji-ki-Dheri on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan.
The magnificent stupa was built during the Kushan era to house Buddhist relics, and would become perhaps the tallest buildings in the ancient world. The stupa is also famous for its Buddhist relics, which were transferred to the U Khanti Hall at Mandalay Hill, in Mandalay, Burma after their discovery.
According to Buddhists the building of the stupa was foretold by the Buddha:
The same story is repeated in a Khotanese scroll found at Dunhuang, which first described how Kanishka would arrive 400 years after the death of the Buddha. The account also describes how Kanishka came to raise his stupa:
The original Kushan stone stupa was probably built after the death of Kanishka the Great, between 150 to 300 CE>T and rebuilt under their rule in the 300s CE into a cruciform stupa that was then destroyed by the White Huns during their invasion of the area. In the 5th century CE, stucco imagery was probably added to the site, in keeping with contemporary popularity for Buddhist imagery.
The White Huns destroyed the second stupa during their invasion of the region in the 460s CE. The stupa's wooden superstructure was rebuilt atop the stone base, and crowned with a 13-layer copper-gilded chatra. Modern estimations suggest that the stupa had a height of 400 feet (120,000 mm).
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Wikipedia