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Tahkāl: the nineteenth–century record of two lost Gandhāra Sites1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
The name Tahkā is today remembered by archaeologists only as the provenance of the famous Gandhāra statue of Kuvera in the Lahore Museum (fig. 1:Lahore 3/G101). Little is now known concerning the site itself, its precise location, or whether any architecural remains are still visible on the ground. Yet a hundred years age, the area around Tahkāl contained the most prominent Gandhāra ruins in the immediate neighbourhood of Peshawar, attracting the attention of all interested visitors who came to the city. It is moreover possible to construct a clear picture of the remains from their contemporary descriptions and from the forgotten archaeological record of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, the recent rediscovery of Punjab Public works Department reports of the 1870s, printed in the Punjab Government Gazette, provides many details concerning the precise nature of two of the three major Buddhist structures in this area.
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- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 1987 , pp. 301 - 324
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1987
References
2 The most common alternative spelling is Takkāl. Other variations which occur are Tehkal, Takāl, Tackāl, Taikā or Teākal. The historical name of the site is unknown.
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25 1 am indebted to Professor Farid Khan, Department of Archaeology, Peshawar University, for information on this site, and also on the remains within the precincts of the University. Warm thanks are also extended to Mr. W. Zwalf, British Musem, for photographing the sites on my behalf.
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38 See below, Appendix A, para. 2; Appendix B, para. 2. Haslett's annotations when quoted below are given in italics.
39 See below, Appendix D.
40 ibid.
41 See below, Appendix B, para. 2.
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64 See below, Appendix B, para. 6.
65 See below, Appendix C.
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70 Mound A.
71 Mound B.
72 Mound C.
73 Fig. 4.
74 Area C. The following season Haslett decided, correctly, that this was a quadrangle. Cf. Appendix B, para. 7.
75 Wall e.g. incorporating Area B.
76 Fig, 4, stūpa B; detail of plan and section: fig. 5, Sketch 2.1–3.
77 Containing foundation walls of Areas A, B and C.
78 Fig. 4, Area A.