Photo: Muhammad Zahir · CC BY-SA 3.0Field guides / Khyber Pakhtunkhwa / Mardan / Jamal Garhi Buddhist Monastery, Mardan
Field guide · Heritage
Mardan
Mardan District · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Jamal Garhi Buddhist Monastery, Mardan
A hilltop Buddhist monastery of the 1st–5th century near Mardan, its main stupa ringed by closely packed chapels.
Jamal Garhi, 13 km from Mardan on the Katlang road, was a Buddhist monastery from the 1st to the 5th century, when Buddhism flourished in Gandhara; locals call the ruins Jamal Garhi Kandarat or Kafiro Kote. Its main stupa is surrounded by small chapels packed closely together. Sir Alexander Cunningham found the ruins in 1848, and excavations in the 1870s uncovered many fine sculptures, now in the British Museum and the Indian Museum in Kolkata, while a Kharoshthi inscription found here is in the Peshawar Museum.
Why go
- ✦A Gandharan monastery of the 1st–5th century
- ✦A main stupa ringed by chapels
- ✦Found by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1848
How to Reach
About 13 km from Mardan on the Katlang–Mardan road; a short climb to the ruins.
Planning tip
Best Time to Visit, October to March; the Mardan plain is very hot in summer.
Getting there, About 13 km from Mardan on the Katlang–Mardan road; a short climb to the ruins.
Allow, One to two hours.
What to Do
Nearby
Straight-line distance from Jamal Garhi Buddhist Monastery, Mardan, within 5 km.
