GATEWAY OF SHARIKA SHRINE SRINAGAR AND EMPEROR ASHOKA’ S SANCHI STUPA BHOPAL ( M P )

                                                                                

                                                    ( SANCHI STUPA GATEWAY)

                                                                               

                             ( ENTRANCE TO SHARIKA SHRINE SRINAGAR KASHMIR )

STRIKING SIMILARITIES OF ENTRANCE  AT ..

(1)                 EMPEROR ASHOKA 'S SHANTI STUPA AT SANCHI NEAR BHOPAL ( M P)

(2)                  AND (2) SHRINE OF SHARIKA AT HARI PARBAT SRINAGAR KASHMIR..

I Have observed striking similarities  of gateways to Hari Parbat Shrine and  Ashoka’s Sanchi Stupa in MP Near Bhopal. .Known as Torana , this gateway was very common in Ancient Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Temple architecture  .I saw it   at many Jain temples in Rajasthan. Many Old Temples in South East Asian countries  have a TORANA gateway.

Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a TORANA as under

 “TORANA is Indian gateway, usually of stone, marking the entrance to a Buddhist shrine or stupa or to a Hindu temple. Toranas typically consist of two pillars carrying two or three transverse beams that extend beyond the pillars on either side.”

 Once I sought clarification on this issue  from Late A.N. Vaihnavi Ji a well Known kashmiri Pandit Leader and selfless Social Worker . He he had some idea that it had been copied from ancient Buddhist shrine of peace though he was not sure about Sanchi.

Dr Shashi Shekhar Toshakhani adds:

“The gate to the Hari Parbat shrine was constructed in the 20th century and was most probably inspired by Sanchi. I think the idea came from KP leaders of yore like Kashyap Bandhu “

( Autar Mota )

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