FOUNDATION BY AŚOKA

Of the saṅghrāmās of Taxila, the most important, and the oldest, is one situated at the foot of the Hathiāl spur on its southern side, and between it and the Tamrā nālā stream. The ancient name of this establishment, or rather of the great stūpa which still dominates the group of ruins, was the Dharmarājikā; its modern name, derived from a wide cleft which former treasure-seekers drove through its dome, is the Chir (Split) Tope. The precise meaning of the word Dharmarājikā is open to question, but it appears to have denoted a stūpa erected over a body-relic of the Buddha who was the true Dharmarājika. Since, however, nearly all the stūpas containing Buddha's relics were known to have been erected by Aśoka, the term naturally came to bear both meanings, namely, a stūpa containing one of those relics or a stūpa erected by Aśoka. Accordingly there is good reason to infer that Taxila was one of the many cities in the Maurya empire which received from Aśoka a share of the holy relics, and that the Dharmarājikā was the stūpa erected by him to house that share. But even if we had not had the evidence of its name, we might reasonably have surmised that this stūpa owed its origin to Aśoka, for not only is it by far the biggest and most conspicuous of all such monuments at Taxila, but it is also the oldest, and if any stūpa at all was erected by Aśoka at Taxila, we may be virtually certain that it was this one. That a city of such pre-eminence as Taxila would have been passed over in the distribution of the relics, or that Aśoka, who had spent many years there as viceroy during the lifetime of his father Bindusāra, would have been forgetful of its claims, is highly unlikely.

PLAN, ELEVATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT STŪPA

As now exposed to view, the main stūpa is approximately circular in plan with a raised terrace around its base, which was ascended by four flights of steps, one at each of the cardinal points.