Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on Sunday brought into sharp focus the rich and vibrant heritage and archaeological wealth of Kashmir.
PM Modi spoke of ancient Buddhist ruins at Zehanpora village in Baramulla district, where the famous Kushan-period Buddhist ruins, the Zehanpora mounds, were discovered.
This significant archaeological site is believed to be remnants of a large, ancient Buddhist complex from the Kushan period, with excavations revealing stupas, walls, pottery, and artefacts, highlighting a flourishing Buddhist centre in ancient Kashmir and offering crucial insights into the region’s cultural and religious heritage.
PM Modi spoke of blurred photographs in a French museum, which brought the Zehanpora mounds into the world’s focus.
The mounds are identified as a significant early historic Buddhist site, potentially dating back 2000 years. Discoveries include multiple stupas, ancient walls, terracotta art (like Gandhara-style heads), pottery, and copper artefacts.
The finds point to a major Buddhist centre during the Kushan dynasty (1st-3rd centuries CE), a period when Buddhism thrived in Kashmir. This excavation provides a new understanding of Kashmir’s rich past, connecting to historical accounts by Chinese monks like Xuanzang, who visited similar sites like Ushkur (Hushkapur).
The discovery followed extensive surveys using drones and ground-penetrating radar to identify the mounds before excavation.
The site is located near Zehanpora in the Baramulla district. Zehanpora mounds are a major archaeological find, uncovering a significant Kushan-era Buddhist settlement, crucial for understanding ancient Kashmir’s history and Buddhist heritage.
Dr Harmeet Singh Soodan, professor and head of the political science department of Government Degree College, Katra, wrote in a recent article that the Zehanpora story begins not with excavation tools, but with drones.
“For years, locals had noticed the unusual mounds, but assumed they were remnants of past settlements or simply geological features. Drone-based aerial surveys changed everything. The mounds revealed symmetrical circular and rectangular shapes-patterns unmistakably man-made. What followed was a methodical ground exploration. Brick foundations emerged, forming what appears to be a stupa base. Adjacent sections showed monastic structures: cells, platforms, and pathways that mirrored the layout of Buddhist monastic complexes found across the Gandhara region,” he said.
“The discovery was so precise that even the layering of construction matched known Kushan-era patterns. In an interesting twist, the findings also corroborate early archaeological notes made in 1869 by colonial-era explorers. Their observations, largely forgotten, mentioned structural remnants near the area that bore resemblance to Gandhara architecture. But lacking modern tools, they could only speculate. Today, their marginalia stand vindicated. Zehanpora is thus both a rediscovery and a realisation: a heritage overlooked for more than a century has finally spoken,” Soodan wrote in the article.
He said that to understand the importance of this discovery, one must place it in the larger historical canvas of the Kushan Empire. Between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, the Kushans ruled a vast territory stretching from Central Asia to northern India. They were among the greatest patrons of Buddhism, nurturing its institutions and facilitating its spread along the Silk Routes. One of the most influential Kushan rulers was Emperor Huvishka, who is believed to have shifted part of his administrative and religious activity to Kashmir.
“Ancient coins, inscriptions, and historical accounts point repeatedly to a royal centre named Huvishkapura, whose location has long remained a mystery. Scholars have proposed several sites, but none have been definitively proven. Could Zehanpora be part of this elusive capital’s landscape? The evidence is suggestive. The sheer scale of the structures, their chronological placement, and their artistic affiliations align with the Kushan architectural footprint. The presence of stupas-monumental symbols of Buddhist patronage-adds weight to the idea that Kushan influence here was not peripheral but central,” Soodan said in his article.
“If Zehanpora was not the capital itself, it might well have been a satellite settlement, a monastic extension, or a spiritual hub within the capital’s broader domain. What is certain is that this discovery strengthens Kashmir’s position in the history of early Buddhism, revealing a valley deeply engaged with the currents of Kushan-era culture, politics, and spirituality,” he said.
Kashmir’s historical connection to Gandhara is often referenced in texts; the Nilamata Purana is an ancient Sanskrit text which gives us detailed information about the pilgrimage spots, rituals and ceremonies observed by people of Kashmir.
This text provides information about the origin of Kashmir. The details obtained from the Nilamata Purana help us to reconstruct the social and religious history of ancient Kashmir, but the visible archaeological evidence within the Valley has been comparatively limited. Zehanpora changes that notion also.
The architectural features uncovered so far-circular stupa bases, brick patterns, rectilinear monastic cells-mirror those found in key Gandharan sites such as Swat, Taxila, and Takht-i-Bahi.
Additionally, the site’s strategic location would have placed it directly along ancient routes linking Srinagar to Gandhara via Baramulla and onwards to the passes of the northwest. This route was not merely a road. It was a cultural artery.
Monks, traders, sculptors, and pilgrims traversed it, carrying ideas and images that helped shape the Buddhist world. Zehanpora, in this light, was not an isolated community.
“It was a part of a thriving exchange system-a place where ideas blossomed, where teachers debated, and where scriptures may have been copied, translated, or composed. For Kashmir, the discovery is a reaffirmation of its historical role as a meeting point of civilisations, not just a frontier zone…What makes the Zehanpora discovery profoundly meaningful is not simply its age, or its architectural value, or even its link to the Kushans. It is a reminder that Kashmir’s story is not one-dimensional. It is a tapestry woven from diverse civilisational threads — Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Persian, Central Asian, and local Himalayan. For too long, the valley’s early Buddhist period has been overshadowed by later chapters. This discovery reopens that chapter with clarity and urgency,” Professor Soodan said.
(IANS)
