Name of Monument: Amluk Dara Stupa
Location:: Nawagai, Swat
Date of Construction: 3rd century
The Amluk Dara Stupa is situated about 2 km on the north of Nawagai village in the beautiful small valley of Amlokdara, on the main road to Buner. The high stupa stands prominently visible from the surrounding area, naturally sheltered by the great Mount Elum. The stupa is raised on a magnificent square plinth with base molding in the torus and Scotia pattern measures 112 feet in diameter. The height of the square shape base plinth is about 13 feet.
On the high square, plinth rests a three-tiered drum in cylindrical form measuring 30 feet leaving an approximately 16 feet wide ambulatory. The stupa is further surmounted by a hemispherical dome measuring 23 feet in height. The drum on which the hemispherical dome rests has a diameter of 69 feet, probably the largest in the valley. The drum is divided by a bold cornice supported by brackets at intervals of one foot. A second cornice projecting farther runs below the bottom course of the dome.
The height of the stupa from the floor level on the ground up to the existing top of the dome measures 66 feet. The stupa has a flight of ascending step on the north, which is 14 feet wide connecting the pradakshina patha on the ground level with the ambulatory passage on the top of the plinth. The pradakshina patha on the top of the plinth is approached by another step 12 feet wide which leads to the third pradakishna patha. It is only here that a hole was dug in the drum to reach the relic chamber. The entire stupa building from base to the top shows a remarkable fine, semi-ashler masonry, preserving good stretches of the architectural decoration, typical of the Gandhara valley during the period Kushanas.
The semi-ashler facing was originally covered by a coating of stucco plaster, traces of which are still observed at some places. The podium and lower drum are decorated with Corinthian columns of small dark stones. On the eastern side of the stupa podium lie in heap four stone “Umbrellas”, once raised above the dome and now fallen over the year. The largest of them measures 13 feet, the smallest 6 feet in diameter and one foot in thickness.
On the eastern and northern side of the main stupa, the ruins of the monastery, stupas and miscellaneous remains can still be seen. They are mostly disturbed by the illegal diggers. Stein recorded a number of coins from the Kushanas to the Turki Shahis dating from the 2nd to 7th century A.D.
Naqoosh-e-Javidan 