Kunala Stupa

A small Kushan-era stupa and attached monastery on a low hill just south of Sirkap, with a commanding view down over the Greek grid plan of the city below. The 2nd-century AD complex is modest in scale but well preserved, and the climb takes only fifteen minutes from the main road.

Most visitors skip Kunala in favour of the bigger sites, which means you usually have the hill to yourself. Combine it with Sirkap on the same loop — you can walk from one to the other in twenty minutes.

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A story
The stupa is named after Kunala, the son of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka. According to legend, Kunala was sent to govern Taxila and had his eyes put out by a treacherous stepmother — and the stupa was raised on the spot where he was blinded, perhaps as much as four hundred years after the actual event.

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