Echoes of a shared past

When archaeologists recently began unearthing the remains of a large Buddhist complex at Zehanpora in Baramulla, in north Kashmir, the discovery did more than adding a new site to India’s archaeological map. It quietly unsettled a set of modern assumptions about the region’s past. Beneath layers of soil lay evidence of a civilisation shaped not by singular faiths or closed identities, but by exchange, dialogue, movement and coexistence.

The story of Zehanpora’s Buddhist site began not in the Valley, but years before its excavation and thousands of miles away, with an archival photograph quietly preserved in a French museum. The image, showing three ancient stupas standing in Baramulla, hinted that the unassuming mounds at Zehanpora might conceal something far more significant. That clue eventually led to a collaborative excavation in 2025 by the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Archives and Kashmir University, facilitated by India’s Ministry of Culture.

The Zehanpora excavation, announced in 2025, is among the most significant archaeological finds in Jammu and Kashmir in recent decades. Preliminary evidence suggests the complex dates back to the Kushan period, between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, a time when Buddhism flourished across large swathes of Central and South Asia. Archaeologists have identified the remains of a large stupa, structural foundations, pottery, copper artefacts and other relics that point to a well-organised monastic settlement. Modern techniques such as drone mapping and ground-penetrating radar are being used to trace the site’s full extent.

What makes Zehanpora especially important is not only its scale but what it implies. This was no isolated shrine tucked away in a remote valley. The material culture suggests an active node within wider Buddhist networks that linked Kashmir to Gandhara and Central Asia.

Zehanpora also invites us to look again at older, better-known sites that have long hinted at Kashmir’s plural past. One of the most striking is the Harwan monastery, located on the slopes of the Zabarwan range near Srinagar. Discovered in the late 19th century and excavated more systematically in the early and mid-20th century, Harwan remains one of the earliest and most significant Buddhist sites in the Valley.

Dating from roughly the 4th to 7th centuries CE, Harwan reveals a complex architectural history. Its most remarkable feature is a large apsidal temple surrounded by courtyards paved with decorated terracotta tiles. These tiles, depicting human figures, animals and abstract designs, stand apart from the stone-based sculptural traditions associated with Gandhara. Instead, they reflect a distinct local artistic idiom — one that absorbed external influences while retaining its own vocabulary.

The archaeological remains at Harwan near Srinagar.

Historians have long associated Harwan with the Buddhist council believed to have been convened under Emperor Kanishka I, the Kushan ruler whose patronage helped Buddhism spread across Eurasia.

Together, Zehanpora and Harwan illustrate how Buddhism in Kashmir was neither marginal nor transient. It interacted with local traditions, producing hybrid artistic and intellectual forms. The terracotta tiles preserved today in museums in Jammu and elsewhere bear traces of Hellenistic and Central Asian aesthetics, pointing to Kashmir’s participation in long-distance cultural exchange rather than passive reception.

This layered history is not confined to the Valley alone. Further south, in Akhnoor on the banks of the Chenab river, another set of sites expands the picture. At Ambaran lies one of the oldest Buddhist monastic complexes in the Jammu region. Archaeological evidence indicates continuous activity here from at least the 2nd century BC through the 7th century CE, spanning pre-Kushan, Kushan and post-Kushan phases.

Excavations at Ambaran have revealed the brick foundations of a large stupa with a distinctive spoked-wheel design, monastery walls, votive stupas, terracotta figures, pottery and coins issued by Kushan rulers such as Kanishka and Huvishka. The site confirms that Buddhism was not limited to isolated pockets, but was firmly rooted across the broader region of present-day Jammu and Kashmir for centuries.

A few kilometres away stands the Sui Simbli temple, a very different but equally revealing site. Dating largely to the 18th and 19th centuries, the temple is known for its mural paintings that depict an extraordinary range of religious figures. Alongside scenes from Hindu epics and Vaishnava tradition appear portraits of Sikh Gurus and the Bhakti saint Kabir.

These murals are not anomalies. They reflect a lived culture in which sacred spaces were often shared and religious boundaries remained porous.

Seen together, the Buddhist sites of Zehanpora, Harwan and Ambaran, and the later murals of Sui Simbli, tell a consistent story. Across centuries, this region functioned as a crossroads of belief systems — Buddhist, Shaivite, Vaishnavite, Bhakti, Sikh and later Islamic traditions intersected, influenced one another and coexisted in ways that resist tidy categorisation. Preserving this heritage, however, remains an urgent challenge.

Many sites are under-studied and poorly interpreted for the public. Murals such as those at Sui Simbli are vulnerable to neglect and decay. Without sustained archaeological care and thoughtful conservation, these fragile witnesses to a shared past risk being lost.

The discoveries at Zehanpora and the re-examination of older sites do not merely add new chapters to the region’s past. They compel us to rethink how histories are told — and to recognise that pluralism here is not a modern aspiration, but an ancient inheritance.

— The writer is a freelancer contributor