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In Sindh, Buddhist period structures are present with their elegance and beauty (Fig:l). The point of Mithan-Kot where five rivers met and merge in Indus and from border of Sindh towards the sea-coast of Arabian Sea. The land witnessed with the buildings of Sangharamas or (monasteries), Stupas, and Thuls. When Xuanzang (629645. CE) traveled through Sindh that was 7th Century. He saw and wrote in his memoirs a good description of these sites. In 1909-10 Henry Cousens explored and surveyed entire Sindh documented several sites and historical monument. Considering his authenticity of documentation, Cousens commented on the deteriorating conditions of sites and monuments including Buddhist Stupas of Sindh. After a century later, following the description of Cousens we revisited three surviving Stupas such
(a) S imi Kot located near New Jatoi (b) Mohenjo Darò in Larkana and (c) Thul Mir Rukan in Daulatpur. Among these Surviving Buddhist monuments of Sindh only Stupa of Thul Mir Rukan is in good condition which is the main focus of present paper. In this paper, we have cleared the descriptive controversy created by earlier researcher and have provided fresh documentation and description of monument and its elaborative architectural and decorative features. Our documentation provides the basis for researcher further studies on the Buddhist monuments of Sindh in general and Thul Mir Rukan in particular.
DISCOVERY OF THE SITE
Like many archaeological sites, the Thul Mir Rukan stupa was excavated by the General John Jacob when acting commissioner in Sindh, but he did not understand its importance. G? the month of February 1858 James Gibbs accompanied with Sir Bartle Frere and Shaw Stewart, proceeded to explore this stupa and described the site as RukanJo-Thul (Cousens: 1929).
"Thul" is a local Sindhi word, generally used for a tower or bastion and hence the stupas in Sindh are called as 'Thul', for instance, Thul of Mir Rukan, Thul of Brahmanabad, (Mansura), Thul of Depaer Ghanghro and Thul of Sudheran-Jo-Daro. Most of the Stupas of Sindh are built having square platform with cylindrical tower. Most probably due to the cylindrical shape the local people called them as Thul. After ignoring their height, width, and breadth it may be considered as a Thul in Sindhian style.
Henry Cousens gave very comprehensive and detailed...