False-Niche or False-Door? The Evidence in Real and Represented Architecture

One of the major features documented at Amluk-dara is the presumed presence of a huge central niche, which was the architectural target of the monumental staircase. The same feature has been documented in other stupas, such as Tokar-dara in Swat and Zar Dheri in the Hazara district, as well as in another gigantic stupa at Shevaki 1 in Kapisa. The frontal niche which welcomed the believers at the summit of the staircase, might have had the shape and function of a door. A celestial door, not a real one, a kind of trompe l'oeil, through which transpires the spiritual being embedded in the apparent density of the material architecture. Doors/nondoors are often represented in small stūpas, and in the architecture represented in Gandharan reliefs. The analysis of these materials, their connection with real architecture, and the related symbolic values, are addressed in the following pages.