Moonlit Night at Dhamik Stupa

From the photographer: “Dhamek Stupa (also spelled Dhamekh and Dhamekha) is a massive stupa located at Sarnath, 13 km away from Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built ca. 500 CE to replace an earlier structure commissioned by the great Mauryan king Ashoka in 249 BCE, along with several other monuments, to commemorate his pilgrimage there. In its current shape, the stupa is a solid cylinder of bricks and stone reaching a height of 43.6 meters and having a diameter of 28 meters. The wall is covered with exquisitely carved figures of humans and birds, as well as inscriptions in the Brahmi script.”