The
rich cultural city of Sirkap, or "Severed Head", chronologically
the second major city of Taxila, is to be found spreading down
the Hathial Spur and onto the plains of the Taxila Valley. It
is bound by the Tamra rivulet and to the north and south by the
Gau rivulet which today has been almost completely obliterated
by a modern road and water channel. The present layout of the
city was established by the Bactrian Greeks sometime around 180
B.C. and takes the form of a wide and open grid system. In general,
the city presents a better planned architecture than Bhir Mound.
The city is encompassed by an almighty wall over five kilometers
long and up to six meters thick. There may well have been an entrance
on all four sides originally, but today the only one evident is
the northern wall and it is through here that today's visitors
would normally enter the city. A number of temples and monasteries
can be found here such as Apsidal Temple, Sun Temple, Shrine of
the Double Headed Eagle, Kunala Monastery and Ghai Monastery.