Taxila
Taxila (
Urdu: ٹپکسلا ) (
Sanskrit: तक्षशिला, taksh.aśilā) is a town in northern
Punjab province of
Pakistan. There are several
archaeological sites in Taxila, dating from the 6th or 7th century BCE to 3rd century CE. These sites are listed as
UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Taxila is located in the west of the
Islamabad Capital Territory and in the northwest of
Rawalpindi, on the border of the Punjab and
North West Frontier Province and just off the
Grand Trunk Road. The coordinates of
Taxila are . Taxila is the renowned historical city of ancient
Gandhara.
|
View from the Jaulian World Heritage Site (Taxila). |
Taxila (originally called and still referred by Hindus and Buddhists as
taksh-shila) was a
Hindu and
Buddhist seat of learning in the Ancient Indian region of
Gandhara, connected across the
Khunjerab pass to the
Silk Road, attracting students from all over the world. Ancient Takshashila was renowned all over south and central asia as home to the world's first university (
Takshashila University) and a renowned centre for the study of Buddhism. It flourished during the first-fifth centuries AD (see
Gandhara). Located at the junction of three major trade routes, it was of considerable economic and strategic importance.
*
Darius I added Taxila to the
Achaemid empire (
c.
518 BC).
*
Alexander the Great added Taxila to his burgeoning empire in
326 BC and garrisoned the town with Macedonians, after King
Taxiles (named by historians for the city of his rule) had willingly submitted to him, and aided in the battle against his rival Porus. Greek rule ended in
317 BC, and was formally ceded when Seleucus I Nicator exchanged his claim to the old Macedonian provinces in India for an alliance and elephants from the emporer Chandragupta Maurya to aid in the conflict with Antigonas.
* The Punjab then came under the rule of
Chandragupta Maurya (his mentor a
Brahmin by the name of
Kautilya was a teacher at Taxila) and his successors, including his grandson
Asoka. During Asoka's reign Taxila became a great centre of learning for the Buddists. Though Mauryan rule was largely productive, Taxila was briefly the center of a minor local rebellion, subdued only a few years after its onset.
* Soon after Asoka's death, Taxila was conquered by the
Bactrian Greeks who supposedly established a Greek city at the nearby site of
Sirkap, and ruled it until about
90 BC. During this new period of Greek rule, several dynasties (like Antialcidas) likely ruled from the city as their capital. During the lulls in Greek rule, the city managed profitably on its own, managed independently and controlled by several local trade guilds, who also minted most of the cities autonomous coinage.
* Next came the
Scythians (
c. 90 B.C.), the
Parthians (
c.
19 AD) and the
Kushans (
c.
78 AD) whose empire was eventually crushed by the
White Huns (
c.
460). Before the fall of these ancient invader-kings in India, Taxila had been variously a regional and national capital for many dynasties, and a true center of learning for Buddhists, Indians, and a possible population of Greeks that may have endured for centuries (the chronicles of
Apollonius of Tyana, in the
Life of Apollonius Tyana, demonstrate that the rulers of Taxila spoke Greek several centuries after Greek political dominance had faded).
*
Sirkap archaeological site is also located at Taxila.
The British
archaeologist Sir
John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila (see Sir John Marshall,
A Guide to Taxila, Department of Archaeology in Pakistan, Sani Communications, Karachi, 1960).
Several sites at Taxila have been listed by the
UNESCO as
World Heritage Sites.
*
Sirkap*
Ancient Universities of India*
"Taxila", by Jona Lendering*
Some photos by Umayr Sahlan Masud*
Taxila page from
punjab-info*
Travel With Young - Taxila 한글 *
Map of Gandhara archeological sites, from the Huntington Collection, Ohio State University (large file)
