For the genus of metalmark butterflies, see Taxila (butterfly).

Taxila ( , , Pali:Takkasil?) is an important archaeological site of Ancient India, now within Pakistan. It contains the ruins of the Gandh?ran city of Takshashila (also Takkasila or Taxila) an important Vedic/Hindu^[1] and Buddhist^[2] centre of learning from the 6th century BCE^[3] to the 5th century CE.^{[4] [5]} In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site with multiple locations.^[6]

Historically, Taxila lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes: the royal highway from P?aliputra; the north-western route through Bactria, K?pi?a, and Pukal?vat? (Peshawar); and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via ?rinigar, Mansehra, and the Haripur valley^[7] across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.

Taxila is situated 35 km to the west of Islamabad Capital Territory—and to the northwest of Rawalpindi in Punjab—just off the Grand Trunk Road.

History

Taxila is in western Punjab, and was an important city during Alexander's campaign in ancient India.

A coin from 2nd century BCE Taxila.

The Indo-Greek king Antialcidas ruled in Taxila around 100 BCE, according to the Heliodorus pillar inscription.

Jaulian, a World Heritage Site at Taxila.

Jaulian silver Buddhist reliquary, with content. British Museum.

Legend has it that Taksha, an ancient Indian king who ruled in a kingdom called Taksha Khanda (Tashkent) founded the city of Takshashila. The word Takshashila, in Sanskrit means "belonging to the King Taksha". Taksha was the son of Bharata and Mandavi, from Indian epic Ramayana.

In the epic Mah?bh?rata, the Kuru heir Parikit was enthroned at Taxila.^[8]

According to tradition The Mahabharata was first recited at Takshashila by Vaishampayana, a disciple of Veda Vyasa at the behest of the seer Vyasa himself, at Janamejaya's (Parikshit's son) 12 year-long Sarpa-Satra Yajna (Snake Sacrifice).

According to Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, "Taxila" is related to "Takaka," which means "carpenter" and is an alternative name for the N?ga.^[9]

• c. 518 BCE^[10] ? Darius the Great annexes modern day Pakistan, including Taxila, to the Persian Achaemenid Empire.^[11]
• 326 BCE^[12] ? Alexander the Great receives submission of ?mbhi,^[13] king of Taxila, and afterwards surrender to Porus at the Jhelum River.^[14]
• c. 317 BCE ? In quick succession, Alexander's general Eudemus and then the satrap Peithon withdraw from the Indus.^[15]
• 321 BCE-317 BCE Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan empire in eastern India, makes himself master of the northern and northwestern India, including Punjab. Chandragupta Maurya's advisor Kautilya (also known as Chanakya) was a teacher at Taxila.
• During the reign of Chandragupta's grandson A?oka, Taxila became a great Buddhist centre of learning. Nonetheless, Taxila was briefly the center of a minor local rebellion, subdued only a few years after its onset.^[16]
• 185 BCE^[17] ? The last Maurya emperor, Bhadratha, is assassinated by his general, Puyamitra ?unga, during a parade of his troops.^[18]
• 183 BCE^[19] ? Demetrios conquers Gandh?ra, the Punjab and the Indus valley.^[20] He builds his new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila.^[21] During this new period of Bactrian Greek rule, several dynasties (like Antialcidas) likely ruled from the city as their capital. During 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 city's autonomous coinage.
• c. 90 BCE^[22] ? The Indo-Scythian chief Maues overthrows the last Greek king of Taxila.^[23]
• c. 25 CE^[24] ? Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, conquers Taxila and makes it his capital.^[25].
• 76^[26] ? The date of and inscription found at Taxila of 'Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, the Kushana' (maharaja rajatiraja devaputra Kushana).^[27]
• c. 460?470^[28] ? The Ephthalites sweep over Gandh?ra and the Punjab; wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila, which never again recovers.^[29]

Before the fall of these invader-kings, Taxila had been variously a capital for many dynasties, and a centre of Vedic and Buddhist learning, with a population of Buddhists, Classical Hindus, and possibly Greeks that may have endured for centuries.^[30]

The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila.^[31]

Ancient centre of learning

The Dharmarajika stupa, Taxila.

Stupa base at Sirkap, decorated with Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek temple fronts.

Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the 6th century BCE^[3] or 7th century BCE.^[42] It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries before Christ, and continued to attract students from around the old world until the destruction of the city in the 5th century CE. Takshashila is perhaps best known because of its association with Chanakya. The famous treatise Arthashastra (Sanskrit for The knowledge of Economics) by Chanakya, is said to have been composed in Takshashila itself. Chanakya (or Kautilya),^[43] the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta^[44] and the Ayurvedic healer Charaka studied at Taxila.^[45]

Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. The Vedas and the Eighteen Arts, which included skills such as archery, hunting, and elephant lore, were taught, in addition to its law school, medical school, and school of military science.^[45]

Taxila today

Archaeological artifacts from the Indo-Greek strata at Taxila (John Marshall "Taxila, Archeological excavations"). From top, left:

• Fluted cup (Bhir Mound, stratum 1)
• Cup with rosace and decoratice scroll (Bhir Mound, stratum 1)
• Stone palette with individual on a couch being crowned by standing woman, and served (Sirkap, stratum 5)
• Handle with double depiction of a philosopher (Sirkap, stratum 5)
• Woman with smile (Sirkap, stratum 5)
• Man with moustache (Sirkap, stratum 5)

Present day Taxila is one of the seven Tehsils (sub-district) of Rawalpindi District. It is spread over an undulating land in the periphery of the Pothohar Plateau of the Punjab. Situated just outside the capital Islamabad's territory and communicating with it through Tarnol pass of Margalla Hills, Taxila is a mix of posh urban and rustic rural environs. Urban residential areas are in the form of small neat and clean colonies populated by the workers of heavy industries, educational institutes and hospitals that are located in the area.

The industries include heavy machine factories and industrial complex, ordnance factories of Wah Cantt and cement factory. Heavy Industries Taxila is also based here. Small, cottage and household industries include stoneware, pottery and footwear. People try to relate the present day stoneware craft to the tradition of sculpture making that existed here before the advent of Islam.

In addition to the ruins of Gandhara civilization and ancient Buddhist/Hindu culture, relics of Mughal gardens and vestiges of historical Grand Trunk Road, which was built by Emperor Sher Shah Suri in 15th-16th centuries, are also found in Taxila region.

Taxila Museum, dedicated mainly to the remains of Gandhara civilization, is also worth visiting. A hotel of the tourism department offers reasonably good services and hospitality to the tourists.

Taxila has many educational institutes including University of Engineering and Technology (UET).

References

A Taxila coin, 200-100 BCE. British Museum.

See also

• Heavy Industries Taxila
• Sirkap
• Ancient Universities of Pakistan
• Taxila under the Achaemenids
• Taxila Tehsil

External links

• ''Guide to Historic Taxila'' by Professor Dr. Ahmad Hasan Dani in 10 chapters
• "Taxila", by Jona Lendering
• Some photos by Umayr Sahlan Masud
• Taxila page from punjab-info
• Travel With Young - Taxila ??
• Map of Gandhara archeological sites, from the Huntington Collection, Ohio State University (large file)
• "Taxila Museum and Jaulian Monastery", by Saadullah Bashir

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