Taxila

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**Taxila**¹
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	Pakistan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, vi
Identification	#242
Region²	Asia-Pacific
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1980 4th WH Committee Session
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/139
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

Taxila is an important archaeological site in Pakistan containing the ruins of the Gandhāran city and university of Takshashila (also Takkasila or Taxila) an important Vedic/Hindu^[1] and Buddhist^[2] centre of learning from the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site with multiple locations.^[3] The name "Taxila" is spelled ٹیکسلا in Urdu/Persian. In ancient times, the name was written as तक्षशिला (Takṣaśilā) in Sanskrit; its ancient Pali name is transliterated as Takkasilā.

Historically, Taxila lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes: the royal highway from Pāṭaliputra; the north-western route through Bactria, Kāpiśa, and Puṣkalāvatī (Peshawar); and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via Śrinigar, Mānsehrā, and the Haripur valley^[4] across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.

Today, Taxila is located in the western region of the Islamabad Capital Territory—to the northwest of Rawalpindi and on the border of the Punjab and North West Frontier Provinces—about 30 kilometres west-northwest of Islamabad, just off the Grand Trunk Road.

1 History
2 Taxila today
3 Ancient centre of learning
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

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

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, historical characters who appear in the Indian epic Ramayana.

In the Mahābhārata, the Kuru heir Parikṣit was enthroned at Taxila.^[5]

Ahmad Hasan Dani and Saifur Rahman Dar trace the etymology of Taxila to a tribe called the Takka.^[6] According to Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, "Taxila" is related to "Takṣaka," which means "carpenter" and is an alternative name for the Nāga.^[7]

c. 518 BCE^[8] – Darius the Great annexes the North-West of the Indian-Subcontinent (modern day Pakistan), including Taxila, to the Persian Achaemenid Empire.^[9]
~450 BC, Herodotus makes reference to Greek influences in this area. The language used in the area is bilingual for the better part of a 1000 years, with Greek being the second language. See coins that reflect this bilingual function.
326 BCE^[10] – Alexander the Great receives submission of Āmbhi,^[11] king of Taxila, and afterwards defeats Porus at the Jhelum River.^[12]
c. 317 BCE – In quick succession, Alexander's general Eudemus and then the satrap Peithon withdraw from India.^[13] Candragupta, founder of the Mauryan empire, then makes himself master of the Punjab. Candragupta Maurya's advisor Kautilya (also known as Chanakya) was a teacher at Taxila.
During the reign of Chandragupta's grandson Aśoka, 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.^[14]
185 BCE^[15] – The last Maurya emperor, Bṛhadratha, is assassinated by his general, Puṣyamitra Śunga, during a parade of his troops.^[16]
183 BCE^[17] – Demetrios conquers Gandhāra, the Punjab and the Indus valley.^[18] He builds his new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila.^[19] 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^[20] – The Indo-Scythian chief Maues overthrows the last Greek king of Taxila.^[21]
c. 25 CE^[22] – Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, conquers Taxila and makes it his capital.^[23] (This date conflicts with the year 46 AD stated by Prof. M. M. Ninan).
c. 33-52 CE^[24] Thomas the Apostle is contracted as a carpenter for a construction project for Gondophares.
76^[25] – The date of and inscription found at Taxila of 'Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, the Kushana' (maharaja rajatiraja devaputra Kushana).^[26]
c. 460–470^[27] – The Ephthalites sweep over Gandhāra and the Punjab; wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stūpas at Taxila, which never again recovers.^[28]

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 Vedic learning, Buddhists,Classical Hindus, and a possible population of Greeks that may have endured for centuries.^[29]

The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila.^[30]

[edit] Taxila today

Present day Taxila is one of the six 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 out side 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 house hold industries include stone ware, pottery and foot wear. People try to relate the present day stone ware 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 AD, 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 deparment offers reasonably good services and hospitality to the tourists.

Taxila has many educational intitutes including University of Engineering and Technology (UET). Thomas is still honored in Taxila in an annual festival in early July, attended by thousands, celebrating the passage of his bones through Taxila on their way to Edessa.

[edit] Ancient centre of learning

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)

Takshashila's was an early center of learning going back to the 5th century BCE.^[31] Takkasila is also mentioned in several Jātaka stories, written in Sri Lanka around 500 CE.^[32]

Taxila is significant in Buddhist tradition because it is believed^{[citation needed]} that the Mahāyāna sect of Buddhism was founded there. The Sanskrit grammarian Pānini, the political theorist Kautilya [1][2] and the Ayurvedic healer Charaka studied at Taxila at various points in time. Kautilya, who later became adviser to the founder of the Mauryan empire, is said to have composed his treatise on statecraft the Arthaśāstra in Taxila.^{[verification needed]}

Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen.^{[citation needed]} The four Vedas (Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Atharva-Veda) and the Eighteen Arts were taught, in addition to law, medicine and warfare.^{[verification needed]} Skills such as archery, hunting and elephant-lore were also taught.^{[verification needed]}

[edit] References

^ Majumdar, Raychauduri and Datta [1946]. An Advanced History of India. London: Macmillan, 64.
^ UNESCO World Heritage List. 1980. Taxila: Brief Description. Retrieved 13 January 2007
^ UNESCO World Heritage Site. 1980. Taxila: Multiple Locations. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
^ Thapar, Romila [1961] (1997). Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 237. ISBN 0-19-563932-4.
^ Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand [1956] (1975). An Introduction to the study of Indian History, Revised Second Edition, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 126.
^ Scharfe 2002
^ Kosambi 1975:129
^ Marshall, John [1951] (1975). Taxila: Volume I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 83.
^ Marshall 1975:83
^ Marshall 1975:83
^ Named "Taxiles" by Greek sources after his capital city.
^ Marshall 1975:83
^ Peithon was named by Alexander satrap of Sindh, and was again confirmed to the Gandhara region by the Treaty of Triparadisus in 320 BCE: "The country of the Parapamisians was bestowed upon Oxyartes, the father of Roxane; and the skirts of India adjacent to Mount Parapamisus, on Peithon the son of Agenor. As to the countries beyond that, those on the river Indus, with the city Patala (the capital of that part of India) were assigned to Porus. Those upon the Hydaspes, to Taxiles the Indian." Arrian "Anabasis, the Events after Alexander". He ultimately left in 316 BCE, to become satrap of Babylon in 315 BCE, before dying at the Battle of Gaza in 312 BCE
^ Thapar 1997
^ Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar [1986] (1998). A History of India, Third Edition, London: Routledge, 68. ISBN 0-415-15481-2.
^ Kulke and Rothermund 1998:68
^ Kulke and Rothermund 1998:70
^ Marshall 1975:83
^ Kulke and Rothermund 1998:70
^ Marshall 1975:84
^ Marshall 1975:84
^ Marshall 1975:85
^ Marshall 1975:85
^ Prof. M. M. Ninan http://www.acns.com/~mm9n/marthoma/marthoma.htm
^ Kulke and Rothermund 1998:75
^ Kulke and Rothermund 1998:75
^ Marshall 1975:86
^ Marshall 1975:86
^ The Life of Apollonius Tyana demonstrates that the rulers of Taxila spoke Greek several centuries after Greek political dominance had faded.
^ Marshall, Sir John (1960). A Guide to Taxila. Karachi: Department of Archaeology in Pakistan, Sani Communications.
^ Hartmut Scharfe(2002). Education in Ancient India. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-12556-6.
^ Marshall 1975:81