Talk:Gandhara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:

WikiProject Pakistan This article is part of WikiProject Pakistan which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Pakistan and Pakistan-related topics. This article is related to History of Pakistan. For guidelines see WikiProject History of Pakistan and Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. Please rate the article and then leave a short summary here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale. WikiProject Afghanistan Gandhara is part of the WikiProject Afghanistan, a project to maintain and expand Afghanistan-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale. WikiProject India (Rated B-Class) This article is within the scope of WikiProject India, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of India-related topics. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page. B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. (add comments) This article is maintained by the Indian history workgroup. More information about this article... Low This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale by the India project. Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance on the importance scale by the Indian history project. WikiProject Central Asia     (Rated B-Class) Gandhara is part of WikiProject Central Asia, a project to improve all Central Asia-related articles. This includes but is not limited to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Central Asian portions of Iran and Russia, region-specific topics, and anything else related to Central Asia. If you would like to help improve this and other Central Asia-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome. B This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale. Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance on the Project's importance scale. After rating the article, please provide a short summary on the article's ratings summary page to explain your ratings and/or identify the strengths and weaknesses. Former countries WikiProject  This article is within the scope of WikiProject Former Countries, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of now-defunct states and territories (and their subdivisions). If you would like to participate, please join the project. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. (FAQ).Add comments Additional information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- 1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points are appropriately cited. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- 2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain major omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- 3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- 4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- 5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no WikiProject Buddhism This article falls within the scope of WikiProject Buddhism, an attempt to promote better coordination, content distribution, and cross-referencing between pages dealing with Buddhism. Please participate by editing the article Gandhara, or visit the project page for more details on the projects. Guidelines: Chinese Manual of Style - Naming conventions Indic Manual of Style - Naming conventions Japanese Manual of Style Korean Manual of Style - Naming conventions Tibetan Proposed naming conventions ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale. Article Grading: The article has not been rated for quality and/or importance yet. Please rate the article and then leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article.

We could do with a link to and explanation of Kharoṣṭhī mahābāla 09:44, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

How sharp is the distinction between Kharosthi and other Indic scripts? I mean, they're all ultimately descended from semitic scripts, right? -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 17:04, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Kharosthi script was a contemporary of Brahmi script (the root of the various Indic scripts). You can compare their respective glyphs at [1], [2]. Kharosthi is not thought to derive from Brahmi, nor Brahmi from Kharosthi. Both appear to trace back to the Aramaic alphabet.   technopilgrim 00:17, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 First statue of buddha 2 gandhara in the mahabharat? 3 Cyrus I or Cyrus II 4 Etymology 5 Grammar and Citations 6 vandalism, 7 Christian dating or Common Era? 8 Gandhara from 600 BCE to 1000 CE

[edit] First statue of buddha

I watched a documentary on TV recently. It said that based on the relics unearthed in 2002, the scientists believe the oldest statues of buddha were invented due to Greek influence in the Gandhara area. Some earlier stone carvings even have Greek gods surrounding Buddha. Buddhists didn't use statue before that.

I also watched another documentary on TV about some legends in this area that may explained where Jesus was before age 30. The theory seems to imply that Jesus learned and preached Buddhism. Could Christianity have a Buddhist root?

It would be nice to have some external links to these new findings and theories. Kowloonese 00:52, May 5, 2005 (UTC)

Yes actually thats very possible because it is recorded in Hindu texts that Jesus was in India. Christianity had a lot of Hindu/Buddhist influences.

[edit] gandhara in the mahabharat?

how come no mention of it hindu roots?

->The king of Gandhara was King Shakuni during the Mahabharat time.

Or Gandharan cultural influence on Hinduism. I do beleive the Gandharans were not considered as Hindu but barbarians beyond the caste systems (mlechhas) during those days. At anyrate I think there is a significant amount that needs to be filled but it really lacks definitive historical information atleast till the persians show up. There seems to be little work by qualified historians as well as factual evidences for various hypotheses on this subject so it may be better to just leave it brief mentioning what is known rather than drawing any inferences to fill it up. (Wiki: Original Research)

--Tigeroo 07:40, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

No, the earlier Gandharis were Hindus later with the conquest of central asians population like the kushans (bactrians) the people of Gandhara became buddhists.

No, they were considered hindu. read the mahabharat.--D-Boy 11:16, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

If the kings of Zabul and Zaranj were Hindu in the early 1st millenium, as is stated in a book by noted historian Alain Danielou, then Gandhara logically (east of Zabul) would be. But as dboy says do read the mahabharat.Bakaman 23:10, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

the king of Zabul was pagan and not hindu since he was a native of the sacaes who were nomads of northern central asia.

[edit] Cyrus I or Cyrus II

In the section 'Persian rule', Should the king Cyrus I be changed to Cyrus II the Great? I'm not sure about this point. Who can help me check this? thanks a lot!--141.14.232.132 09:28, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

Is the name "Gandhara" derived from "Alexander"? Or is it textually attested to from before the Alexandrian conquests? CiteCop 13:45, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

yes, from Iskandar (Kandahar and Gandahar). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.68.209.236 (talk) 17:19, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Grammar and Citations

This page (the Gandhara article) requires a thorough grammar clean up and also desperately needs citations for many of its claims.

[edit] vandalism,

it is not true saying Pashtuns were inhabitent of Gandhara since they are and were known as Afghans for 1000 of years. The term Pashtuns drives form the Persian word Posht-on which means those on the back(side). Unlike Gandharis Afghans name drives from Ashvakan and they were nomads while Gandharis were cultivater, folk of civilization. The name Gandhara was also not used for ever. It was developed very late. When Persian flooded Gandhara the name tunred into Parswar (Area of Persians) and today it is known as Peshawar. The people of Gandhara were first vedic speaking like the rest of northeastern aryan world. The Pakhas, Pakhats or Paktas (Herodot mention them as Pactyans) were vedic and their original name was Pakhas, Pakhat or Paktas that´s what we find in the Veda about them. Gandahra has nothing to do with pagan Ashvakans or their descneds, the Pashtuns (Aughans).

[edit] Christian dating or Common Era?

I have changed all the dates to the less contentious BCE and CE rather than BC and AD (except in the map - which is someone else's work, and in book titles - which should not be changed) as many non-Christians (including myself) find the use of AD (standing for "Year of our Lord") and BC ("before Christ") not only wrong (because most scholars, even Christian ones, now admit they don't relate accurately to the year of Jesus' birth) but they seem strange and even uncomfortable (or even religiously repugnant) for non-Christians to use - while nobody, surely, can have any serious objections to using the abbreviations for "Common Era" (CE) and "Before Common Era" (BCE) which have gained very wide international acceptance among scholars in recent years. Moreover, I object to the title of my book being changed in the references - as I chose BCE and CE to use in the title for exactly these reasons. Hope I am not stamping on anyones toes - but I do think this is the preferable and less contentious way to go. Cheers, John Hill (talk) 04:22, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Gandhara from 600 BCE to 1000 CE

The lead to this article states that "The Kingdom of Gandhara lasted from c. the 6th century BCE to the 11th century CE." Technically that's not correct; Sometimes Gandhara was independent of neighboring powers, sometimes it was under direct rule by Persia, the Mauryans, Bactrians, Turks, etc. True, it was often independent of those powers, like during Shahi times, or free but under vassalage, like during Kushansha times. But it seems misleading to say it the way the lead currently describes it. Anyone mind if I work on that? Thomas Lessman (talk) 14:58, 25 March 2008 (UTC)