| Taxila * | |
|---|---|
| Country | Pakistan |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, vi |
| Reference | 139 |
| Region ** | Asia-Pacific |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1980 (4th Session) |
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Location of Taxila in Pakistan
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| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO |
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Taxila (Sanskrit: तक्षशिला, Urdu: ٹیکسلا) is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.
Taxila is situated about 32 km (20 mi) northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road. Taxila lies 549 metres (1,801 ft) above sea level.
The city dates back to the Gandhara period and contains the ruins of the Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā which was an important Hindu and Buddhist centre. Takṣaśilā is reputed to derive its name from Takṣa, who was the great grandson of Bharata, the brother of Rama.[1]
Historically, Takṣaśilā lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes:
In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site with multiple locations.[3] Recently it has been ranked as the top tourist destination in Pakistan by The Guardian,[4] which described it thus:
| “ | This is the region from where Buddhism travelled to the far east - and Persians, Greeks and Hindus all subsequently left their mark. You can watch the sun set from the remains of a Buddhist monastery or wander through the streets of an excavated Persian city in the knowledge that there are two older ones buried below. | ” |
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The ruins of Taxila contain buildings and buddhist stupas located over a large area. The main ruins of Taxila are divided into three major cities, each belonging to a distinct time period.
The oldest of these is the Hathial area, which yielded surface shards similar to burnished red wares (or 'soapy red wares') recovered from early phases at Charsadda, and may date between the 6th century BCE and the late 2nd millennium BCE. Bhir Mound dates from the 6th century BCE. The second city of Taxila is located at Sirkap and was built by Greco-Bactrian kings in the 2nd century BCE. The third and last city of Taxila is at Sirsukh and relates to the Kushan kings.
In addition to the ruins of the city, a number of buddhist monasteries and stupas also belong to the Taxila area. Some of the important ruins of this category include the ruins of the stupa at Dharmarajika, the monastery at Jaulian, the monastery at Mohra Muradu in addition to a number of stupas.
Legend has it that Takṣa, an ancient king who ruled a kingdom called Takṣa Khanda, the modern Tashkent, founded the city of Takṣaśilā. However, Sanskrit Takṣaśilā, appears to contain the suffix śilā, "stone" with the prefix Takṣa, alluding to Takṣa, the son of Bharata and Mandavi, as related in the Ramayana.
In the Mahābhārata, the Kuru heir Parikṣit was enthroned at Takṣaśilā.[5]
According to tradition, the Mahabharata was first recited at Takṣaśilā by Vaishampayana, a disciple of Vyasa at the behest of the seer Vyasa himself, at the sarpa satra yajna, "Snake Sacrifice ceremony" of Parikṣit's son Jasnamejaya.
According to one theory propounded by Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Takṣaśilā is related to Takṣaka, "carpenter" and is an alternative name for the Nāgas of ancient India.[6]
Before the fall of these invaders, Takṣaśilā had been variously a capital for many dynasties, and a centre of Vedic and Buddhist learning, with a population of Buddhists, Hindus, and possibly Greeks that may have endured for centuries.[16]
The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila.[17]
The city of Taxila is mentioned by the Chinese monk Faxian (also called Fa-Hien), who visited ancient sites of Buddhism in India. He came to Taxila in 405 CE. In his book A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline, he mentions the kingdom of Takshasila (or Chu-cha-shi-lo) meaning "the severed Head" (Chapter 11). He says that this name was derived from an event in the life of Buddha because this is the place "where he gave his head to a man".
Xuanzang (also called Hieun Tsang), another Chinese monk, visited Taxila in 630 and in 643. He mentions the city as Ta-Cha-Shi-Lo. The city appears to have already been in ruins by his time.
Taxila is called Taxiala in Ptolemy’s Geography.[18]
In the Historia Trium Regum (History of the Three Kings) composed by John of Hildesheim around 1375, the city is called Egrisilla.[19]
According to scattered references which were only fixed a millennium later, it may have dated back to at least the 5th century BCE.[20][21] There is some disagreement about whether Takshashila can be considered a university. By some accounts, Taxilla was considered to be amongst the earliest universities in the world.[1][22][23] While some consider Taxila to be an early university[24] or centre of higher education,[25] others do not consider it a university in the modern sense,[26][27][28] in contrast to the later Nalanda University.[28][29][30] Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the 5th century CE.[31]
Takshashila is considered a place of religious and historical sanctity by Hindus and Buddhists. The former do so not only because, in its time, Takshashila was the seat of Vedic learning, but also because the strategist, Chanakya, who later helped consolidate the empire of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, was a senior teacher there. The institution is very significant in Buddhist tradition since it is believed that the Mahāyāna sect of Buddhism took shape there.
Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the 6th century BCE.[32] It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BCE, 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),[33] the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta[34] and the Ayurvedic healer Charaka studied at Taxila.[35]
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.[35]
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 wealthy 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.
Nicholson's obelisk, a monument of British colonial era situated at the Grand Trunk road welcomes the travellers coming from Rawalpindi/Islamabad into Taxila. The monument was built by the British to pay tribute to Brigadier John Nicholson (1822–1857) an officer of the British Army who died in India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the First War of Independence.
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 civilisation 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).
In a 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, Global Heritage Fund identified Taxila as one of 12 worldwide sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and damage, citing insufficient management, development pressure, looting, and war and conflict as primary threats.[36]
"When the men of Alexander the Great came to Taxila in India in the fourth century BC they found a university there the like of which had not been seen in Greece, a university which taught the three Vedas and the eighteen accomplishments and was still existing when the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien went there about AD 400."
"Kautilya was also a Professor of Politics and Economics at Taxila University. Taxila University is one of the oldest known universities in the world and it was the chief learning centre in ancient India."
"Thus the various centres of learning in different parts of the country became affiliated, as it were, to the educational centre, or the central university, of Taxila which exercised a kind of intellectual suzerainty over the wide world of letters in India."
"This shows that Taxila was a seat not of elementary, but higher, education, of colleges or a university as distinguished from schools."
"It may be observed at the outset that Taxila did not possess any colleges or university in the modern sense of the term."
"We come across several Jātaka stories about the students and teachers of Takshaśilā, but not a single episode even remotely suggests that the different 'world renowned' teachers living in that city belonged to a particular college or university of the modern type."
"Taxila, besides being a provincial seat, was also a centre of learning. It was not a university town with lecture halls and residential quarters, such as have been found at Nalanda in the Indian state of Bihar."
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