Gandhara

For the historical kingdom proper, see Gandhāra (kingdom). For the kingdom in Epics, see Gandhara Kingdom. For other uses, see Gandhara (disambiguation).

Gandhāra was an ancient Indo-Aryan^[1] civilization centered in present-day north-west Pakistan and north-east Afghanistan.^[2][3][4] The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar and Swat valleys extending as far east as the Pothohar Plateau, though the cultural influence of Greater Gandhara extended westwards into the Kabul valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range.^[5][6] The region was a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia with many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims visiting the region.^[7]

Gandhāra Gandhara
c. 1500 BCE–c. 1000 CE
Gandhara Location of Gandhara in South Asia (Afghanistan and Pakistan)
Peshawar Taxila Charsadda Mardan GANDHARA Kabul river Indus river Indus river Approximate geographical region of Gandhara centered on the Peshawar Basin, in present-day northwest Pakistan
Capital	Puṣkalavati Puruṣapura Takshashila Udabhandapura
Government
King
• c. 550 BCE	Pushkarasarin (first)
• c. 330 BCE – c. 316 BCE	Taxiles
• c. 964 CE – c. 1001 CE	Jayapala (last)
Historical era	Antiquity
• Established	c. 1500 BCE
• Disestablished	c. 1000 CE
Today part of	Pakistan Afghanistan

Gāndhārī, an Indo-Aryan language written in the Kharosthi script, acted as the lingua franca of the region though through Buddhism, the language spread as far as China based on Gandhāran Buddhist texts.^[8] Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art, the region attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire which had their capital at Puruṣapura, ushering the period known as Pax Kushana.

The historical narrative of Gandhara commences with the Gandhara grave culture, characterized by a distinctive burial practice. Subsequently, during the Vedic period Gandhara garnered recognition as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas, or great realms, within South Asia playing a role in the Kurukshetra War. In the 6th century BCE, King Pukkusāti governed the region, achieving renown for triumphing over the Kingdom of Avanti and supposedly acting as a bulwark against Achamenian expansion,^[9] although Gandhara eventually succumbed.^[10] During the Wars of Alexander the Great, Gandhara was split into two. Taxiles, the king of Taxila, formed an alliance with Alexander the Great,^[11] while the Western Gandharan tribes, exemplified by the Aśvaka around the Swat valley, resisted the expansionary endeavors.^[12] Following Alexander's demise, Gandhara became part of the Mauryan Empire, as Chandragupta Maurya, who had received education in Taxila, assumed control with the help of Chanakya, his advisor who also hailed from Gandhara.^[13] Subsequently, Gandhara witnessed successive annexations by the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Scythians, and Indo-Parthians. Yet, a regional Gandharan kingdom, known as the Apracharajas, retained governance during this period until the ascent of the Kushan Empire. The zenith of Gandhara's cultural and political influence transpired during Kushan rule, before succumbing to devastation during the Hunnic Invasions.^[14] However, the region experienced a resurgence under the Turk Shahis and Hindu Shahis.

Etymology

Gandhara was known in Sanskrit as Gandāra (गन्धार) and in Avestan as 'Vaēkərəta. In Old Persian as Gadāra(𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼, also transliterated as Gaⁿdāra since the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in Old Persian).^[15] In Chinese as: Jiāntuóluó, kɨɐndala, Jìbīn, and Kipin. In Greek as Paropamisadae^[16]

One proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word गन्ध gandha, meaning "perfume" and "referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they (the inhabitants) traded and with which they anointed themselves".^[17][18] The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, and later Vedic texts.^[19]

A Persian form of the name, Gandara, mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Emperor Darius I,^[20][21] was translated as Paruparaesanna (Para-upari-sena, meaning "beyond the Hindu Kush") in Babylonian and Elamite in the same inscription.^[22]

Geography

The geographical location of Gandhara has undergone alterations over the course of history, with the general understanding being the region situating between Pothohar in contemporary Punjab, the Swat valley, and the Khyber Pass also extending along the Kabul River.^[23] The prominent urban centers within this geographical scope were Taxila and Pushkalavati.^[24] According to a specific Jataka, Gandhara's territorial extent at a certain period encompassed the region of Kashmir.^[25] The Eastern border of Greater Gandhara has been proposed to be the Jhelum River based off of arachaeological Gandharan art discoveries however further evidence is needed to support this,^[26][27] though during the rule of Alexander the Great the kingdom of Taxila stretched to the Hydaspes (Jhelum river).^[28]

History

Gandāra grave culture

Main articles: Gandhara grave culture and Indo-Aryan migration

 

Cremation urn, Gandhara grave culture, Swat Valley, c. 1200 BCE

Gandhara's first recorded culture was the Grave Culture that emerged c. 1400 BCE and lasted until 800 BCE,^[29] and named for their distinct funerary practices. It was found along the Middle Swat River course, even though earlier research considered it to be expanded to the Valleys of Dir, Kunar, Chitral, and Peshawar.^[30] It has been regarded as a token of the Indo-Aryan migrations, but has also been explained by local cultural continuity. Backwards projections, based on ancient DNA analyses, suggest ancestors of Swat culture people mixed with a population coming from Inner Asia Mountain Corridor, which carried Steppe ancestry, sometime between 1900 and 1500 BCE.^[31]

Vedic Gandāra

Main articles: Gandhāra (kingdom) and Gandhara Kingdom

 

Kingdoms and cities of ancient Buddhism, with Gandhara located in the northwest of this region, during the time of the Buddha (c. 500 BCE)

The first mention of the Gandhārīs is attested once in the Ṛigveda as a tribe that has sheep with good wool. In the Atharvaveda, the Gandhārīs are mentioned alongside the Mūjavants, the Āṅgeyas and the Māgadhīs in a hymn asking fever to leave the body of the sick man and instead go those aforementioned tribes. The tribes listed were the furthermost border tribes known to those in Madhyadeśa, the Āṅgeyas and Māgadhīs in the east, and the Mūjavants and Gandhārīs in the north.^[32][33] The Gandhara tribe, after which it is named, is attested in the Rigveda (c. 1500 – c. 1200 BCE),^[34][35] while the region is mentioned in the Zoroastrian Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the seventh most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda.

The Gāndhārī king Nagnajit and his son Svarajit are mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas, according to which they received Brahmanic consecration, but their family's attitude towards ritual is mentioned negatively,^[36] with the royal family of Gandhāra during this period following non-Brahmanical religious traditions. According to the Jain Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, Nagnajit, or Naggaji, was a prominent king who had adopted Jainism and was comparable to Dvimukha of Pāñcāla, Nimi of Videha, Karakaṇḍu of Kaliṅga, and Bhīma of Vidarbha; Buddhist sources instead claim that he had achieved paccekabuddhayāna.^[37][9][38]

By the later Vedic period, the situation had changed, and the Gāndhārī capital of Takṣaśila had become an important centre of knowledge where the men of Madhya-desa went to learn the three Vedas and the eighteen branches of knowledge, with the Kauśītaki Brāhmaṇa recording that brāhmaṇas went north to study. According to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Uddālaka Jātaka, the famous Vedic philosopher Uddālaka Āruṇi was among the famous students of Takṣaśila, and the Setaketu Jātaka claims that his son Śvetaketu also studied there. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, Uddālaka Āruṇi himself favourably referred to Gāndhārī education to the Vaideha king Janaka.^[36] During the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra was an important imperial power in north-west Iron Age South Asia, with the valley of Kaśmīra being part of the kingdom.^[37] Due to this important position, Buddhist texts listed the Gandhāra kingdom as one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas ("great realms") of Iron Age South Asia. It was the home of Gandhari, the princess of Gandhara kingdom.^[39][40]

Pukkusāti and Achaemenid Gandāra

Main article: Gandāra

See also: Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley

 

Xerxes I tomb, Gandāra soldier, c. 470 BCE

During the 6th century BCE, Gandhara was governed under the reign of King Pukkusāti. According to early Buddhist accounts, he had forged diplomatic ties with Magadha and achieved victories over neighboring kingdoms such as that of the realm of Avanti.^[41] It is noted by R. C. Majumdar that Pukkusāti would have been contemporary to the Achamenid king Cyrus the Great^[42]and according to the scholar Buddha Prakash, Pukkusāti might have acted as a bulwark against the expansion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire into Gandhara. This hypothesis posits that the army which Nearchus claimed Cyrus had lost in Gedrosia had in fact been defeated by Pukkusāti's Gāndhārī kingdom.^[9] Therefore, following Prakash's position, the Achaemenids would have been able to conquer Gandhāra only after a period of decline after the reign of Pukkusāti, combined with the growth of Achaemenid power under the kings Cambyses II and Darius I.^[9] However, the presence of Gandhāra, referred to as Gaⁿdāra in Old Persian, among the list of Achaemenid provinces in Darius's Behistun Inscription confirms that his empire had inherited this region from conquests carried out earlier by Cyrus.^[10] It is unknown whether Pukkusāti remained in power after the Achaemenid conquest as a Persian vassal or if he was replaced by a Persian satrap, although Buddhist sources claim that he renounced his throne and became a monk after becoming a disciple of the Buddha.^[43] The annexation under Cyrus was limited to the Western sphere of Gandhāra as only during the reign of Darius the Great did the region between the Indus River and the Jhelum River become annexxed.^[9]

 

Athens coin (c. 500/490–485 BCE) discovered in Pushkalavati. This coin is the earliest known example of its type to be found so far east.^[44] Such coins were circulating in the area as currency, at least as far as the Indus, during the reign of the Achaemenids.^{[45][46][47][48]}

During the reign of Xerxes I, Gandharan troops were noted by Herodotus to of taken part in the Second Persian invasion of Greece and were described as clothed similar to that of the Bactrians.^[49] Herodotus states that during the battle they were led by the Achamenid general Artyphius.^[50]

Under Persian rule, a system of centralized administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first time. Provinces or "satrapy" were established with provincial capitals. The Gandhara satrapy, established 518 BCE with its capital at Pushkalavati (Charsadda).^[51] It was also during the Achaemenid Empire rule of Gandhara that the Kharosthi script, the script of Gandhari prakrit, was born through the Aramaic alphabet.^[52]

Macedonian era Gandāra

Main article: Paropamisadae

See also: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great and Macedonian Empire

The sovereign of Taxila, Omphis, formed an alliance with Alexander, motivated by a longstanding animosity towards his cousin, Porus, who governed the region encompassed by the Chenab and Ravi River.^[53] Omphis, in a gesture of goodwill, presented Alexander the great with significant gifts, esteemed among the Indian populace, and subsequently accompanied him on the expedition crossing the Indus.^[54]

In 327 BCE, Alexander the Greats military campaign progressed to Arigaum, situated in present-day Nawagai, marking the initial encounter with the Aspasians. Arrian documented their implementation of a scorched earth strategy, evidenced by the city ablaze upon Alexander's arrival, with its inhabitants already fled.^[55] The Aspasians fiercely contested Alexander's forces, resulting in their eventual defeat. Subsequently, Alexander traversed the River Guraeus in the contemporary Dir District, engaging with the Asvakas, as chronicled in Sanskrit literature.^[56] The primary stronghold among the Asvakas, Massaga, characterized as strongly fortified by Quintus Curtius Rufus, became a focal point.^[57] Despite an initial standoff which led to Alexander being struck in the leg by an Asvaka arrow,^[58] peace terms were negotiated between the Queen of Massaga and Alexander. However, when the defenders had vacated the fort, a fierce battle ensued when Alexander had broken the treaty. According to Diodorus Siculus, the Asvakas, including women fighting alongside their husbands, valiantly resisted Alexander's army but were ultimately defeated.^[59]

Mauryan Gandāra

 

Major Rock Edict of Ashoka in Mansehra

During the Mauryan era, Gandhara held a pivotal position as a core territory within the empire, with Taxila serving as the provincial capital of the North West.^[60] Chanakya, a prominent figure in the establishment of the Mauryan Empire, played a key role by adopting Chandragupta Maurya, the initial Mauryan emperor. Under Chanakya's tutelage, Chandragupta received a comprehensive education at Taxila, encompassing various arts of the time, including military training, for a duration spanning 7-8 years.^[61]

According to Buddhist traditions, Taxila was regarded as the hometown of Chanakya, who grew up in a Brahmin family.^[62] Additionally, Plutarch's accounts suggest that Alexander the Great encountered a young Chandragupta Maurya in the Punjab region, possibly during his time at the university.^[63] Subsequent to Alexander's death, Chanakya and Chandragupta forged an alliance with Trigarta king Parvataka to conquer the Nanda Empire.^[64] This alliance resulted in the formation of a composite army, comprising Gandharans and Kambojas, as documented in the Mudrarakshasa.^[65]

Bindusaras reign witnessed a rebellion among the locals of Taxila to which according to the Ashokavadana, he dispatched Ashoka to quell the uprising. Upon entering the city, the populace conveyed that their rebellion was not against Ashoka or Bindusara but rather against oppressive ministers.^[66] In Ashoka's subsequent tenure as emperor, he appointed his son as the new governor of Taxila.^[67] During this time, Ashoka erected numerous rock edicts in the region in the Kharosthi script and commissioned the construction of a monumental stupa in Pushkalavati, Western Gandhara, the location of which remains undiscovered to date.^[68]

Indo-Greek Kingdom

 

The founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom Demetrius I (205–171 BCE), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquest of the Indus valley

The Indo-Greek king Menander I (reigned 155–130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians out of Gandhara and beyond the Hindu Kush, becoming king shortly after his victory.

His empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last independent Greek king, Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from the Yuezhi invasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of the Jhelum River. The last known Indo-Greek ruler was Theodamas, from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a 1st-century CE signet ring, bearing the Kharoṣṭhī inscription "Su Theodamasa" ("Su" was the Greek transliteration of the Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah" or "King")).

It is during this period that the fusion of Hellenistic and South Asian mythological, artistic and religious elements becomes most apparent, especially in the region of Gandhara.^{[citation needed]}

Local Greek rulers still exercised a feeble and precarious power along the borderland, but the last vestige of the Greco-Indian rulers were finished by a people known to the old Chinese as the Yeuh-Chi.^[69]

Apracharajas

The Apracharajas were a historical dynasty situated in the region of Gandhara, extending from the governance of Menander I within the Indo-Greek Kingdom to the era of the early Kushans. Renowned for their significant support of Buddhism, this assertion is supported by swathes of discovered donations within their principal domain, between Taxila and Bajaur.^[70] Archaeological evidence also establishes dynastic affiliations between them and the rulers of Oddiyana in modern day Swat.^[71] The dynasty is argued to have been founded by Viyakamitra, identified as a vassal to Menander I, according to the Shinkot casket. This epigraphic source further articulates that Vijayamitra, a descendant of Viyakamitra, approximately half a century subsequent to the initial inscription, is credited with its restoration following inflicted damage.^[72]

Indo-scythian Kingdom

 

One of the Buner reliefs showing Scythian soldiers dancing. Cleveland Museum of Art.

The Indo-Scythians were descended from the Sakas (Scythians) who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara to Mathura. The first Indo-Scythian king Maues established Saka hegemony by conquering Indo-Greek territories.^[73]

The Apracharajas are documented on the Silver Reliquary discovered at Sirkap near Taxila, designating the title "Stratega," denoting a position equivalent to Senapati, such as that of Vispavarma and his son Indravarma.^[74] Indravarma is additionally noteworthy for receiving the above mentioned Silver Reliquary, which he subsequently re-dedicated as a Buddhist reliquary, from the Indo-Scythian monarch Kharahostes, which may indicate was a gift in exchange for tribute or assistance.^[75] His son Aspavarma is situated between 20 and 50 CE, during which numismatic evidence overlaps him with the Indo-Scythian ruler Azes II and Gondophares of the Indo-Parthians whilst also describing him as 'Stratega'.^[76]

Indo-Parthian Kingdom

 

Ancient Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) constructed by the Indo-Parthians

The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its first ruler Gondophares. For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings held Taxila (in the present Punjab province of Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted between Kabul and Peshawar. These kings have traditionally been referred to as Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was often inspired by the Arsacid dynasty, but they probably belonged to a wider groups of Iranic tribes who lived east of Parthia proper, and there is no evidence that all the kings who assumed the title Gondophares, which means "Holder of Glory", were even related.

Kushan Gandāra

 

Greco-Buddhist standing Buddha from Gandhara (1st–2nd century), Tokyo National Museum

 

Casket of Kanishka the Great, with Buddhist motifs

The Parthian dynasty fell in about 75 to another group from Central Asia. The Kushans, known as Yuezhi in the Chinese source Hou Han Shu (argued by some^[who?] to be ethnically Asii) moved from Central Asia to Bactria, where they stayed for a century. Around 75 CE, one of their tribes, the Kushan (Kuṣāṇa), under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises gained control of Gandhara. The Kushan empire began as a Central Asian kingdom, and expanded into South Asia in the early centuries CE.^[77]

The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Peshawar Valley and Taxila are littered with ruins of stupas and monasteries of this period. Gandharan art flourished and produced some of the best pieces of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent.

Gandhara's culture peaked during the reign of the great Kushan king Kanishka the Great (127 CE – 150 CE). The cities of Taxila (Takṣaśilā) at Sirsukh and Purushapura (modern day Peshawar) reached new heights. Purushapura along with Mathura became the capital of the great empire stretching from Central Asia to Northern India with Gandhara being in the midst of it. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of the Buddhist faith; Buddhism spread from India to Central Asia and the Far East across Bactria and Sogdia, where his empire met the Han Empire of China. Buddhist art spread from Gandhara to other parts of Asia.

In Gandhara, Mahayana Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form. Under the Kushans new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides. Kanishka also built the 400-foot Kanishka stupa at Peshawar. This tower was reported by Chinese monks Faxian, Song Yun, and Xuanzang who visited the country. The stupa was built during the Kushan era to house Buddhist relics, and was among the tallest buildings in the ancient world.^[78][79][80]

•  
  Head of a bodhisattva, c. 4th century CE
•  
  The Buddha and Vajrapani under the guise of Herakles, c. 2nd–3rd century CE

Kidarites

The Kidarites conquered Peshawar and parts of northwest Indian subcontinent including Gandhara probably sometime between 390 and 410 from Kushan empire,^[81] around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I.^[82] It is probably the rise of the Hephthalites and the defeats against the Sasanians which pushed the Kidarites into northern India. Their last ruler in Gandhara was Kandik, c. 500 CE.

Alchon Huns

Around 430 King Khingila, the most notable Alchon ruler, emerged and took control of the routes across the Hindu Kush from the Kidarites.^{[83][84][85][86]} Coins of the Alchons rulers Khingila and Mehama were found at the Buddhist monastery of Mes Aynak, southeast of Kabul, confirming the Alchon presence in this area around 450–500 CE.^[87]

 

The silver bowl in the British Museum

 

Alchon horseman.^[88]

The so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from Gandhara, features two Kidarite hunters wearing characteristic crowns, and as well as two Alchon hunters (one of them shown here, with skull deformation), suggesting a period of peaceful coexistence between the two entities.^[88] Swat District, Pakistan, 460–479 CE. British Museum.^[89][90]

The numismatic evidence as well as the so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from Gandhara, now in the British Museum, suggests a period of peaceful coexistence between the Kidarites and the Alchons, as it features two Kidarite noble hunters, together with two Alchon hunters and one of the Alchons inside a medallion.^[88] At one point, the Kidarites withdrew from Gandhara, and the Alchons took over their mints from the time of Khingila.^[88]

The Alchons apparently undertook the mass destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila, a high center of learning, which never recovered from the destruction.^[91][92] Virtually all of the Alchon coins found in the area of Taxila were found in the ruins of burned down monasteries, where apparently some of the invaders died alongside local defenders during the wave of destructions.^[91] It is thought that the Kanishka stupa, one of the most famous and tallest buildings in antiquity, was destroyed by them during their invasion of the area in the 460s CE. The Mankiala stupa was also vandalized during their invasions.^[93]

Mihirakula in particular is remembered by Buddhist sources to have been a "terrible persecutor of their religion" in Gandhara.^[94] During the reign of Mihirakula, over one thousand Buddhist monasteries throughout Gandhara are said to have been destroyed.^[95] In particular, the writings of Chinese monk Xuanzang from 630 CE explained that Mihirakula ordered the destruction of Buddhism and the expulsion of monks.^[96] Indeed, the Buddhist art of Gandhara, in particular Greco-Buddhist art, becomes essentially extinct around that period. When Xuanzang visited Gandhara in c. 630 CE, he reported that Buddhism had drastically declined in favour of Shaivism, and that most of the monasteries were deserted and left in ruins.^[97]

Turk and Hindu Shahis

 

Horseman on a coin of Spalapati, i.e. the "War-lord" of the Hindu Shahis. The headgear has been interpreted as a turban.^[98]

The Turk Shahis ruled Gandhara until 870, when they were overthrown by the Hindu Shahis. The Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana in Gandhara.^[99][100]

The first king Kallar had moved the capital into Udabandhapura from Kabul, in the modern village of Hund for its new capital.^{[101][102][103][104]} At its zenith, the kingdom stretched over the Kabul Valley, Gandhara and western Punjab under Jayapala.^[105] Jayapala saw a danger in the consolidation of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city of Ghazni both in the reign of Sebuktigin and in that of his son Mahmud, which initiated the Muslim Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles.^[106] Sebuk Tigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an indemnity.^[106] Jayapala defaulted on the payment and took to the battlefield once more.^[106] Jayapala however, lost control of the entire region between the Kabul Valley and Indus River.^[107]

However, the army was defeated in battle against the western forces, particularly against the Mahmud of Ghazni.^[107] In 1001, soon after Sultan Mahmud came to power and was occupied with the Qarakhanids north of the Hindu Kush, Jaipal attacked Ghazni once more and upon suffering yet another defeat by the powerful Ghaznavid forces, near present-day Peshawar. After the Battle of Peshawar, he died because of regretting as his subjects brought disaster and disgrace to the Shahi dynasty.^[106][107]

Jayapala was succeeded by his son Anandapala,^[106] who along with other succeeding generations of the Shahiya dynasty took part in various unsuccessful campaigns against the advancing Ghaznvids but were unsuccessful. The Hindu rulers eventually exiled themselves to the Kashmir Siwalik Hills.^[107]

Rediscovery

 

Many stupas, such as the Shingerdar stupa in Ghalegay, are scattered throughout the region near Peshawar.

By the time Gandhara had been absorbed into the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni, Buddhist buildings were already in ruins and Gandhara art had been forgotten. After Al-Biruni, the Kashmiri writer Kalhaṇa wrote his book Rajatarangini in 1151. He recorded some events that took place in Gandhara, and provided details about its last royal dynasty and capital Udabhandapura.

In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking an interest in the ancient history of the Indian Subcontinent. In the 1830s coins of the post-Ashoka period were discovered, and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Charles Masson, James Prinsep, and Alexander Cunningham deciphered the Kharosthi script in 1838. Chinese records provided locations and site plans for Buddhist shrines. Along with the discovery of coins, these records provided clues necessary to piece together the history of Gandhara. In 1848 Cunningham found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar. He also identified the site of Taxila in the 1860s. From then on a large number of Buddhist statues were discovered in the Peshawar valley.

Archaeologist John Marshall excavated at Taxila between 1912 and 1934. He discovered separate Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and a large number of stupas and monasteries. These discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and its art.

After 1947 Ahmed Hassan Dani and the Archaeology Department at the University of Peshawar made a number of discoveries in the Peshawar and Swat Valley. Excavation of many of the sites of Gandhara Civilization are being done by researchers from Peshawar and several universities around the world.

Culture

Language

Main article: Gandhari language

Gandhara's language was a Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialect, usually called Gāndhārī.^[108] Hindko from Peshawar which was the capital of Gandhara, came from Shuraseni prakrit a language spoken in Gandhara.^{[109][110][111]} Under the Kushan Empire, Gāndhārī spread into adjoining regions of South and Central Asia.^[108] It used the Kharosthi script, which is derived from the Aramaic script, and it died out about in the 4th century CE.^[108][112]

Linguistic evidence links some groups of the Dardic languages with Gandhari.^{[113][114][115]} The Kohistani languages, now all being displaced from their original homelands, were once more widespread in the region and most likely descend from the ancient dialects of the region of Gandhara.^[116][117] The last to disappear was Tirahi, still spoken some years ago in a few villages in the vicinity of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, by descendants of migrants expelled from Tirah by the Afridi Pashtuns in the 19th century.^[118] Georg Morgenstierne claimed that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirah through the Peshawar district into Swat and Dir".^[119] Nowadays, it must be entirely extinct and the region is now dominated by Iranian languages brought in by later migrants, such as Pashto.^[118] Among the modern day Indo-Aryan languages still spoken today, Torwali shows the closest linguistic affinity possible to Niya, a dialect of Gāndhārī.^[117][120]

Religion

Further information: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism and Gandharan Buddhism

 

Maitreya Bodhisattva, Gautama Buddha, and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. 2nd–3rd century CE, Gandhāra.

 

Bronze statue of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. Fearlessness mudrā. 3rd century CE, Gandhāra.

Mahāyāna Buddhism

Mahāyāna Pure Land sutras were brought from the Gandhāra region to China as early as 147 CE, when the Kushan monk Lokakṣema began translating some of the first Buddhist sutras into Chinese.^[121] The earliest of these translations show evidence of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language.^[122] Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, as well as rare, early Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such as samādhi, and meditation on the Buddha Akṣobhya. Lokaksema's translations continue to provide insight into the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism. This corpus of texts often includes and emphasizes ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration:^[123]

Paul Harrison has worked on some of the texts that are arguably the earliest versions we have of the Mahāyāna sūtras, those translated into Chinese in the last half of the second century AD by the Indo-Scythian translator Lokakṣema. Harrison points to the enthusiasm in the Lokakṣema sūtra corpus for the extra ascetic practices, for dwelling in the forest, and above all for states of meditative absorption (samādhi). Meditation and meditative states seem to have occupied a central place in early Mahāyāna, certainly because of their spiritual efficacy but also because they may have given access to fresh revelations and inspiration.

Some scholars believe that the Mahāyāna Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra was compiled in the age of the Kushan Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, by an order of Mahīśāsaka bhikṣus which flourished in the Gandhāra region.^[124][125] However, it is likely that the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha owes greatly to the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this sutra there are many elements in common with the Lokottaravādin Mahāvastu.^[124] There are also images of Amitābha Buddha with the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta which were made in Gandhāra during the Kushan era.^[126]

The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa records that Kaniṣka of the Kushan Empire presided over the establishment of the Mahāyāna Prajñāpāramitā teachings in the northwest.^[127] Tāranātha wrote that in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jālandhra monastery during the time of Kaniṣka, suggesting some institutional strength for Mahāyāna in the north-west during this period.^[127] Edward Conze goes further to say that Prajñāpāramitā had great success in the north-west during the Kushan period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early Mahāyāna, but not its origin, which he associates with the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism.^[128]

Art

See also: Greco-Buddhist art, Kushan art, Indo-Greek art, and Indo-Scythian art

 

Lid with seated male figure, Gandhara. (1st–2nd century)

Gandhāra is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist art, which shows influence of Hellenistic and local Indian influences from the Gangetic Valley.^[129] The Gandhāran art flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from the 1st to the 5th centuries, but it declined and was destroyed after the invasion of the Alchon Huns in the 5th century.

Siddhartha shown as a bejeweled prince (before the Sidhartha renounces palace life) is a common motif.^[130] Stucco, as well as stone, were widely used by sculptors in Gandhara for the decoration of monastic and cult buildings.^[130][131] Buddhist imagery combined with some artistic elements from the cultures of the Hellenistic world. An example is the youthful Buddha, his hair in wavy curls, similar to statutes of Apollo.^[130] Sacred artworks and architectural decorations used limestone for stucco composed by a mixture of local crushed rocks (i.e. schist and granite) which resulted compatible with the outcrops located in the mountains northwest of Islamabad.^[132]

The artistic traditions of Gandhara art can be divided into following phases:

• Indo-Greek art; 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE
• Indo-Scythian art; 1st century BCE to 1st century CE
• Kushan art; 1st century CE to 4th century CE

•  
  Standing Bodhisattva (1st–2nd century)
•  
  Buddha head (2nd century)
•  
  Buddha head (4th–6th century)
•  
  Buddha in acanthus capital
•  
  The Greek god Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda
•  
  The Bodhisattva Maitreya (2nd century)
•  
  Wine-drinking and music, Hadda (1st–2nd century)
•  
  Maya's white elephant dream (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  The birth of Siddharta (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  The Great Departure from the Palace (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  The end of ascetism (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  The Buddha preaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  Scene of the life of the Buddha (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  The death of the Buddha, or parinirvana (2nd–3rd century)
•  
  A sculpture from Hadda, (3rd century)
•  
  The Bodhisattva and Chandeka, Hadda (5th century)
•  
  Hellenistic decorative scrolls from Hadda, Afghanistan
•  
  Hellenistic scene, Gandhara (1st century)
•  
  A stone plate (1st century)
•  
  "Laughing boy" from Hadda
•  
  Bodhisattva seated in meditation
•  
  Marine deities, Gandhara
•  
  The Seated Buddha, dating from 300 to 500 CE, was found near Jamal Garhi, and is now on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
•  
  Sharing of the Buddha's relics, above a Gandhara fortified city

Major cities

Major cities of ancient Gandhara are as follows:

• Puṣkalavati (Charsadda), Pakistan
• Takshashila (Taxila), Pakistan
• Puruṣapura (Peshawer), Pakistan
• Sagala (Sialkot), Pakistan
• Oddiyana (Swat), Pakistan
• Kapisi (Bagram), Afghanistan
• Jibin, appears in the Chinese sources

Notable people

Main article: list of people from Gandhara

In popular culture

• Gandhara:Buddha no Seisen is an action RPG released in Japan in 1987.^[133]
• "Gandhara" is a 1978 song by Japanese rock band Godiego, serving as their 7th single.
• Gandhara is a Buddhist pacifist organization in the Japanese manga series Shaman King.

See also

• History of Pakistan
• History of Afghanistan
• History of India

Notes

References

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2. Kulke, Professor of Asian History Hermann; Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar (2004). A History of India. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-32919-4.
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4. Hansen, Mogens Herman (2000). A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures: An Investigation. Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. ISBN 978-87-7876-177-4.
5. Neelis, Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks 2010, p. 232.
6. Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan 1975, pp. 175–177.
7. "UW Press: Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara". Retrieved April 2018.
8. GĀNDHĀRĪ LANGUAGE, Encyclopædia Iranica
9. Prakash, Buddha (1951). "Poros". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 32 (1): 198–233. JSTOR 41784590. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
10. History Of Ancient And Early Medeival India From The Stone Age To The 12th Century. p. 604. The Behistun inscription of the Achaemenid emperor Darius indicates that Gandhara was conquered by the Persians in the later part of the 6th century BCE.
11. "3 alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 72. Three local chiefs had their own reasons for supporting him. One of these, Sisicottus, came from Swat, and was later rewarded by an appointment in this locality. Sangaeus from Gandhara had a grudge against his brother Astis, and to improve his own chances of royalty, sided with Alexander. The ruler of Taxila wanted to satisfy his own grudge against Porus.
12. "3 alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 74-77.
13. Rajkamal Publications Limited, New Delhi (1943). Chandragupta Maurya And His Times. p. 16. Chanakya, who is described as a resident of the city of Taxila, returned to his native city with the boy and had him educated for a period of 7 or 8 years at that famous seat of learning where all the ' sciences and arts ' of the times were taught, as we know from the Jatakas.
14. Samad, Rafi U. (2011). The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Algora Publishing. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-87586-860-8.
15. Some sounds are omitted in the writing of Old Persian, and are shown with a raised letter.Old Persian p.164Old Persian p.13. In particular Old Persian nasals such as "n" were omitted in writing before consonants Old Persian p.17Old Persian p.25
16. Herodotus Book III, 89–95
17. Thomas Watters (1904). "On Yuan Chwang's travels in India, 629–645 A.D." Royal Asiatic Society. p. 200. Taken as Gandhavat the name is explained as meaning hsiang-hsing or "scent-action" from the word gandha which means scent, small, perfume. At the Internet Archive.
18. Adrian Room (1997). Placenames of the World. McFarland. ISBN 9780786418145. Kandahar. City, south central Afghanistan At Google Books.
19. Macdonell, Arthur Anthony; Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1995). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. Vol. 1. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 219. ISBN 9788120813328. At Google Books.
20. "Gandara – Livius".
21. Herodotus (1920). "3.102.1". Histories. "4.44.2". Histories (in Greek). Translated by A. D. Godley. "3.102.1". Histories. "4.44.2". Histories. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. At the Perseus Project.
22. Perfrancesco Callieri, INDIA ii. Historical Geography, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 2004.
23. University Of Pittsburg Press U.s.a. (1961). Cultural History Of Kapisa And Gandhara. p. 12-13. The Ramayana places Gandhara on both banks of the Indus....According to Strabo, Gandharites lay along the river Kophes, between the Khoaspes and the Indus. Ptolemy places Gandhara between Suastos (Swat) and the Indus including both banks of Koa immediately above its junction with the Indus.
24. University Of Pittsburg Press U.s.a. (1961). Cultural History Of Kapisa And Gandhara. p. 12. The Ramayana places Gandhara on both banks of the Indus with its two royal cities Pushkalavati for the west and Takshasila for the east.
25. University Of Pittsburg Press U.s.a. (1961). Cultural History Of Kapisa And Gandhara. p. 12. One Jataka story even includes Kasmira within Gandhara.
26. "Decorative Motifs on Pedestals of Gandharan Sculptures: A Case Study of Peshawar Museum" (PDF). p. 173. While according to the recent research, the cultural influence of Gandhāra even reached up to the valley of the Jhelum River in the east (Dar 2007: 54-55).
27. "The geography of Gandharan art" (PDF). p. 6. although Saifur Rahman Dar sought in 2007 to extend the geographical frame to the left bank of the Jhelum river, on account of six Buddhist images discovered at the sites of Mehlan, Patti Koti, Burarian, Cheyr and Qila Ram Kot (Dar 2007: 45-59),evidence remains insufficient to support his conclusions.
28. Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1957). Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas). p. 1. Here he had to depend upon and appoint Indians as his satraps, viz., Ambhi, king of Taxila, to rule from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum).
29. Olivieri, Luca M., Roberto Micheli, Massimo Vidale, and Muhammad Zahir, (2019). 'Late Bronze – Iron Age Swat Protohistoric Graves (Gandhara Grave Culture), Swat Valley, Pakistan (n-99)', in Narasimhan, Vagheesh M., et al., "Supplementary Materials for the formation of human populations in South and Central Asia", Science 365 (6 September 2019), pp. 137–164.
30. Coningham, Robin, and Mark Manuel, (2008). "Kashmir and the Northwest Frontier", Asia, South, in Encyclopedia of Archaeology 2008, Elsevier, p. 740.
31. Narasimhan, Vagheesh M., et al. (2019). "The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia", in Science 365 (6 September 2019), p. 11: "...we estimate the date of admixture into the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age individuals from the Swat District of northernmost South Asia to be, on average, 26 generations before the date that they lived, corresponding to a 95% confidence interval of ~1900 to 1500 BCE..."
32. Macdonell, Arthur Anthony; Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1912). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. John Murray. pp. 218–219.
33. Chattopadhyaya, Sudhakar (1978). Reflections on the Tantras. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 4.
34. "Rigveda 1.126:7, English translation by Ralph TH Griffith".
35. Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1997). A History of Sanskrit Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 130–. ISBN 978-81-208-0095-3.
36. Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 59-62.
37. Raychaudhuri 1953, p. 146-147.
38. Macdonell & Keith 1912, p. 218-219, 432.
39. Higham, Charles (2014), Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations, Infobase Publishing, pp. 209–, ISBN 978-1-4381-0996-1
40. Khoinaijam Rita Devi (1 January 2007). History of ancient India: on the basis of Buddhist literature. Akansha Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-8370-086-3.
41. Chattopadhyaya, Sudhakar (1974). The Achaemenids And India. p. 22. According to the Buddhist account Pukkusati, king of Taksasila, sent an embassy and a letter to king Bimbisara of Magadha and he also defeated Pradyota, king of Avanti.
42. Chattopadhyaya, Sudhakar (1974). The Achaemenids And India. p. 22. Bimbisara and his son Ajatasatru, he did not probably come to the throne before 540 or 530 bc, and Pukkusati also may be regarded as ruling in Gandhara about that time. He would be thus a contemporary of Cyrus who established his power and authority in 549 bc
43. "Pukkusāti". www.palikanon.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
44. O. Bopearachchi, "Premières frappes locales de l'Inde du Nord-Ouest: nouvelles données", in Trésors d'Orient: Mélanges offerts à Rika Gyselen, Fig. 1 CNG Coins
45. Bopearachchi, Osmund. Coin Production and Circulation in Central Asia and North-West India (Before and after Alexander's Conquest). pp. 300–301.
46. . Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
47. Errington, Elizabeth; Trust, Ancient India and Iran; Museum, Fitzwilliam (1992). The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ancient India and Iran Trust. pp. 57–59. ISBN 9780951839911.
48. Bopearachchi, Osmund. Coin Production and Circulation in Central Asia and North-West India (Before and after Alexander's Conquest). pp. 308–.
49. "LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book VII: Chapters 57‑137". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 27 January 2024. The Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, Gandarians, and Dadicae in the army had the same equipment as the Bactrians.
50. "LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book VII: Chapters 57‑137". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 27 January 2024. The Parthians and Chorasmians had for their commander Artabazus son of Pharnaces, the Sogdians Azanes son of Artaeus, the Gandarians and Dadicae Artyphius son of Artabanus.
51. Rafi U. Samad, The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Algora Publishing, 2011, p. 32 ISBN 0875868592
52. Konow, Sien (1929). Kharoshthi Inscriptions With The Exception Of Those Of Asoka Vol.ii Part I (1929). p. 18. Buhler has shown that the KharoshthI characters are derived from Aramaic, which Origin of was in common use for official purposes all over the Achaemenian empire during the KharoshthI period when it comprised north-western India... And Buhler is evidently right in assuming that KharoshthI is ' the result of the intercourse between the offices of the Satraps and of the native authorities
53. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 72. The ruler of Taxila wanted to satisfy his own grudge against Porus
54. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 72. Taxiles and the others came to meet him, bringing gifts reckoned of value among the Indians. They presented him with the twenty-five elephants....and when they reached the Indus, they were to make all necessary preparations for the passage of the army. Taxiles and the other chiefs marched with them.
55. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 73. Then crossing the mountains Alexander descended to a city called Arigaeum [identified with Nawagai], and found that this had been set on fire by the inhabitants, who had afterwards fled.
56. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 74. Alexander then crossed the River Guraeus (the Panchkora, in Dir District). Beyond the Karmani pass lies the Talash valley. The Assacenians, identified with the Asvakas of Sanskrit ´ literature, tried to defend themselves.
57. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 74-75.
58. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. Alexander while reconnoitring the fortifications, and unable to fix on a plan of attack, since nothing less than a vast mole, necessary for bringing up his engines to the walls, would suffice to fill up the chasms, was wounded from the ramparts by an arrow which chanced to hit him in the calf of the leg.
59. "alexander and his successors in central asia" (PDF). p. 75. When many were thus wounded and not a few killed, the women, taking the arms of the fallen, fought side by side with the men for the imminence of the danger and the great interests at stake forced them to do violence to their nature, and to take an active part in the defence.
60. Tarn, William Woodthorpe (24 June 2010). The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-108-00941-6. The Mauryan empire proper, north of the line of the Nerbudda and the Vindhya mountains, had pivoted upon three great cities: pataliputra the capital and the seat of the emperor, Taxila the seat of the viceroy of the North West...
61. Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1957). Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas). p. 2. he bought the boy by paying on the spot 1000 kdrshapanas. Kautilya(Chanakya) then took the boy with him to his native city of Takshasila (Taxila), then the most renowned seat of learning in India, and had him educated there for a period of seven or eight years in the humanities and the practical arts and crafts of the time, including the military arts.
62. Trautmann, Thomas R. (1971). Kautilya And The Arthasastra. p. 12. Chanakya was a nativie of Takkasila, the son of a brahmin, learned in the three Vedas and in mantras, skilled in political expedients, deceitful, a politician.
63. Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1957). Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas). p. 2. This tradition is curiously confirmed by Plutarch's statement that Chandragupta as a youth had met Alexander during his campaigns in the Panjab. This was possible because Chandragupta was already living in that locality with Kautilya (Chanakya).
64. Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1957). Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas). p. 3. According to tradition he began by strengthening his position by an alliance with the Himalayan chief Parvataka, as stated in both the Sanskrit and Jaina texts, Mudradkshasa and Parisishtaparvan.
65. Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1957). Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas). p. 4. The army of Malayaketu (Parvataka) comprised recruits from the following peoples : Khasa, Magadha, Gandhara, Yavana, Saka, Chedi and Huna.
66. Lahiri, Nayanjot (5 August 2015). Ashoka in Ancient India. Harvard University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-674-91525-1. Ashoka arrived in Taxila at the head of an armed contingent, the swords remained in their scabbards: the citizenry, instead of offering resistance came out of their city and on its roads to welcome him, saying 'we did not want to rebel against the prince.. nor even against King Bundusara; but evil ministers came and oppressed us'
67. Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1957). Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas). p. 22. In the Gupta epoch, again, some of the provinces were administered by princes of the royal blood designated kumaras. The same was the case in the time of Asoka. Three instances of such kumara governorship are known from his edicts. Thus one kumara was stationed at Takshasila to govern the frontier province of Gandhara..
68. Cunningham, Alexander (6 December 2022). Archeological Survey of India: Vol. II. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 90. ISBN 978-3-368-13568-3. ...3/4 of a mile to the north of this place there was a great stupa built by Ashoka
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71. Neelis, Jason (19 November 2010). Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. BRILL. p. 119. ISBN 978-90-04-18159-5. The apracas were also connected by marital alliance with the Odi kings in the Swat valley since a royal relative and officer named Suhasoma in a Buddhist reliquary inscription of Senavarman was married to Vasavadatta.
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74. Neelis, Jason (19 November 2010). Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. BRILL. p. 118-119. ISBN 978-90-04-18159-5. Another important member of the Apraca lineage was the general (stratega) Aspavarman
75. Neelis, Jason (19 November 2010). Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. BRILL. p. 119. ISBN 978-90-04-18159-5. A silver drinking vessel with an animal style ibex figure formerly belonging to the "Yagu king" Kharaosta that was rededicated as a Buddhist reliquary by Indravarman may indicate this object was given to the apracas as a gift in exchage for some form of tribute or assistance
76. Neelis, Jason (19 November 2010). Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. BRILL. p. 119. ISBN 978-90-04-18159-5. Since Aspavarman's coins overlap with late or post-humous issues of Azes II and the Indo-parthian ruler Gondophares, he probably flourished from ca. 20-50 CE.
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104. Sehrai, Fidaullah (1979). Hund: The Forgotten City of Gandhara, p. 2. Peshawar Museum Publications New Series, Peshawar.
105. (Wynbrandt 2009, pp. 52–54)
106. P. M. Holt; Ann K. S. Lambton; Bernard Lewis, eds. (1977), The Cambridge history of Islam, Cambridge University Press, p. 3, ISBN 978-0-521-29137-8, ... Jaypala of Waihind saw danger in the consolidation of the kingdom of Ghazna and decided to destroy it. He therefore invaded Ghazna, but was defeated ...
107. Ferishta's History of Dekkan from the first Mahummedan conquests(etc). Shrewsbury [Eng.] : Printed for the editor by J. and W. Eddowes. 1794 – via Internet Archive.
108. Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "GĀNDHĀRĪ LANGUAGE". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
109. "Origins of Hindko". 23 May 2013.
110. "Hindko: 'The Language Of Hind'". NewsGram. 15 April 2021.
111. "Origins of Hindko". Journal of Language Relationship. 15 (3–4): 228–237. 2018. doi:10.31826/jlr-2018-153-409. S2CID 212688313.
112. Rhie, Marylin Martin (15 July 2019). Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia, Volume 2 The Eastern Chin and Sixteen Kingdoms Period in China and Tumshuk, Kucha and Karashahr in Central Asia (2 vols). BRILL. p. 327. ISBN 978-90-04-39186-4.
113. Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2001). History of Northern Areas of Pakistan: Upto 2000 A.D. Sang-e-Meel Publications. pp. 64–67. ISBN 978-969-35-1231-1.
114. Saxena, Anju (12 May 2011). Himalayan Languages: Past and Present. Walter de Gruyter. p. 35. ISBN 978-3-11-089887-3.
115. Liljegren, Henrik (26 February 2016). A grammar of Palula. Language Science Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-3-946234-31-9. Palula belongs to a group of Indo-Aryan (IA) languages spoken in the Hindukush region that are often referred to as "Dardic" languages... It has been and is still disputed to what extent this primarily geographically defined grouping has any real classificatory validity... On the one hand, Strand suggests that the term should be discarded altogether, holding that there is no justification whatsoever for any such grouping (in addition to the term itself having a problematic history of use), and prefers to make a finer classification of these languages into smaller genealogical groups directly under the IA heading, a classification we shall return to shortly... Zoller identifies the Dardic languages as the modern successors of the Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) language Gandhari (also Gandhari Prakrit), but along with Bashir, Zoller concludes that the family tree model alone will not explain all the historical developments.
116. Cacopardo, Alberto M.; Cacopardo, Augusto S. (2001). Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush. IsIAO. p. 253. ISBN 978-88-6323-149-6. ...This leads us to the conclusion that the ancient dialects of the Peshawar District, the country between Tirah and Swât, must have belonged to the Tirahi-Kohistani type, and that the westernmost Dardic language, Pashai, which probably had its ancient centre in Laghmân, has enjoyed a comparatively independent position since early times". …Today the Kohistâni languages descendent from the ancient dialects that developed in these valleys have all been displaced from their original homelands, as described below.
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Further reading

• Lerner, Martin (1984). The flame and the lotus: Indian and Southeast Asian art from the Kronos collections. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0-87099-374-7.
• Rehman, Abdur (2009). "A Note on the Etymology of Gandhāra". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 23: 143–146. JSTOR 24049432.
• Filigenzi, Anna (2000). "Reviewed Work: A Catalogue of the Gandhāra Sculpture in the British Museum, Vol. I: Text, Vol. II: Plates by Wladimir Zwalf". Wladimir Zwalf, Review by: Anna Filigenzi. Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. 50 (1/4): 584–586. JSTOR 29757475.
• Rienjang, Wannaporn, and Peter Stewart (eds), The Rediscovery and Reception of Gandharan Art (Archaeopress, 2022) ISBN 978-1-80327-233-7.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gandhara.

• Gandharan Connections Project (Cambridge, 2016–2021)
• Livius.org: Gandara 19 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Gandhara Civilization- National Fund for Cultural Heritage (Pakistan)

33°45′22″N 72°49′45″E / 33.7560°N 72.8291°E / 33.7560; 72.8291