Gandhara Civilization:Gandhāra was an ancient region in the Peshawar basin in the northwest of the ancient Indian subcontinent,
corresponding to present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The center of the region was at the confluence of the Kabul and Swat rivers, bounded
by the Sulaiman Mountains on the west and the Indus River on the east. The Safed Koh mountains separated it from the Kohat region to the south. This being the
core area of Gandhara, the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to the Taxila region and westwards into the Kabul and Bamiyan
valleys in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its capital city was Pushkalavati Later the
capital city was moved to Peshawar] by the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great in about 127 AD.
Geography:The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history. Sometimes the Peshawar Valley and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara;
sometimes the Swat Valley (Sanskrit: Suvāstu) was also included. The heart of Gandhara, however, was always the Peshawar Valley. The kingdom was ruled from
capitals at Kapisa (Bagram),[24] Pushkalavati (Charsadda), Taxila, Puruṣapura (Peshawar) and in its final days from Udabhandapura (Hund) on the River Indus.
In addition to Gandhara proper, the province also encompassed the Kabul Valley, Swat and Chitral.
History
Stone ageEvidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools and burnt bones, was discovered at Sanghao near Mardan in area caves.
The artifacts are approximately 15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present..
Vedic GandharaThe name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda (RV 1.126.7[4]). The Gandhāris, along with the Balhikas (Bactrians), Mūjavants, Angas,
and the Magadhas, are also mentioned in the Atharvaveda (AV 5.22.14), as distant people. Gandharas are included in the Uttarapatha division of Puranic and
Buddhistic traditions. The Aitareya Brahmana refers to King Nagnajit of Gandhara who was a contemporary of Janaka, king of Videha..
MahajanapadaGandhara was one of sixteen mahajanapadas of ancient India.[6][7] The primary cities of Gandhara were Puruṣapura (Peshawar),
Takṣaśilā (Taxila), and Pushkalavati (Charsadda). The latter remained the capital of Gandhara down to the 2nd century AD, when the capital was moved to
Peshawar. An important Buddhist shrine helped to make the city a centre of pilgrimage until the 7th century. Pushkalavati, in the Peshawar Valley, is situated at the
confluence of the Swat and Kabul rivers, where three different branches of the River Kabul meet. That specific place is still called Prang (from Prayāga) and
considered sacred; local people st
Achaemenid Gandhara:King Pushkarasakti of Gandhara was engaged in power struggles against his local rivals and as such the Khyber Pass remained
poorly defended. King Darius I of the Achaemenid Empire took advantage of the opportunity and planned for an invasion. The Indus Valley was fabled in Persia for its
gold and fertile soil and conquering it had been a major objective of his predecessor Cyrus The Great.[33] In 542 BC, Cyrus had led his army and conquered the
Makran coast in southern Balochistan. However, he is known to have campaigned beyond Makran (in the regions of Kalat, Khuzdar, Panjgur) and lost most of his army
in the Gedrosian Desert (speculated today as the Kharan Desert).
Macedonian Gandhara;In the winter of 327 BC, Alexander invited all the chieftains in the remaining five Achaemenid satraps to submit to his authority.
Ambhi, then ruler of Taxila in the former Hindush satrapy complied, but the remaining tribes and clans in the former satraps of Gandhara, Arachosia, Sattagydia and
Gedrosia rejected Alexander's offer. The first tribe they encountered were the Aspasioi tribe of the Kunar Valley, who initiated a fierce battle against Alexander, in
which he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart. However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40,000 people were enslaved. Alexander then continued in a
southwestern direction where he encountered the Assakenoi tribe of the Swat & Buner valleys in April 326 BC.
They are be many region was also saw by gandara which names are given
1Maurya arrival to Gandhara
2Graeco-Bactrians, Sakas, and Indo-Parthians
3Kushan Gandhara
5Hephthalite Gandhara
Decline:Jayapala was the last great king of this dynasty. His empire extended from west of Kabul to the river Sutlej. However, this expansion of Gandhara
kingdom coincided with the rise of the powerful Ghaznavid Empire under Sabuktigin. Defeated twice by Sabuktigin and then by Mahmud of Ghazni in the Kabul
valley, Jayapala gave his life on a funeral pyre. Anandapala, a son of Jayapala, moved his capital near Nandana in the Salt Range. In 1021 the last king of this dynasty,
Trilochanapala, was assassinated by his own troops which spelled the end of Gandhara. Subsequently, some Shahi princes moved to Kashmir and became active in
local politics.
Rediscovery: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.
Language:The Gandharan Buddhist texts are both the earliest Buddhist as well as Asian manuscripts discovered so far. Most are
written on birch bark and were found in labelled clay pots. Panini has mentioned both the Vedic form of Sanskrit as well as what
seems to be Gandhari, a later form of Sanskrit, in his Ashtadhyayi. Gandhara's language was a Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialect,
usually called Gāndhārī. The language used the Kharosthi script, which died out about the 4th century. However, Punjabi, Hindko,
and Kohistani, are derived from the Indo-Aryan Prakrits that were spoken in Gandhara and surrounding areas. However, a language
shift occurred as the ancient Gandharan culture gave way to Iranian invaders from Central Asia
Mahāyāna Buddhism:Mahāyāna Pure Land sūtras were brought from the Gandhāra region to China as early as 147 AD, when
the Kushan monk Lokakṣema began translating some of the first Buddhist sūtras into Chinese.[61] The earliest of these translations
show evidence of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language.[62] 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.
Art:
Gandhāra is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist art, which shows influence of Parthian, Scythian, Roman, Graeco-Bactrian and local Indian
influences from the Gangetic Valley.[71] This development began during the Parthian Period (50 BC – 75 AD). The Gandhāran style flourished and achieved its
peak during the Kushan period, from the 1st to the 5th centuries.Stucco as well as stone, were widely used by sculptors in Gandhara for the decoration of monastic
and cult buildings.[72] Stucco provided the artist with a medium of great plasticity, enabling a high degree of expressiveness to be given to the sculpture. Sculpting in
stucco was popular wherever Buddhism spread from Gandhara – Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Central Asia, and China. Buddhist imagery combined with some artistic
elements from the cultures of the Hellenistic world.
