Taxila

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Taxila
Image:Panorama at Jaulian - Ancient Buddhist Monastery - Taxila, Pakistan - 566-31.JPG A panoramic view of the Buddhist monastery at Jaulian, a location at Taxila
Urdu	Sanskrit	Pāli
ٹیکسلا	तक्षिशला Takṣaśilā	Takkasilā

The Gandhāran city of Taxila was an important Vedic<ref>Majumdar, Raychauduri and Datta [1946]. An Advanced History of India. London: Macmillan, 64.</ref> and Buddhist [1] centre of learning from the 5th century BCE[2] to the 2nd century CE[3]. UNESCO has listed 18 locations at Taxila as World Heritage Sites.[4]

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

Taxila lay at the meeting point of three major trade routes, the royal highway from Pāṭaliputra, the northwestern route through Bactria, Kāpiśa, and Puṣkalāvatī (Peshawar), and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via Śrinigar, Mānsehrā, and the Haripur valley<ref>Thapar, Romila [1961] (1997). Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 237. ISBN 0195639324.</ref> across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.

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

[edit] History

Image:TaxilaCoinBM.JPG Image:Taxila Pakistan juillet 2004.JPG 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 (brother of the legendary Rama) and Mandavi (cousin of Sita), historical characters who appear in the Indian epic Ramayana.

In the Mahābhārata, the Kuru heir Parikṣit was enthroned at Taxila.<ref>Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand [1956] (1975). An Introduction to the study of Indian History, Revised Second Edition, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 126.</ref>

Ahmad Hasan Dani and Saifur Rahman Dar trace the etymology of Taxila to a tribe called the Takka.<ref>Scharfe 2002</ref> According to Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, "Taxila" is related to "Takṣaka," which means "carpenter" and is an alternative name for the Nāga.<ref>Kosambi 1975:129</ref>

c. 518 BCE<ref>Marshall, John [1951] (1975). Taxila: Volume I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 83.</ref> – Darius the Great annexes North-West of India, including Taxila, to the Persian Achaemenid Empire.<ref>Marshall 1975:83</ref>
326 BCE<ref>Marshall 1975:83</ref> – Alexander the Great receives submission of Āmbhi,<ref>Named "Taxiles" by Greek sources after his capital city.</ref> king of Taxila, and afterwards defeats Porus at the Jhelum River.<ref>Marshall 1975:83</ref>
c. 317 BCE – In quick succession, Alexander's general Eudemus and then the satrap Peithon withdraw from India.<ref>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</ref> 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.<ref>Thapar 1997</ref>
185 BCE<ref>Kulke, Hermann, Rothermund, Dietmar [1986] (1998). A History of India, Third Edition, London: Routledge, 68. ISBN 0-415-15481-2.</ref> – The last Maurya emperor, Bṛhadratha, is assassinated by his general, Puṣyamitra Śunga, during a parade of his troops.<ref>Kulke and Rothermund 1998:68</ref>
183 BCE<ref>Kulke and Rothermund 1998:70</ref> – Demetrios conquers Gandhāra, the Punjab and the Indus valley.<ref>Marshall 1975:83</ref> He builds his new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila.<ref>Kulke and Rothermund 1998:70</ref> 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<ref>Marshall 1975:84</ref> – The Indo-Scythian chief Maues overthrows the last Greek king of Taxila.<ref>Marshall 1975:84</ref>
c. 25 CE<ref>Marshall 1975:85</ref> – Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, conquers Taxila and makes it his capital.<ref>Marshall 1975:85</ref>
76<ref>Kulke and Rothermund 1998:75</ref> – The date of and inscription found at Taxila of 'Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, the Kushana' (maharaja rajatiraja devaputra Kushana).<ref>Kulke and Rothermund 1998:75</ref>
c. 460–470<ref>Marshall 1975:86</ref> – The Ephthalites sweep over Gandhāra and the Punjab; wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stūpas at Taxila, which never again recovers.<ref>Marshall 1975:86</ref>

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.<ref>The Life of Apollonius Tyana demonstrates that the rulers of Taxila spoke Greek several centuries after Greek political dominance had faded.</ref>

The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila.<ref>Marshall, Sir John (1960). A Guide to Taxila. Karachi: Department of Archaeology in Pakistan, Sani Communications.</ref> "TEHSIL COUNCIL TAXILA" Khan Muhammad Sadeeq Khan is Nazim of Tehsil Council Taxila.

[edit] Ancient centre of learning

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Some scholars date Takshashila's existence as far back as the 7th century BCE.<ref name=Scharfe>Hartmut Scharfe(2002). Education in Ancient India. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 9004125566.</ref> During the early Hindu period Taxila emerged as a great centre of learning for people from all over the sub-continent. Takshashila University is considered to be the world's earliest university, which was built in late Vedic times.<ref name=Scharfe/> There are also several Jātaka stories about the students and teachers of Takshashila University.<ref>Marshall 1975:81</ref>

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 [5][6] 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]}