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The Gandhāran city of Taxila was an important Vedic• and Buddhist* centre of learning from the 5th century BCE* to the 2nd century CE*.
UNESCO has listed 18 locations at Taxila as World Heritage Sites.*
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• across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.
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History
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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.•
Ahmad Hasan Dani and Saifur Rahman Dar trace the etymology of Taxila to a tribe called the Takka. According to Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, "Taxila" is related to "Takṣaka," which means "carpenter" and is an alternative name for the Nāga.
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.
183 BCE – Demetrios conquers Gandhāra, the Punjab and the Indus valley. He builds his new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila. 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.
76 – The date of and inscription found at Taxila of 'Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, the Kushana' (maharaja rajatiraja devaputra Kushana).
c. 460–470 – The Ephthalites sweep over Gandhāra and the Punjab; wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stūpas at Taxila, which never again recovers.
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.
The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted
excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila.•
"TEHSIL COUNCIL TAXILA"
Khan Muhammad Sadeeq Khan is Nazim of Tehsil Council Taxila.
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Ancient centre of learning
Taxila is significant in Buddhist tradition because it is believed that the Mahāyāna sect of Buddhism was founded there.
During the early Hindu period Taxila emerged as a great centre of learning for people from all over the sub-continent. The Sanskrit grammarian Pānini, the political theorist Kautilya** 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.
There are several Jātaka stories about the students and teachers of Taxila.
Some scholars date Takshashila's existence to c. 700 BCE.
Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. The four Vedas (Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Atharva-Veda) and the Eighteen Arts were taught, in addition to law, medicine and warfare. Skills such as archery, hunting and elephant-lore were also taught.
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See also
http://www.pindiplus.com/content/view/290/358/
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