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Legend holds that the city
of Taxila was founded by a son of Rama’s brother. Also, it is rumored
that the Hindu Epic Mahabharata was first recited at Taxila. While the
city was situated in a strategic location along the Silk Road and under
the influence of Greece and Persia in the West and China and other East
Asians’ influence, the city itself was apparently not well-planned. The
buildings were built with stone that was plastered with mud. There were no
wells and water for all purposes was obtained from the rivers. There was a
network of open drains, but the streets were badly paved, without much
planning. This is rather surprising as the Indus Valley Civilization in
Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, which was much earlier, had grid-like patterns
of streets and plumbing as well as planned sewage systems. On the Western
part of the city is the “Pillared Hall”, purported to be a place of
worship. This is regarded as the earliest Hindu shrine.
At the time of Alexander the
Great’s invasion (326 BC), Taxila was already a flourishing center of
commerce and culture. After Alexander’s departure and the accession of
Taxila into the Mauryan Empire of Magadha, it had a resurgence of
importance. Particularly during the reign of Emperor Ashoka the Great,
Taxila became a great center of Buddhist learning. He built two new
Buddhist monasteries to the east of the city; the Dharmarajika monastery
where several relics of the Buddha were buried, remains the more important
of the buildings, especially the Stupa. In the monastery are a series of
small chapels where monks meditated. Also found in this monastery were
coins (both gold and silver), gems and other jewelry.
After the Mauryan influence
waned, the Bactrian (descendents of the Greeks) ruled Gandhara from the
new capital at a site called Sirkap. The buildings and roads were
fashioned after Greek tradition and were much better planned. In order to
protect the city from invaders, the Bactrian kings built a stone wall 6
meters thick and stretching 15 Km. Within this wall can be found several
temples and monasteries. Examples are Apsidal temple, Sun temple, Shrine
of the Double-headed Eagle, Kunala monastery and Ghai monastery. Another
important complex of chapels and Stupas is called Jauvian. There are
beautiful reliefs of the Buddha, Bodhivastavas and elephants on the walls
of the chapel.
This is the third and last
site where Taxila was built and flourished. After the Bactrian’s,
invading nomads from Central Asia called the “yuezhi nomads”
established a kingdom on Taxila even farther to the north. This town was
called Sirsukh and formed the capital of the Kushan dynasty from 75 AD to
230 AD. Kushan dynasty encouraged both Buddhist learning and commerce, and
Taxila found a resurgence and experienced another Golden Age. Trade
between the Romans and Greeks, as well as the rest of Asia, led to great
increase in wealth and influence of Taxila once again. However, with the
invasion of Huns and destruction of the education and Buddhist centers of
Taxila, the final downfall of the city occurred and it never recovered.
CONCLUSION:
At the time of Indian
independence from Britain, Taxila, as did the Indus valley centers
Mohenjodaro and Harappa, as well as Purushapuram (the other capital of
ancient Gandhara kingdom, (modern Peshawar)) became parts of Pakistan. It
is heartening to note that, unlike the Taliban bigots of Afghanistan,
Pakistan’s government has celebrated these great ancient Indian
historical sites. A museum has been built in Taxila and it displays
numerous Buddhist and other artifacts of antiquity. Arguably, the
well-known of these is the sculpture of the meditating Buddha. In 2002
Taxila was named a “World Heritage City” by UNESCO.
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