Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient

Kiran Shahid Siddiqui*

Abstract Gandhara has been a significant region since the early historic period of South Asia. Besides its emergenceand growth as an artistic and cultural center, the uniqueness of Gandhara lies in its location because it was connected with all important towns of ancient . Several roads branch out from Gandhara which provided access from in the west to (Bihar) in the east. This ideal geographic location transformed Gandhara in to the meeting place of several cultures through traders, invaders, religious leaders and devotees. The trade and commerce flourished due to its remarkable geographical location linking it with all the other important trade centers from east and west. The present paper focuses on the various names applied to designate the ancient region of Gandhara and its geographical extent with reference to ancient literary and epi graphic records. Key Words: Gandhara, geographical, Buddhist, Takshashila

*Lecturer, Department of General History, University of Karachi

65 Jhss, Vol. 2, No.2, July to December 2011 Gandhara, known as the second holy land of Buddhism1, was a center of Buddhist religious practices. The presence of university of Takshashila increased its reputation and attracted students from all parts of the world. The fame of ancient Gandhara rests on the artistic and architectural activities prevalent in the region. The foremost contribution of Gandhara art is the portrayal of Buddha in human form. Episodes from his life, starting from his birth up to his death, are narrated in stonein such a sophisticated manner that the spectator gets adequate knowledge about the master.

The name Gandhara art, applied to the Buddhist school of sculptural art and architecture that flourished in and north from 1st century B.C.E to 6th century C.E, is thought to be a misconception. The term seems to be less accurate because the Buddhist school of art and architecture covers a much wider area, which extended beyond thelimits of ancient Gandhara region.Huntington 2identify the Buddhist art of Gandhara as ‘Bactro- Gandharan’, referring to the lands ‘between, surrounding and including’ the regions of Bactria and Gandhara. He is of the view that ‘Gandhara is the term reserved for the kingdom centered at ’.3 Cunninghham 4 refers to Gandhara only as a geographical entity.

Alfred Foucher states:

Gandhara for such was its name - - shows usafter all only a vast, gently undulating plain, bristling in places with rugged hills, and three parts encircled by a beltof fawn-coloured or bluish mountains, which nearly every where limit the horizon. But the opening left by them on the south-east over the Indus is tin: great gale of India; and to the west the winding Khyber pass remains the principal route of communication between the peninsula and the Asiatic continent; and the towns which formerly guarded this ancient route of invading armies and merchant caravans were Purushapura (now Peshawar); Pushkaravati, the Peukclaotis of the Greeks; Qalaturu, the natal town of Panini, the great legislator of Sanskrit

1.Magadha was known as the first holy land of . 2.Huntington, Susan L., and John C. Huntington, The Art of Ancient India: Hindu, Buddhist, Jain .(Tokyo: John Weather hill, 1985),p. 109 3.Ibid. p. 109 4. Cunningham, The Ancient Geography of India: the Buddhist period, Vol.1, (London: Trubener& Co., 1871), p. 47-48 66 Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient Gandhara grammar ; Udabhanda(now Und), where the treat river was passed, in winter by a ford, in summer by a ferry, and whence in three days one reached Takshasila, the Taxila of the historians of Alexander.-. And immediately you feel how in this country, which one might call doubly classic, memories associated with the two antiquities, Hellenic and Indian arise from the ground at each step. 5

In various ancient literary sources, ‘Gandhara’ is documented in different styles. It is a composition of two Sanskrit words, ‘ Gand’ which means fragrance and ‘ hara’ meaning land. 6 Therefore Gandhara accurately denotes, ‘the land of fragrance’, as it is a land of extensive greenery and flowers. The ancient Gandhara was the most significant region which linked up the rest of India with the west. It occupies a significant place in the history of India since the early Vedic times up to the present day. ‘ Gandharis’ , the inhabitants of Gandhara is mentioned in the earliest known literature of India such as the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda while ‘Gandhara’ emerged as a province of ancient India from the times of Upanishads onwards in the Sanskrit, early Buddhist literature and in many of the ancient inscriptions. The earliest mention of the term ‘Gandhara’ is in the Rig Veda, a Vedic Sanskrit literature containing sacred hymns, dated back to second Millennium B.C. Gandhara province is referred to in the Rig Veda as a land inhabited and known for the Gandharis 7. The Rig Veda mentions Gandhara as western uplands lying on the route of access in to India and the trade routes intersect through it, famous for its sheep, an important source of wool 8.Mujavats 9, 10 and 11 are referred in AtharvaVedaalong with the locals of Gandhara 12 . The Gandharans were the residents of the region south

5.Alfred Foucher, The Beginning of Buddhist Art and other Essays in Indian and Central Asian Archaeology, ed. L. A. Thomas, trans., L. A. Thomas & F. W. Thomas, (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1994), p. 118-119 6.Ihsan Ali and Muhammed NaeemQazi, Gandharan Sculptures in the Peshawar Museum (life Story of Buddha), (Peshawar: Hazara University, Mansehra NWFP [Khyber Printers] 2008), p.1 7. D. R. Bhandarkar, Some Aspects of ancient Indian Culture , (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1989), p. 2 8. David Frawley, God, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization . (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991), pp. 82-83 9.Mujavats are mentioned in ancient text as a hill tribe of north-western India. 10 .Angas were the inhabitants of ancient . 11 .Magadhas were the inhabitants of Magadha or ancient Bihar. 12 .K. K. Murthy, The Gandhara Sculptures: A Cultural Survey . (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1977), p.1 67 Jhss, Vol. 2, No.2, July to December 2011 of riverKabul since the Vedic period 13 . The Sanskrit Epics, Ramayana and also refer to the Gandhara region. The Ramayana informs us that the Gandhara was:

The country on both sides of Indus, which is protected by the Gandharavas, who are armed and are well versed in the use of arms. Further they were subdued by Bharata’s sons Taksha and Puskala , who ruled over Takshashila and , twin cities founded after the destruction of Gandharavanagara 14 .

In the Mahabharata Gandhara is referred as the region subjugated by the Nagas , who took the control of Takshashila 15 . The Puranas maintain that Gandhara was the name of Dhruyu kings who participated in the ‘battle of ten kings’ in alliance with Purus 16 . Gandhara acquired the status of a geographical unit under the domination of Persian Achaemenids under Cyrus II (c. 559-530 B.C.E.).Darius (c. 522-486 B.C.E.) mentionsin his this ancient region as ‘Gadara’, which is a distorted form of the local name Gandhara 17 . He declared Gandhara as one of the countries; he inherited when he became the king of Persia in the following words:

King Darius says: These are the countries which belong to me. By the favor of Ahura Mazda, I was their king : Persia, , , Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, the People –by- the- sea, , , , Armenia, , , , , , Bactria, Sogdiana , Gandhara, Scythia, Sattagydia , and ; altogether twenty- three countries….These are the countries which belong to me. By the favor of Ahura Mazda they are my subjects: they brought tribute to me. What I said to them, either by night or by day, that they did.18 Gandhara is also mentioned in the inscription of Darius in an inscription at his palace of Susa, from where the ‘Yaka Wood’ was imported:

13 .Op. cit., Ali and Qazi, p. 1 14 .MalatiJ.Shendge, The Civilized Demons: The Harappans in Rig Veda. (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 2003), p. 106 15 .Shubhra Sharma, Life in the Upanishads . (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1985) p. 42 16 .Ibid, p. 42 17 .Op. cit., Ali and Qazi, p. 4 18 .P. Docherty, The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire and Invasion . (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 2 68 Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient Gandhara This is the palace which I built at Susa. From afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug until I reached the rock in the earth. When the excavation was made, then rubble was packed down, the Babylonian people they did (these tasks). The cedar timber this-a mountain by name Lebanon – from it was brought; the Assyrian people, they brought it to Babylon, from Babylon the Carians and Ionians brought it to Susa. The Yaka timber was brought from Gandhara and from . 19

The country of Gandarioi, Gandarae or Gandarities is mentioned by Herodotus in his histories:

‘The Sattagudai and the Gandarioi and the Dadikai and the Aparutai , who were all, reckoned together, paid 170 talents. This was the 7 th satrapy” 20 .Strabo mentions Gandhara as Gandarities and considers it as a part of India and Ptolemy includes thenatives of Gandhara among Indian nations. 21

During the rule of the Kidarities, the Chinese pilgrim, Fa-hien visited India in c. 400. Fa-hiencallsGandhara as Kin-to wai and identifies it as a region, which was visited by Buddhawhen he was a Bodhisattva who sacrificed his eyes here as an act of charity. 22 HuenTsang, called Gandhara as Kien-t’o-lo . He visited India in the early 7 th century A.D., states about Gandhara:

The kingdom of Gandhara is about 1000 li from east to west, and about 800 li from north to south. On the east are borders on river SIN (Sindh). The capital of the country is called Po-lu-sha-pu-lo ; it is about 40 li in circuit. The country is rich in cereals, and produces a variety of flowers and fruits; it abounds also in sugar-cane, from the juice of which they prepare “the solid sugar”. The climate is warm and moist, and in general without ice or snow. The disposition of the

19 .J. A. Boyle, Persia: History & Heritage . (London: Henry Melland, 1978), pp. 21- 21 20 .Inam-ur-Rahim, and Alain Viaro, Swat: An Afghan Society in , Urbanisation and Change in a Tribal Environment . (Karachi: City Press, 2002), p. 37 21 .Herodotus Halicarnasseus, George Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (sir), John Gardner Wilkinson (sir) History of Herodotus . Vol.4, 4 Vols. (London: John Murray , 1862), p. 176 22 .Fa-hien and Sung-Yun, Travels of Fah-Hien and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from to India, 400 A.D. and 518 A.D. translated by Samuel Beal, (London: Trubner, 1869), p. 31 69 Jhss, Vol. 2, No.2, July to December 2011 people is timid and soft: they love literature; most of them belong to heretical schools; a few believe in the true law. 23

Geographical Extent of Gandhara

Gandhara has enjoyed a distinctive place in the cultural and economic history of India and its progress due to its unique location. The region is unique because it is isolated by natural boundaries of the mountain ranges and at the same time approachable through rivers and passes, present on its north.

Gandhara is a geographical term used to denote the region including the modern districts of Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwah (K.P.K.) and Rawalpindi in although the Persian inscriptions also include in this region the Kabul valley in Afghanistan. The ancient capitals of the region were Takshashila (Taxila) in the Rawalpindi districts and Pushkalavati (Charsaddanear Peshawar) and Udabhadapura (Hund near Attock). Starbo, a Greek classical writer describes it as ‘ Gandhariti’ , located along the river Kabul between the rivers Choaspes and the Indus. 24 While Ptolemy, another Greek writer locates the region on both the bank of river Kabul above its junction with the river Indus. 25 HiuenTsang locates Gandhara to the west of river Indus. 26 Gandhara region has always been a link between the Indian Sub-continent and the rest of Asia. 27 Gandhara is a country situated in Uttarapatha, northernregion of India. 28

Alexander Cunningham proposes ‘Lamghan and on the west, the hills of Swat and Buner on the north, the Indus on the east, and the hills of Kalabagh on the south of ancientGandhara’. 29 He did not include the regions of Taxila and Rawalpindi within the limits

23 .Samuel Beal, Chinese Accounts of India Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang . Vol. 2, (Calcutta: Susil Gupta (India) Ltd.), p. 150 24 .Op. cit., Sharma, 42 25 .Op. cit., p. 47 26 .Ibid.p. 47 27 .Madeleine Hallade,, The Gandhara Style and the Evolution of Buddhist Art . (London: Thames and Hudson, 1968)p.4 28 .D.C. Sircar, Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India .(Dehli: Motilal Banrsidass, 1971)p. 289 29 .Op. cit., Cunningham, p. 48 70 Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient Gandhara of Gandhara.Zwalf 30 mention some ancient regions famous for their artistic and architectural activities associated with Gandhara are Udyana (Swat), Kapisa (Panjshir-Ghorband valley in Afghanistan below the Hindukush), Khavada (Khawat or Wardak), Lampaka (Lamghan), Apraca or Apaca (Bajaur), Nagarahar (Nangarhar), Takshashila (Taxila), Uras’a (Hazara) and Kamboja 31 .

In addition to its religious importance of one of the main cause which led Gandhara to emerge as an outstanding metropolis of North Western India in ancient times was its ideal geographic location. It is located on the crossroads of many important land routes. Several roads radiate from Gandhara which provided access from Bactria in the west to Magadha in the east.The geographical position was unique because it was connected with all important towns of ancient India through the Uttarapatha . B.C. Law describes the Uttarapatha as ‘ a great trade route-the northern high road, which extended from Savatthi to Takkasila in Gandhara.’ 32 The Gandhara sites of Pakistan are almost entirely in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwah Province (NWFP); ‘the Peshawar valley now consists of the Peshawar and Mardan Divisions subdivided into Districts, while in the upland Swat has become a District of the Malakand Division which also administers the Malakand and Bajaur (Tribal) Agencies; east of the Indus Taxila sites lie partly in the Abbotabad District of the Hazara Division of the North-West Frontier Province but mainly in the Rawalpindi Division of the Punjab.’ 33

Conclusion

Although, the accurate extent of Gandhara is yet an unsettled matter but the region had enjoyed a significant position in all times which was certainly due to its prime location. The region has a very rich cultural and historical background since earliest times, which reputes it with the regions of great regard. No literary account, whether indigenous or foreign, tend to neglect its reference. Its

30 W. Zwalf, A Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculptures in the British Museum , (London: British Museum press, 1996), p. 11 31 The exact location of ancient Kamboja is highly debated and controversial. But the ancient texts mention it as an adjacent kingdom of ancient Gandhara region. 32 Bimla Churan Law, The Geography of Early Buddhism , (Delhi: Bhartiya Pub., 1973). pp. 48-49 33 Op. cit., Zwalf, p, 17 71 Jhss, Vol. 2, No.2, July to December 2011 significance was heightened with the artistic activities which were employed to serve the Buddhist faith, known to the world by the name of “Gandhara art”.

This ideal geographic location transformed Gandhara in to the meeting place of several cultures through traders, invaders, religious leaders and devotees. Traders from different directions made a stop at Gandhara to sell their commodities or exchange them with the merchandize of other traders. Afterwards they either went to their local places or proceeded further. Gandhara provided them with a wide range of products from distant places.As, in ancient times the transportation was extremely slow, the traders made a long stay at Gandhara after a long journey not only to have a break but also to try their luck in the elevated spiritual atmosphere.

There are several inscriptions which, record the erection of monasteries, tanks, wells, gardens and other monuments built by the donations of traders and pilgrims visiting Gandhara in different times. Highly expert builders, stonecutters, sculptors and other artists were available to fulfill the donor’s objective.

The importance of Gandhara was not only due to its religious and cultural background but the commercial and economic element was also a chief factor. The trade and commerce flourished due to its significant geographical location linking it with all the other important trade centers from everywhere. The fact is attested by the literary and epigraphic records. The region attained further prominence during the reign of Kushans, under whom it rose as a center of artistic accomplishment.

72 Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient Gandhara

Map of Ancient Gandhara

Maps designed by Dirk Fabian, ingraphis.de, Kassel, © Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn.http://sites.asiasociety.org/gandhara/maps/ (accessed March 23, 2012).

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