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Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient Gandhara

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Nomenclature and Geography of Ancient Gandhara 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 India. Several roads branch out from Gandhara which provided access from Bactria in the west to Magadha (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 Afghanistan and north western India 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 Taxila’.3 Cunninghham 4 refers to Gandhara only as a geographical entity. Alfred Foucher states: Gandhara for such was its Sanskrit 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 Buddhism. 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.Alexander 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, Angas 10 and Magadhas 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 Bengal. 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 Mahabharata 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 Pushkalavati , 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 Behistun inscription 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, Elam, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, the People –by- the- sea, Lydia, Ionia, Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia, Drangiana, Aria, Chorasmia , Bactria, Sogdiana , Gandhara, Scythia, Sattagydia , Arachosia and Maka ; 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 Carmania. 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.
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