Gandhara (IAST: Gandhāra) was an ancient Indo-Aryan culture and historical region located in present-day northwestern Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan. Situated at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, it was known for being an influential Buddhist civilisation and its absorption of diverse influences from neighbouring areas. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Valley of Peshawar, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus River to Taxila and westwards into the Kabul Valley as far as Bamyan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range, including Swat, Panjkora and other valleys.
Gandhara is named after the Gandhāra tribe of the Vedic period, who are attested in the Rigveda (c. 1500–c. 1200 BCE). Indo-Aryans migrated into the region sometimes between 1900 and 1500 BCE, and mixed with the local population. The Gandhara grave culture (c. 1400–800 BCE) has sometimes been taken as a representative of Indo-Aryan migrations, although it has also been regarded as a local development or a combination of the two.
Gandhara was one of the sixteen mahajanapadas ("great realms") during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. It was annexed by the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BCE as the satrapy of Gandāra. During its invasion by Alexander the Great in 327–326 BCE, Gandhara was divided among various polities, notably that of Taxila under king Omphis and the tribe of Aśvaka.
Gandhara became a part of the Maurya Empire in 321 BCE. In the succeeding centuries it was ruled by the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, and the Indo-Parthians; local Gandharan dynasties of Oḍirājas and Apracharajas remained autonomous in some parts until the ascent of the Kushan Empire, which saw the zenith of region's cultural and political influence. Gandhara was devastated during the Hunnic invasions, but survived as a core region under Turk Shahis and Hindu Shahis. After the Ghaznavid conquest in 11th century, Gandhara as a geographical term largely faded away, although the name continued to be used for the region in the Kashmiri Sanskrit historiography until 15th century.
Gandhara was a major centre for Greco-Buddhism (4th century BCE–5th century CE) under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties; it was also the central location for the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Central and East Asia. Hinduism experienced a significant revival between the seventh and eleventh centuries under the Shahis. It was famed for its unique Gandharan style of art influenced by the classical Hellenistic styles. Gandhārī, an Indo-Aryan language written in the Kharosthi script, acted as a lingua franca of the region.
Etymology
Gandhara was known in Sanskrit as Gandhāraḥ (गन्धारः) and in Avestan as 'Vaēkərəta. In Old Persian, Gandhara was known as Gadāra (𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼, also transliterated as Gandāra since the nasal "n" before consonants were omitted in Old Persian). In Chinese, Gandhara is known as Jiāntuóluó (traditional Chinese: 犍陀羅; simplified Chinese: 犍陀罗, also written 健馱邏; 健驮逻), with the Middle Chinese pronunciation reconstructed as kɨɐndala. One state of the region named Jìbīn (罽賓; 罽宾, also romanised as Kipin) is recorded in the Book of Han.
One proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word gandhaḥ (गन्धः), meaning "perfume" and "referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they (the inhabitants) traded and with which they anointed themselves". The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, and later Vedic texts. A Persian form of the name, Gandāra, mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Emperor Darius I, was translated as Paruparaesanna (Para-upari-sena, meaning "beyond the Hindu Kush") in Babylonian and Elamite in the same inscription. In Greek, Gandhara was known as Paropamisadae.
Geography
The geographical extent of Gandhara underwent much alteration throughout history, with the core being the region bounded by the Indus River, the Swat Valley, and the Kabul River. Its prominent urban centres were Taxila and Puṣkalāvatī. The cultural influence of Gandhara stretched as far as Jhelum River in the east as evident by the discovery of Gandhara style Buddhist artworks there. One Jataka tale includes Kashmir Valley within Gandhara. The kingdom of Taxila stretched from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum) during the rule of Taxiles in 326 BCE.
Richard Salomon uses the term "Greater Gandhara" to describe the extent of the cultural influence of Gandhara and its language, Gandhari. In the later historical sources, Greater Gandhara encompassed the territories of Jibin and Oddiyana, extending into parts of Bactria and the Tarim Basin. Oddiyana was situated in the vicinity of the Swat Valley, while Jibin corresponded to the region of Kapisa, south of the Hindu Kush. The Udichya region was noted by ancient grammarian Pāṇini as comprising both the regions of Vahika and Gandhara.
History
Vedic period (c. 1500-500 BCE)
Gandhāra grave culture (c. 1400-800 BCE)
The Gandhara Grave Culture emerged c. 1400 BCE and lasted until 800 BCE, and was named for their distinct funerary practices. It was found along the Middle Swat River course, even though earlier research considered it to be expanded to the Valleys of Dir, Kunar, Chitral, and Peshawar. It has been regarded as a token of the Indo-Aryan migrations but has also been explained by local cultural continuity. DNA analyses shows that inhabitants of the Swat area mixed with Indo-Aryans coming from the Inner Asia Mountain Corridor, who carried Steppe ancestry, sometime between 1900 and 1500 BCE.
Early Vedic period (c. 1500-1100 BCE)
The first mention of the Gandhārīs is in the Ṛigveda, as a tribe that has sheep with good wool. In the Atharvaveda, the Gandhārīs are mentioned alongside the Mūjavants, the Āṅgeyas and the Māgadhīs in a hymn asking fever to leave the body of the sick man and instead go those aforementioned tribes. The tribes listed were the furthermost border tribes known to those in Madhyadeśa, the Āṅgeyas and Māgadhīs in the east, and the Mūjavants and Gandhārīs in the north.
The Gandhara tribe, after which it is named, is attested in the Rigveda (c. 1500 – c. 1200 BCE), while the region is mentioned in the Zoroastrian Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the seventh most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda.
According to Rigvedic tradition, Yayati was the progenitor of the prominent Udichya (Gandhara and Vahika tribes) and had numerous sons, including Anu, Puru, and Druhyu. The lineage of Anu gave rise to the Madra, Kekaya, Sivi and Uśīnara kingdoms, while the Druhyu tribe has been associated with the Gandhara kingdom.
Late Vedic period (c. 1100-500 BCE)
The Gāndhārī king Nagnajit and his son Svarajit are mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas (900-700 BCE), according to which they received Brahmanic consecration, but their family's attitude towards ritual is mentioned negatively, with the royal family of Gandhāra during this period following non-Brahmanical religious traditions. According to the Jain Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, Nagnajit, or Naggaji, was a prominent king who had adopted Jainism and was comparable to Dvimukha of Pāñcāla, Nimi of Videha, Karakaṇḍu of Kaliṅga, and Bhīma of Vidarbha; Buddhist sources instead claim that he had achieved paccekabuddhayāna.
By the later Vedic period the Gāndhārī capital of Takṣaśila had become an important centre of knowledge where the men of Madhya-desa went to learn the three Vedas and the eighteen branches of knowledge, with the Kauśītaki Brāhmaṇa recording that brāhmaṇas went north to study. According to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Uddālaka Jātaka, the famous Vedic philosopher Uddālaka Āruṇi was among the famous students of Takṣaśila, and the Setaketu Jātaka claims that his son Śvetaketu also studied there. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, Uddālaka Āruṇi himself favourably referred to Gāndhārī education to the Vaideha king Janaka.
Mahajanapadas (c. 6th century BCE)
During the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra was an important imperial power in north-west Iron Age South Asia, with the valley of Kaśmīra being part of the kingdom. Due to this important position, Buddhist texts listed the Gandhāra kingdom as one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas ("great realms") of Iron Age South Asia. It was the home of Gandhari, the princess and her brother Shakuni the king of Gandhara Kingdom.
Achaemenid (Persian) rule (6th-4th cent. BCE BCE)
Achaemenid conquest by Cyrus the Great (535-518 BCE)
Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great initiated a protracted campaign to absorb parts of northwestern Indian subcontinent into his nascent Achaemenid Empire. In this initial incursion, the Persian army annexed a large region to the west of the Indus River, consolidating the early eastern borders of their new realm. With a brief pause after Cyrus' death around 530 BCE, the campaign continued under Darius the Great, who began to re-conquer former provinces and further expand the Achaemenid Empire's political boundaries. Around 518 BCE, the Persian army pushed further into India to initiate a second period of conquest by annexing regions up to the Jhelum River in what is today known as Punjab. At peak, the Persians managed to take control of most of modern-day Pakistan and incorporate it into their territory.
Megasthenes' Indica states that the Achaemenids never conquered India, and had only approached its borders after battling with the Massagetae. It further states that the Persians summoned mercenaries specifically from the Oxydrakai tribe, who were previously known to have resisted the incursions of Alexander the Great, but they never entered their armies into the region of Gandhara.
Centralised administration and Kharosthi script
Under Persian rule, a system of centralised administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first time. Provinces or "satrapies" were established with provincial capitals. The Gandhara satrapy, established 518 BCE with its capital at Pushkalavati (Charsadda).
It was also during the Achaemenid Empire rule of Gandhara that the Kharosthi script, the script of Gandhari prakrit, was born through the Aramaic alphabet.
Gandharan troops employed by Xerxes the Great (c. 518 BC – 465 BC)
During the reign of Xerxes I, Gandharan troops were noted by Herodotus to have taken part in the Second Persian invasion of Greece and were described as clothed similar to that of the Bactrians. Herodotus states that during the battle they were led by the Achamenid general Artyphius.
Conquest by Alexander the Great (327 BCE)
In 327 BCE, Alexander the Great's military campaign progressed to Arigaum, on the western fringe of Gandhara and situated in present-day Nawagai, marking the initial encounter with the Gandharian Aspasians. Arrian (c. 86/89 – c. after 146/160 CE), in his Anabasis of Alexander, recalls their implementation of a scorched earth strategy, evidenced by the city ablaze upon Alexander's arrival, with its inhabitants already fleeing. The Aspasians fiercely contested Alexander's forces, resulting in their eventual defeat.
According to Arrian's Indica, the region west of the Indus River was inhabited by two tribes, the Assakenoi (Asvakas) and Astakanoi, whom he describes as 'Indian' and occupying the two great cities of Massaga, located in the Swat valley, and Pushkalavati, in modern-day Peshawar.
Alexander traversed the River Guraeus in the contemporary Dir District, engaging with the Gandharian Asvakas, as chronicled in Sanskrit literature. The primary stronghold among the Asvakas, Massaga, characterised as strongly fortified by Quintus Curtius Rufus, became a focal point. Despite an initial standoff which led to Alexander being struck in the leg by an Asvaka arrow, peace terms were negotiated between the Queen of Massaga and Alexander. However, when the defenders had vacated the fort, a fierce battle ensued when Alexander broke the treaty. According to Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE), the Asvakas, including women fighting alongside their husbands, valiantly resisted Alexander's army but were ultimately defeated.
East of Pushkalavati, the sovereign of Taxila, Omphis, formed an alliance with Alexander the Great, motivated by a longstanding animosity towards Porus, who ruled the Gandharian region encompassed by the Chenab and Jhelum River. Omphis, in a gesture of goodwill, presented Alexander with significant gifts, esteemed among the Indian populace, and subsequently accompanied him on the expedition crossing the Indus.
Mauryan Gandhāra (3rd cent. BCE)
During the Mauryan era, Gandhara held a pivotal position as a core territory within the empire, with Taxila serving as the provincial capital of the northwest.
After Alexander's death, Chandragupta Maurya allied with Trigarta king Parvataka to conquer the Nanda Empire. This alliance resulted in the formation of a composite army, comprising Gandharans and Kambojas, as documented in the Mudrarakshasa, and the establishment of the short-lived Mauryan Empire.
The reign of Chandragupta's successor Bindusara witnessed a rebellion among the locals of Taxila, to which Bindusara, according to the Ashokavadana, dispatched his son Ashoka to quell the uprising. Upon entering the city, the populace conveyed that their rebellion was not against Ashoka or Bindusara but rather against oppressive ministers. In Ashoka's subsequent tenure as emperor, he appointed his son as the new governor of Taxila. During this time, Ashoka erected numerous rock edicts in the region in the Kharosthi script and commissioned the construction of a monumental stupa in Pushkalavati, Western Gandhara, the location of which remains undiscovered to date.
According to Taranatha, following the death of Ashoka (died 232 BCE), the north-western half of India seceded from the Maurya Empire, and Virasena emerged as its king. Noteworthy for his diplomatic endeavours, Virasena's successor, Subhagasena (last decades of 3rd century BCE), maintained relations with the Seleucid Greeks. This engagement is corroborated by Polybius, who records an instance where Antiochus III the Great descended into India to renew his ties with King Subhagasena in 206 BCE, subsequently receiving a substantial gift of 150 elephants from the monarch.
Greek kingdoms (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
Greco-Bactrian rule (c. 180 BCE – c. 150 BCE)
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (256 BCE – c. 120 BCE) was a Greek kingdom during the Hellenistic period located in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The kingdom was founded by the Seleucid satrap Diodotus I Soter in about 256 BC, and continued to dominate Central Asia until its fall around 120 BC.