Taxila (Punjabi: ٹيکسلا, romanized: Ṭeksilā; Urdu: تکشیلا, romanized: Takshila ), historically known as Takshashila [Takṣaśilā (तक्षशिला)—The capital of Takṣa.], is a city and a World Heritage Site in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab, of Modern-day Pakistan. Founded around c. 1000 BC in ancient India, it is one of the oldest cities in Asia and has a population of over 136,900 as of 2023.
Situated on the eastern bank of the Indus River — the pivotal junction of the South Asia and Central Asia — it was possibly founded around 1000 BCE. Ancient Taxila, along with Puṣkalāvatī, was one of the capitals of the Gandhāra civilisation. Tradition has it that the legendary Indian grammarian Pāṇini (7th-6th cent BCE) was a student there, as was Cāṇakya (c. 3rd cent BCE) the well-known exponent of statecraft. Jīvaka (5th BCE) one of the most renowned physicians in ancient India, is also said to have learnt medicine at Taxila. Mauryans took over the city in the following decades, and as per Buddhist texts, Ashoka was the governor at Taxila before becoming king. Some scholars consider the conventionally called University of ancient Taxila to be one of the earliest universities or education centres in Asia.
In the following centuries, the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and the Kushans successively made Taxila their capital and left architectural marks here. The invading Hunas devastated Taxila in the 5th century, and during his pilgrimage, the 7th-century Chinese monk Xuanzang described it as a city in decline, eventually fading into obscurity. In the mid-19th century, ruins of ancient Taxila were rediscovered by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham and extensively excavated by Sir John Marshall. In 1980, UNESCO designated Taxila as a World Heritage Site.
Taxila is located within the Taxila Tehsil, on the Pothohar Plateau of northern Punjab, and lies approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the Haripur District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is one of Punjab's popular tourist spots, attracting up to one million tourists every year.
Etymology
Taxila was known as Takṣaśilā in Sanskrit (per IAST) and as Takkhasilā in Prakrit and Pali. The Sanskrit name of the city translates to the "Son of Taksha" or "Son of Bharat". According to the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, the city was founded by Bharata, the younger brother of the Hindu deity Rama, and named in honour of his son, Taksha.
The city's modern name, however, is derived from the ancient Greek rendering noted in Ptolemy's Geography. The Greek-language transcription of Taxila became universally favoured over time.
Faxian, a 4th-century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who travelled to the city via the Silk Road, had given its meaning as "cut-off head". Based on a Jataka, he interpreted it to be the place where Gautama Buddha — during a previous birth as Pusa or Chandaprabha — cut off his head to feed a hungry lion. This tradition still persists in the name of Sirkap (also meaning "cut-off head"), which was known in the 19th century as Baburkhana ('House of Tiger'), alluding to the place where Gautama Buddha had offered his head. In addition, a hill range to south of the Taxila Valley is called Margala (lit. 'cut-off throat').
History
Early settlement
The region around Taxila was settled by the Neolithic era, with some ruins at Taxila dating to 1000 BCE. Ruins dating from the Early Harappan period around 1300 BCE have also been discovered in the Taxila area, though the area was eventually abandoned after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
The earliest settled occupation in Taxila Valley was found at Sarai Khola, located 2 km to the south-west of Taxila Museum, where three radiocarbon dates from Period I suggest the site was first occupied between the late 4th and early 3rd millennium BCE, with deposits of polished stone celts, chert blades and a distinctive type of highly burnished pottery that shows clear signs of the use of woven baskets in the manufacturing process and the application of a slurry to the exterior surface.
Periods IA and II at Sarai Khola seem to show continuity from Period I, with the appearance of red burnished wares. However, Kot Diji-style wares were found in greater numbers, and the Kot Diji-style forms show signs of having been wheel-thrown, marking a clear technological change from the Period I material. Seven radiocarbon dates were also taken from the earlier and later Period II/Kot Diji, and seem to show this phase dates from the mid-late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BCE.
Gandhāra kingdom
Gandhara was an ancient Vedic Kingdom of northwestern South Asia during the Iron Age. The capital of the kingdom was Taxila. The first major settlement at Taxila, in Hathial mound, was established around 1000 BCE. By 900 BCE, the city was already involved in regional commerce, as the discovered pottery shards reveal trading ties between the city and Puṣkalāvatī.
The Brahmanas (written 8th–6th centuries BCE) preserve the name of king Nagnajit of Gandhara, and later Buddhist sources mention king Pukkusāti during the times of Buddha. Later, Taxila was inhabited at Bhir Mound, dated to some time around the period 800–525 BCE with these early layers bearing grooved red burnished ware.
Achaemenid Empire
Archaeological excavations show that the city may have grown significantly by the time of the invasion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE. In 516 BCE, Darius I embarked on a campaign to conquer Central Asia, Ariana and Bactria, before marching onto what is now Afghanistan and northern Pakistan; according to Herodotus, he appointed Scylax of Caryanda to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to the Suez.
Taxila was sometimes ruled as a part of the Gandhāra kingdom (whose capital was Puṣkalāvatī), particularly after the Achaemenid period, but on other occasions formed its own independent district or city-state.
Hellenistic period
During his invasion of the Indus Valley, Alexander the Great was able to gain control of Taxila (Ancient Greek: Τάξιλα) in 326 BCE, as its ruler, king Taxiles (Āmbhi), surrendered without a battle. Greek historians accompanying Alexander described Taxila as "wealthy, prosperous, and well governed". Arrian writes that Alexander was welcomed by the citizens of the city, and he offered sacrifices and celebrated a gymnastic and equestrian contest there.
Alexander maintained Taxiles on his position as satrap. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, the subsequent partitions of Babylon and of Triparadisus also recognised Taxiles as the ruler of his realm; subsequently the province is believed to have passed to his general Seleucus I Nicator, the founder of the successor Seleucid Empire, along with much of the once Achaemenid territories.
Mauryan Empire
Within a decade of departure of Alexander, the provincial capital of Taxila was captured by Chandragupta Maurya; following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the Seleucid satrapies in South Asia were formally annexed by his expanding Mauryan Empire. His advisor, Chanakya, was said to have hailed from Taxila by the Buddhist texts. During the reign of Ashoka, Chandragupta's grandson, the city became a great seat of Buddhist learning. His Aramaic inscription has been discovered from Taxila.
Taxila was located in a strategic location along the ancient Grand Trunk Road that connected the Mauryan capital at Pataliputra in Bihar, with Puruṣapura, Puṣkalāvatī, and onwards towards Central Asia via Kashmir, Bactria, and Kāpiśa.
Later kingdoms
In the 2nd century BCE, Taxila was annexed by the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. The Indo-Greeks built a new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila. During this period, several dynasties (such as the one founded by Antialcidas) likely ruled from the city as their capital. During lulls in Greek rule, the city managed profitably on its own, to independently control several local trade guilds, who also minted most of the city's autonomous coinage. The last Greek king of Taxila was overthrown by the Indo-Scythian chief Maues around 90 BCE. In about the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE, an Indo-Scythian king named Azilises had three mints, one of which was at Taxila, and struck coins with obverse legends in Greek and Kharoṣṭhī.
Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, conquered Taxila around 20 BCE, and made Taxila his capital. According to early Christian legend, Thomas the Apostle visited Gondophares IV around 46 CE, possibly at Taxila given that city was Gondophares' capital. Around the year 50 CE, the Greek Neopythagorean philosopher Apollonius of Tyana allegedly visited Taxila, under the rule of 'Phraotes', which was described by his biographer, Philostratus, writing some 200 years later, as a fortified city laid out on a symmetrical plan, similar in size to Nineveh. Modern archaeology confirms this description.
Kushan Empire
Inscriptions dating to 76 CE demonstrate that the city had come under Kushan rule by that time, after being captured from the Parthians by Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire. The great Kushan ruler Kanishka later founded Sirsukh, the most recent of the ancient settlements at Taxila. The city became well known for its trade links, including silk, sandalwood, horses, cotton, silverware, pearls, and spices. It is during this time that the city heavily features in classical Sanskrit literature – both as a centre of culture as well as a militarised border city.
Later empires
In the mid-fourth century CE, the Gupta Empire is believed to have political influence in the eastern Gandhara, including Taxila. A large number of Sasanian coins have been discovered from Taxila as well, indicating some sort of Sasanian control.
Taxila's university remained in existence during the travels of Chinese pilgrim Faxian, who visited it around 400 CE. He wrote that Taxila's name translated as "the Severed Head", and was the site of a story in the life of Buddha "where he gave his head to a man".
Hunnic invasions and decline
The Kidarites, vassals of the Hephthalite Empire are known to have invaded Taxila in c. 450 CE. Though repelled by the Gupta emperor Skandagupta, the city would not recover, probably on account of the strong Hunnic presence in the area, breakdown of trade as well as the three-way war among Persia, the Kidarites, and the Huns in western Gandhāra.
The White Huns and Alchon Huns swept over Gandhāra and Punjab around 470 CE, causing widespread devastation and destruction of Taxila's famous Buddhist monasteries and stupas, a blow from which the city would never recover. From 500 CE to 540 CE, the city languished after falling under the control of the Hunns ruled by Mihirakula. Mihirakula presided over some destruction of Buddhist sites, monasteries and Hindu temples across northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
Xuanzang visited India between 629 and 645 CE. Taxila which was desolate and half-ruined was visited by him in 630 CE, and he found most of its sangharamas still ruined and desolate. Only a few monks remained there. He adds that the kingdom had become a dependency of Kashmir with the local leaders fighting amongst themselves for power. He also noted that it had some time previously been a subject of Kapisa. Later Islamic geographers, such as al-Biruni, name a region known as Takeshar, which has been identified with the general location of Taxila; it remained under the Odi Shahi dynasty until it was conquered by the Ghaznavids.
The Arab historian al-Biladhuri preserves the name of a kingdom called al-Usaifan which was located between Kashmir, Multan and Kabul. During the reign of caliph al-Mu'tasim its king is said to have converted to Islam and abandoned his old faith due to the death of his son, despite having priests of a temple pray for his recovery; al-Usaifan is identified with the kingdom of Taxila by some authors.
Archaeology
The main ruins of Taxila include four major cities, each belonging to a distinct time period, at three different sites. The earliest settlement at Taxila is found in the Hathial section, which yielded pottery shards that date from as early as the late 2nd millennium BCE to the 6th century BCE. The Bhir Mound ruins at the site date from the 6th century BCE, and are adjacent to Hathial. The ruins of Sirkap date to the 2nd century BCE, and were built by the Greco-Bactrian kings who ruled in the region following Alexander's invasion in 326 BCE. The third and most recent settlement is that of Sirsukh, which was built by rulers of the Kushan empire, who ruled from nearby Purushapura (modern Peshawar).
The sites of a number of important cities noted in ancient Indian texts were identified by scholars early in the 19th century. The lost city of Taxila, however, was not identified until later, in 1863–64. Its identification was made difficult partly due to errors in the distances recorded by Pliny in his Naturalis Historia which pointed to a location somewhere on the Haro river, two days march from the Indus. Alexander Cunningham, the founder and the first director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India, noticed that this position did not agree with the descriptions provided in the itineraries of Chinese pilgrims and in particular, that of Xuanzang, the 7th-century Buddhist monk. Unlike Pliny, these sources noted that the journey to Taxila from the Indus took three days and not two. Cunningham's subsequent explorations in 1863–64 of a site at Shah-dheri convinced him that his hypothesis was correct.