Gandhara

Gandhara (IAST: Gandhāra) was an ancient Indo-Aryan civilisation in present-day northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar and Swat valleys, extending up to Kabul and Bagram in the west and the Pothohar Plateau in the east. However, the cultural influence of Greater Gandhara extended as far as the Bamyan valley in the west and the Karakoram range in the northeast. The region was a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central and East Asia, with many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims visiting the region.

Between the third century BCE and third century CE, Gāndhārī, a Middle Indo-Aryan language written in the Kharosthi script and linked with the modern Dardic language family, acted as the lingua franca of the region, and through Buddhism, the language spread as far as China based on Gandhāran Buddhist texts. Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art, the region attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire, which had their twin capitals at Kapiśi and Puruṣapura, ushering the period known as Pax Kushana.

The history of Gandhara originates with the archaeological Gandhara grave culture, characterised by a distinctive burial practice, and Gandhara's mentions in the Vedic period literature. According to post-Vedic legends of the Mahabharata, Gandhara played a role in the Kurukshetra War. By the 6th century BCE Gandhara gained recognition as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas within South Asia. King Pukkusāti governed the region either before or after its conquest in the late 6th century BCE by the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. During its invasion by Alexander the Great in 327–326 BCE, the region was split into two factions with Taxiles, the king of Taxila, allying with Alexander, while the Western Gandharan tribes, exemplified by the Aśvaka around the Swat valley, resisted.

Following the disintegration of Alexander's Macedonian Empire, Gandhara became part of the Maurya Empire. The founder of the dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya, according to legends about his youth had received an education in Taxila under Chanakya and later assumed control with his support. Subsequently, Gandhara was successively annexed by the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Scythians, and Indo-Parthians though a regional Gandharan kingdom, known as the Apracharajas, retained governance during this period until the ascent of the Kushan Empire. The zenith of Gandhara's cultural and political influence transpired during Kushan rule, later it flourished under Gupta Empire before succumbing to devastation during the Hunnic Invasions. However, the region experienced a resurgence under the Turk Shahis and Hindu Shahis.

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. This origin is also supported by the word Gandhara meaning “fragrance bringer” in the Pashayi language. A Persian form of the name, Gandara, 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.

The geographical location of Gandhara has undergone much alteration throughout history, with the general understanding being the region situating between Pothohar in contemporary Punjab, the Swat valley, and the Khyber Pass also extending along the Kabul River. The prominent urban centres within this geographical scope were Taxila and Pushkalavati. According to a specific Jataka, Gandhara's territorial extent at a certain period encompassed the region of Kashmir. The Eastern border of Gandhara has been proposed to be the Jhelum River based on arachaeological Gandharan art discoveries however further evidence is needed to support this, though during the rule of Alexander the Great the kingdom of Taxila stretched to the Hydaspes (Jhelum river).

The term Greater Gandhara describes the cultural and linguistic extent of Gandhara and its language, Gandhari. In later historical contexts, Greater Gandhara encompassed the territories of Jibin and Oddiyana which had splintered from Gandhara proper and also extended 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. However during the 5th and 6th centuries CE, Jibin was often considered synonymous with Gandhara.