Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c14.2

c14.2

The geographical name Gandhara first occurs in the Rigveda in the form *gandhārīṇām* i.e. of the residents of Gandhara. The Atharvaveda repeats the form *Gandhārī* but the Aitareya and Śatapatha Brāhmaṇas mention it as Gāndhāra, an epithet of Nagnajit, a name mentioned in the list of Śilpa Schools. The name is repeated in the Chhāndogya Upanishad as Gandhāra marking the western point of a route leading up to eastern India. Pāṇini gives its form as Gāndhārī (IV. 1.169). The river Indus divided this wide Janapada into two portions, the eastern Pūrva-Gandhāra, with capital at Taxila in Rawalpindi district and the western Apara Gandhāra, with capital at Pushkalāvatī (Peucelaotes of the Greeks; modern Charsadda) a city on the junction of the Swat with the Kabul river which finally meets the Indus. Cunningham gives the boundaries of Gandhāra as having Laghman (ancient, Lampāka) and Jalalabad (Nagarahāra) to the west, the mountains of Swat and Buner to the north, the Indus to the east and the mountains of Kalabagh to the south. In some places the name Udyāna was applied to Gandhāra but actually the appellation Uḍḍīyāna mentioned in the Jātaka (IV. 352) was applied to the mountainous country between the Swat and the Panjkora rivers. Thus the three river valleys of the Swat, Kabul and the Indus formed the main Gandhāra region. The importance of this region was derived from the ancient route called Uttarapatha which connected Mathura, Śākala, Taxila, Pushkalāvatī, Nagarahāra, Kāpiśī and Bahlīka. There was an ancient route connecting Udbhāṇḍa (Ohinda on the Indus), Shahbajgarhi, Hoti Mardan, and Charsaddha. In the time of Kanishka a new route running from Peshawar direct east up to the Indus was diverted. But all the ancient sites continued to form part of the ancient Gandhāra region. From Pushkalāvatī on the ancient route and Peshawar on the modern the route continued via Jallalabad (anc., Nagarahāra) and the adjacent site of Hadda and thence to Kāpiśī and through the Bamiyan valley and Phondukistan to Hebak and through Bactria to Termez. This was the vast basin for the extension of Gandhāra art in which seven distinct areas may be recognised as follows: 1. Taxila, 2. Pushkalāvatī, 3. Nagarahāra, 4. Swat Valley or Uḍḍīyāna, 5. Kāpiśī, 6. Bamiyan, 7. Bactria. Takshaśilā, also known as Bhadraśilā, now in Rawlpindi district, was the eastern capital of Gandhāra and virtually the biggest centre of art and civilisation. In the Gandhāra school of art of stone sculptures made of schist we had two great sites, viz. Hadda and Taxila. At Taxila there were three main sites, viz. Bhir, Sircap and Sirsukh placed from south to north, and under three successive occupations, viz. ancient Taxila, Greko-Parthian and Kushāṇa times. Taxila was included in the Achaemenian empire of Cyrus, Darius and X erxes, in the 5th century B. C.; then under the Maedonian rule of Alexander and finally ceded by Seleukos to Chandragupta Maurya. After the Mauryas it came successively under the influence of the Greko-Bactrians, Śakas or Scythians, Pahlavas or Parthians and Kushāṇas between third century B. C. to second century A. D. The Bhir mound is placed by Sir John Marshall between 6-7th century B. C. to the time of Alexander. This site was pre-Greek in origin and has produced two hoards of punchmarked coins and a treasure containing two pieces of Alexander the great and one of Philip Aridaeus, showing the head of Alexander with a lion's mask on one side and on the reverse Zeus seated on his throne. Amongst the minor antiquities of the Bhir mound are earthenware vessels of many varieties; small reliefs, stamped medallions and toys of terracottas; stone saucers and dishes; toilet and other articles of bone, ivory and copper; gold and bronze ornaments; iron implements and domestic utensils; beads and gems; coins; and other miscellaneous articles.