The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s12.7

Language: English

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Takshasilâ—Taxila, in the district of Rawalpindi in the Panjab. General Cunningham places the site of the city near Shahdheri, one mile north-east of Kâlâ-kâ-serai between Attock and Rawalpindi, where he found the ruins of a fortified city (see Delmerick’s Notes on Archæological Remains at Shah-ki-Dheri and the Site of Taxila in JASB., 1870, p. 89; Arch. S. Rep., vol. II, p. 125). St. Martin places it at Hasan Abdul, eight miles north-west of Shah-dheri. Takshaśilâ is said to have been founded by Bharata, brother of Râmachandra, after the name of his son Taksha, who was placed here as king (Râmâyaṇa, Uttara, chs. 114, 201). In the Divyâvadâna (Dr. R. Mitra’s Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal, p. 310), however, it is mentioned that Buddha in a former birth was king of Bhadraśilâ and was known by the name of Candraprabhā, he allowed himself to be decapitated by a Brahmin beggar, and since then the town is called Takshaśilā (The Kathāsaritsāgara (bk.

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VI, ch 27, and Tawney's trans., vol I, p 235) placed it on the bank of the Vitastā (Jhelum) Omphi (Ambhi), king of Taxila, submitted to Alexander when he invaded it Asoka resided at Takshaśilā when he was viceroy of the Panjab during the lifetime of his father (Asoka avadana, in Dr R L Mitra's Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal, pp 6 f) Asoka's elder brother Sumana was the viceroy of this place when Bindusāra died Lost his life in a battle with Asoka, and the latter became king of Magadha It was at one time the capital of Gandhāra (Vāhīka Jātaka in Dr Rhys Davids' Buddhist Birth stories, vol I, p 266, Sarambha Jātaka in Jāt, Cam. Ed., vol.

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I, p 217) and a celebrated place of Buddhist pilgrimage Takshaśilā contained the celebrated university of Northern India (Rājovāda-Jātaka) up to the first century A D like Balabhi of Western, Nālandā of Eastern, Kāñchīpura of Southern and Dhanakaṭaka of Central India It was at Takshaśilā that Pāṇini the celebrated grammarian, (Dr Satis Chandra Vidyabhushana's Buddhadera, p 220, Havell's Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India, p 140), and Jīvaka, the celebrated physician in the court of Bimbisāra (Mahāvagga, VIII, 1, 7), received their education Jīvaka was the son of Abhayā by a prostitute named Sālavatī and grandson of Bimbisāra, king of Magadha While yet an infant, he left Rājagṛiha to study the art of medicine at Takshaśilā, where he was taught by Ātreya Most probably Chāṇakya was also educated here (Turnour's Mahāvamsa, Intro and Hemachandra's Sthavirāvalīcharita, VIII, p 231, Jacobi's ed) The teachers charged as fees one thousand pieces of money from each pupil after completing his education (Jātaka, Cam Ed., I, pp 137, 115) The Vedas, all the arts and sciences including archery were taught in the university, and people from very distant parts of India came here (Ibid, V, p 216, II, p 60) Takshaśilā and Benares (Ibid IV p 149) only possessed Brahmanical universities (for the other universities see Nālandā) The ruins of this famous city are situated at a distance of 20 miles to the north west of Rawalpindi and two miles from Kālā kī Serai railway station The site of this city is now occupied by the villages Shā dheri, Sirkap, Sir sukh and Kachhakot (Arch Surv Rep, vol V, p 60, II, pp 112, 125, Panjab Gazetteer Rawalpindi district, Ep Ind, vol IV) Sirkap is the place where Buddha in a former birth cut off his head (Beal's RWC, vol I, p 138) One and a half miles to the east of Sirkap at a village called Karmāl are the ruins of a stūpa where the eyes of Kuṇāla, Asoka's son by his queen Padmāvatī, were destroyed by the machination of his step mother Tishyarakshitā (Kuṇālāvadāna in Avadāna Kalpalatā, ch 59, Divyāvadāna, ch XXVII) Karmāl is a corruption of Kuṇāla At Hasan Abdal, which is 8 miles to the west of Kālā kī Serai at the foot of a hill, is the tank of Elāpatra Nāga, now called the tank of Bābā Walī or Pañjā Sāhib, surrounded by temples (Cunningham's Arch S Rep, II, p 135) Four miles from Sirkap are the ruins of a large building in the form of a quadrangle, surrounded by cells marking the spot on which stood the famous university of Takshaśilā, where Jīvaka studied the science of medicine The Manikyāla stupas are situated at a distance of 14 miles to the south of Rawalpindi In the first century B C, Takshaśilā became the capital of the Kushans after their expulsion from Baktria (see Sākadvīpa) Sir John Marshall has discovered an Aramaic inscription carved on a marble column at Taxila Perhaps the inscription is an evidence of Persian rule on the borders of India under Darius, whose general Scylax made some conquest in 510 B C as recorded by Herodotus, or 515 B C according to others (Duncker's Hist of Antiquity, p 39), that is 30 years after Buddha's death Taxila was conquered by Alexander 326 B C, four years later it became part of the Magadha empire under Chandragupta In 190 B C after the death of.

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Aśoka, it was conquered by Demetrius and brought under the sway of the Bactrian kings, and it became the capital of a line of Greek princes. Then the Śaka and Palhava kings Maues, Azes, etc., reigned here till about 60 A.D. They were succeeded by the Kushan emperors. The Bir Mound was the oldest settlement, then Sir-kap became the capital of the Greek princes and the Śaka and Palhava kings, and at the time of the Kushans the capital was removed to Sir-Sukh (*Arch. Sur. Rep.*, 1912-13):