Geography of Early Buddhism c8.28

c8.28

Takkasilā (Sans. Takshasilā) was the capital city of the Gandhāra kingdom, and according to the Jātakas (Telapatta Jātaka, No. 96; Susīma Jātaka, No. 163) it lay 2,000 leagues from Benares as already pointed out. In Pāli literature Takkasilā has been frequently mentioned as a great seat of learning in Ancient India. In the Vinaya Piṭaka (Mahāvagga, pp. 269-270) it is stated that Jivaka, the royal physician received his education in medicine and surgery there. In the Jātakas (I, p. 259; V, pp. 161, 210, 457) we are told that princes from various kingdoms went to Taxila for education. In one of the Jātakas (Jāt., I, p. 447) it is stated that a young man of the Lāḷa country went to Taxila for education. In another Jātaka (Jāt., II, p. 277) a very beautiful picture of the student life of those days has been drawn. From the Cittasambhūta Jātaka (Jāt., IV, p. 391) we learn that education was eligible for upper classes alone, the brāhmaṇas and khattiyas. Of the subjects taught, the first three Vedas and eighteen Vijjās are mentioned. Some of the Vijjās taught at Taxila are also mentioned in the Jātakas, e.g., the art of archery (Jāt., I, p. 356), the art of swordsmanship and the various arts (Jāt., V, p. 128.) The Susima Jātaka (Jāt., II, p. 47) tells us that Bodhisatta, the son of a priest who was a Hatthimangalakāraka to the King of Benares, travelled a distance of 20,000 yojanas and went to Takkasilā to learn Hatthisuttam. References to Ālambanamantam (mantam for charming snakes) and Nidhiuddharanamantam as taught in Taxila are made in the Campeyya Jātaka (Jāt., IV, p. 457) and the Vrahāchatta Jātaka (Jāt., III, p. 116) respectively.