Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.229

c6.229

Gandhāra.—Gandhāra,¹ which is one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas mentioned in the Pali Texts (Aṅg., I, p. 213, Ibid., IV, 252, 256, and 260), is also mentioned in Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (4. 1. 169) and in the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa Inscription of Virapuruṣadatta. The Matsyapurāṇa (114. 41) and the Vāyupurāṇa (45. 116) refer to it. It included Rawalpindi and Peshawar districts. It is mentioned in the list of countries given in the Behistun Inscription of Darius I (522-486 B.C.). It is also referred to in the big Susā palace inscription of Darius. The people of Gadāra (Gandhāra) appear to be one of the subject peoples of the Persian empire (Ancient Persian Lexicon and the Texts of Achaemenian Inscriptions, by H. C. Tomen, Vanderbilt Oriental Series, Vol. VI). The Gandhāras, who were an ancient people known to the Rgvedic times (Rgv., I, 126. 7), are mentioned in Aśoka’s Edict V as the inhabitants of Gandhāra, which is equivalent to the North-West Punjab and adjoining regions. Thus it lay on both sides of the Indus (Raychaudhuri, P.H.A.I., 4th edition, p. 50; Rāmāyaṇa, VII, 113, 11; 114, 11). Hiuen Tsang found the country of Gandhāra to be above 1,000 li from east to west and above 800 li north to south. The country, according to him, had luxuriant crops of cereals and a profusion of fruits and flowers; it produced much sugarcane and prepared sugar-candy. The climate was warm. The people were faint-hearted and fond of the practical arts (Watters, On Yuan Chwang, I, 198-99). There were above 1,000 Buddhist monasteries in this country, but they were utterly dilapidated. Many topes were in ruins. There were more than 100 Deva temples and the various sects lived pell-mell (Ibid., I, 202). The most ancient capital of Gandhāra was Puṣkarāvatī, which is said to have been founded by Puṣkara, son of Bharata and nephew of Rāma (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Wilson’s ed., Vol. IV, Ch. 4). The early capital cities of Gandhāra were Puṣkarāvatī or Puṣkalāvatī and Takṣaśilā, the former being situated to the west and the latter to the east of the Indus. Some hold that the kingdom of Gandhāra included Kaśmīra and Takṣaśilā region (Raychaudhuri, P.H.A.I., 4th Ed., p. 124), but this is not corroborated by the evidence of the Jātaka (Vide Jāt., III, 365). It comprises the districts of Peshawar and Rawalpindi in the northern Punjab (Mahāv., Geiger’s tr. p. 82, n. 2). Vasubandhu, the famous author of the Abhidharmakośaśāstra, was a native of Puṣkarāvatī, which was about 14 or 15 li in circuit and was well peopled, according to Hiuen Tsang (Watters, On Yuan Chwang, I, 214). For further details see B. C. Law, Tribes in Ancient India, pp. 9ff.; Geography of Early Buddhism, pp. 49-50; Indological Studies, Pt. I, pp. 10ff.