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A History of Indian Logic: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Schools c19: Appendix A. The University of Taxila

A History of Indian Logic: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Schools c19

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English

Appendix A. The University of Taxila

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A.

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Takṣaśilā or Taxila was the capital of a province of Gāndhāra and is situated near the river of Sadheri in the Rawalpindi district. The high antiquity of Taxila can be best gathered from the fact that it was famous in the time of Buddha as a University town in India and that Gāndhāra, of which it forms a part, is mentioned in both the Rig-veda and the Atharva-veda, and in the Upanishads and Buddhist literature. In historical times¹ we notice it came under the sway of Cyrus the Great (558—530 B.C.), who is said to have conquered it along with other provinces of Gāndhāra. It is said to have remained in the possession of his successor, Cambyses, who ruled the Persian empire from 530 to 522 B.C. It remained a Persian province for nearly two centuries; and after the downfall of the empire in 331 B.C., it, along with other provinces, came under the sway of Alexander the Great. Herodotus relates that Skylax was first sent by Darius (probably about 510 B.C.) to conduct a fleet of ships from a tributary of the Indus into the Gāndhāra country. Ctesias (415-319 B.C.) resided at the Persian Court for 17 years as physician during the reigns of Darius II and Artaxerxes Memnon, during which time Gāndhāra is said to have remained a Persian province. An interesting relic of Persian influence at Taxila is an inscription in Aramaic character of the fourth or fifth century B.C., which is the only Aramaic record that has yet been found in India.²

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¹ Taxila: Its political history.

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¹ E. J. Rapson's ‘Ancient India.’

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² (ii) Greek régime: Alexander the Great.

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² ‘A Guide to Taxila’ by Sir John Marshall.

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Early in the spring of 326 B.C. Alexander with his army entered into the territories of the king of Taxila, who had already tendered his submission. Later on we find it to be a part of the Magadha Empire under the Mauryas, which is clearly evidenced by the fact that Aśoka was viceroy of Taxila. The territory of Gāndhāra, including Taxila, was again conquered by Euthydemus or Democritus and was subsequently wrested from the family of Greek princes by Eucratides. The inscriptions and coins further show that the family of Eucratides was supplanted by the Śaka satraps in Taxila, but the princes continued to hold the Kabul valley until the last vestiges of their rule, which had survived the attacks of the Śakas, were swept away by the Kushans.

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There is a copper-plate inscription of the satrap of Taxila, Pātilā by name, which records the deposit of the relics of Buddha and a donation made in the 78th year of some (Parthian ?) era (probably corresponding to 93 B.C.) during the reign of king Mogo or Manes. There has been discovered a column-inscription of one Heliodorus, a Greek native of Taxila and a Vaishnava convert which runs as follows:--

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"This Garuda-column of Vāsudeva (Vishnu) the god of gods, was erected here by Heliodorus, a worshipper of Vishnu, the son of Dion, and an inhabitant of Taxila, who came as Greek Ambassador from the great king Antialcidas to king Kaśiputra Bhāgabhadra, the Saviour, then reigning, prosperously in the fourteenth year of his kingship."

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B.

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"Three immortal precepts (footsteps)....when practised lead to heaven—self restraint, charity, conscientiousness." ¹

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¹ Sir John Marshal, K.C.I.E., in the journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1909, p. 1053.

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Taxila was one of the great cities of the East, and was famous as the principal seat of Hindu learning in Northern India, to which scholars of all classes flocked for instruction, especially in medical science.² In the *Mahāvagga* VIII. 3 (Dr. Oldenberg's ed.), we find Jīvaka, who was a physician to Buddha, was educated in surgery and medicine at Taxila. Ample references have been met with in the Jātakas that people received education in lieu for school-fees or service rendered to their teachers. Jīvaka, the physician of Buddha is said to have received education by rendering service to the physicians at Taxila ³ Generally the three Vedas and eighteen Vidyās or sippas were taught there.

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² Vide Archæological discoveries at Taxila by Sir John Marshall.

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³ Vide my Buddha-deva, pp. 160—170 and 220—223, also Jātakas, Vol. I, p. 259, Vol. V, pp. 161, 210, 457.

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Philostratus in his life of Apollonius of Tyana gives an account of that philosopher's visit to India. The account tells us that the philosopher had a Babylonian guide, named Damis; that Phrontes, king of Taxila, spoke in Greek and that up to 12 years of age he was educated in the Greek fashion and was sent afterwards to the Brahmins. Also that Taxila was about the size of Nineveh and walled like a Greek city and was the residence of a sovereign, who ruled over what of old was the kingdom of Porus. From Taxila to the hill of Saphoi the villagers also spoke Greek. That the people living in Saphoi knew the Pythagorean philosophy. We also learn from the narrative that the Greek and the Indian philosophers were mutually acquainted with each other’s systems, and held each other in high honour. The Brahmins specially loved the Greeks and looked upon them as akin to themselves in mind and disposition. There was inter-communication between India, Babylon, and Egypt. Apollonius’s journey shows that overland journeys from Babylon to India was constantly made by travellers. That the Babylonians were in the habit of making this journey regularly, is clearly indicated by the fact that Philostratus engaged the services of a Babylonian guide. That the Indian king showed much courtesy to the travellers and that such visits were frequently made, is clearly proved by the fact that travelling allowances paid to the guides formed a recognised and well-known item of expenditure of the frontier sovereign.

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Arrian, Strabo, Ptolemy, Dionysius, Pliny, Fa-Hien and Hieun-Tsang all have spoken of this place. Hieun-Tsang, who visited Taxila in the 7th century A.D. says that the royal family was extinct; that formerly it was in subjection to Kapisa and latterly was a tributary to Kashmir, and that the nobles contended for power by force. After the 9th century we hear no more of Taxila.¹

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¹ Beal’s ‘Buddhist records of the Western World’; ‘Early History of India’ by V. A Smith; Buddha-deva by Satis Chandra Vidyabhusan; Arrian, etc., Jātaka; Archæological Survey; B. C. Law’s, ‘Taxila,’ volume 12, No. I, etc.

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