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 Taxila
is an archaeological
site, located in the
Punjab province of
Pakistan , about 15
miles west of the
Islamabad Capital
Territory and
Rawalpindi , on the
border of the Punjab
and North West
Frontier Province
and just off the
Grand Trunk Road.
Its coordinates are
33.76° N 72.84° E.
Taxila is a very
ancient city once
has the best
unversities of the
world where the
great Sanskrit
Professor Panini
wrote the grammer of
sanskrit and
established the
roots of
linguistics. Taxila
is still a very
famous city has a
very sophisticated
Engineering
University and many
state of the art
technical
installations high
tech equpments like
Al-Khaled Tanks are
manufactured and is
one the centre of
Islambad/Rawapindi
and Wah. A slightly
moderate climate
than Islamabad. It
is still famous of
its handicrafts as
it used to be about
two thousand years
ago.
Taxila (then called
taksh-shila) was an
ancient Hindu and
Buddhist seat of
learning, connected
across the Khunjerab
pass to the Silk
Road , attracting
students from all
over the world.
Ancient Takshashila
was renowned all
over the Buddhist
world as home to the
world's first
university (
Takshashila
University ). It
flourished during
the first-fifth
centuries AD (see
Gandhara). Located
at the junction of
three major trade
routes, it was of
considerable
economic and
strategic
importance.
Darius I added
Taxila to the
Achaemid empire (c.
518 BC).
Alexander the Great
conquered Taxila in
326 BC and
garrisoned the town
with Macedonians,
but Greek rule ended
again in 317 BC.
The Punjab then came
under the rule of
Chandragupta Maurya
and his successors,
including his
grandson Asoka.
Soon after Asoka's
death, Taxila was
conquered by the
Bactrian Greeks who
established a Greek
city at the nearby
site of Sirkap, and
ruled it until about
90 BC.
Next came the
Scythians (c. 90
B.C.), the Parthians
(c. 19 AD) and the
Kushans (c. 78 AD)
whose empire was
eventually crushed
by the White Huns
(c. 460).
The British
archaeologist Sir
John Marshall
conducted
excavations over a
period of twenty
years in Taxila (see
Sir John Marshall, A
Guide to Taxila,
Department of
Archaeology in
Pakistan , Sani
Communications,
Karachi , 1960).
Taxila has been
listed by the UNESCO
as one of the World
Heritage Sites. |
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