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Gandhāra (Sanskrit: गन्धार Urdu: گندھارا Gandḥārā; literally meaning "perfumed"; also known as Waihind in Persian)^[1] is the name of an ancient kingdom (Mahajanapada), in what is now northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau (see Taxila) and on the northern side of the Kabul River. Its main cities were Purushapura (modern Peshawar), literally meaning City of Men (from Sanskrit Purush=Male and Pur=City) and Takshashila (modern Taxila).^[2]

The Kingdom of Gandhara lasted from the 6th century BCE to the 11th century. It attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century under Buddhist Kushan Kings. After it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1021 A.D, the name Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period the area was administered from Lahore or from Kabul. During Mughal time the area was part of Kabul province.

Geography

The Gandharas were settled since the Vedic times on the banks of Kabul River (river Kubha or Kabol) up to its mouth into Indus. The region is known as Peshawar Valley. Later the Gandharas crossed the Indus and included parts of north-west Punjab of Pakistan. Gandhara was located on the grand northern high road (Uttarapatha) and was a centre of international commercial activities. It was an important channel of communication with ancient Iran and Central Asia.

The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history. Sometimes the Peshawar valley and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara. The Swat valley was also sometimes included. However, the heart of Gandhara was always the Peshawar valley. The kingdom was ruled from capitals at Pushkalavati (Charsadda), Taxila, Purushapura (Peshawar) and in its final days from Udabhandapura (Hund) on the Indus.

Ancient Gandhara

Prehistoric Period

Evidence of Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools and burnt bones, was discovered at Sanghao near Mardan in area caves. The artifacts are approximately 15,000 years old.

The region shows an influx of southern Central Asian culture in the Bronze Age with the Gandhara grave culture showing a continuum between the early neolithic culture of the region with close ties and relations with the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. This culture* survived till 600 BCE. Its evidence has been discovered in the Hilly regions of Swat and Dir, and even at Taxila.(Malayo,Melanesian,Wabanaki,Nahuatl-www.nipcinfo.gov/ )

The name of the Gandharis is attested from the Rigveda (RV 1.120.1) and in ancient inscriptions dating back to Achaemenian Persia. The Behistan inscription listing the 23 territories of King Darius 1 (552-46 BCE) includes Gandharis along with Bactria and Sattagudi. In the book of "Historica" by Heroditus, Gandhara is named as a source of tax collections for King Darius 1. The Gandharis, along with the Mujavantas, Angas, and the Magadhas, also are mentioned in the Atharvaveda (AV 5.22.14), but apparently as a despised people. Gandharas are included in the *Uttarapatha division of Puranic and Buddhistic traditions. Aitareya Brahmana refers to king Naganajit of Gandhara who was contemporary of *Janaka, king of Videha.

Gandharas and their king figure prominently as strong allies of the Kurus against the Pandavas in Mahabharata war. The Gandharas were a furious people, well trained in the art of war. According to Puranic traditions, this Janapada was founded by Gandhara, son of Aruddha, a descendant of Yayati. The princes of this country are said to have come from the line of Druhyu who was a famous king of Rigvedic period. The river Indus watered the lands of Gandhara. According to Vayu Purana (II.36.107), the Gandharas were destroyed by Pramiti aka Kalika, at the end of Kalyuga.



The Gandhara kingdom sometimes also included Kashmir (in India) a (Jataka No 406). Hecataeus of Miletus (549-468) refers to Kaspapyros (Kasyapura i.e. Kashmira) as Gandaric city. According to Gandhara Jataka, at one time, Gandhara formed a part of the kingdom of Kashmir(in India). Jataka also gives another name Chandahara for Gandhara. Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya refer to sixteen great nations (solas Mahajanapadas) which flourished in Indian sub-continent during Buddha's time, only two of which viz. the Gandhara and the Kamboja were located in the Uttarapatha or the north-western division.

Gandhāra is also thought to be the location of the mystical Lake Dhanakosha, birthplace of Padmasambhava, founder of Tibetan Buddhism. The bKa' brgyud (Kagyu) sect of Tibetan Buddhism identifies the lake with Andan Dheri stupa, located near the tiny village of Uchh near Chakdara in the lower Swat Valley. A spring was said to flow from the base of the stupa to form the lake. Archaeologists have found the stupa but no spring or lake can be identified.

The primary cities of Gandhara were Purushpura (now Peshawar), Takshashila (Prakrit Taxila) and Pushkalavati. Last two cities are said to have been named after Taksa and Pushkara, the two sons of Bharata, a prince of Ayodhya.

Pushkalavati and Prayag

Pushkalavati remained the capital of Gandhara from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when the capital moved to Peshawar. An important Buddhist shrine kept the city as a centre of pilgrimage until 7th century . Pushkalavati had some significance for earlier Aryans. This city in Peshawar Valley is situated at the confluence of Swat and Kabul rivers. Three different branches of the River Kabul meet there. That specific place is still called Prang and considered sacred. The local people still bring their dead for burial. Aryans found similar geographical characteristics at the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna and founded a sacred city by the name of Prayag near Benares. This is one of the ancient pilgrim centres of India.

Taxila

Main article: Taxila

The Gandharan city of Taxila was an important Hindu^[3] and Buddhist^[4] centre of learning from the 5th century BC^[5] to the 2nd century.

Persian rule

Cyrus the Great (558-530 BC) built first universal empire of the world stretching from Greece to the Indus River. Both Gandhara and Kamboja soon fell a prey to the Achaemenian Dynasty of Persia during the reign of Cyrus the Great or in the first year of Darius I. The Gandhara and Kamboja had constituted the seventh satrapys (upper Indus) of the Achaemenid Empire.

When Achamenian took control of this kingdom, Pushkara-sakti a contemporary of king Bimbisara of Magadha was the king of Gandhara. He was in power struggle against kingdoms of Avanti and Pandavas.

The inscription on Darius' (521-486 BC) tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam near Persepolis recorded GADARA (Gandhara) along with HINDUSH (West Punjab) in the list of satrapies. The Greek historian Herodotus (490-420 ? BC) in his book The Histories gave list of twenty provinces of Persian Empire. He reported Gandhara as Paktuike (3:93) and in another passage identified this territory with Peshawar Valley (4:44). The word Paktuike is interesting since present inhabitants of Gandhara are known as Pakhtun.

Under Persian rule system of centralized administration and bureaucratic system introduced to the region. Influenced by the Persians and access to Western Asians civilization, the great scholars such as Panini and Kautilya born in this cosmopolitan environment. Kharosti alphabet derived from Aramaic (official language of Achaemenians) alphabet developed here and remained national script of Gandhara until third century.

By about 380 BC Persian hold weakened. Many small kingdoms sprang in Gandhara. Around 327 BC Alexander the Great invaded Gandhara and Indian Satrapies of Persian Empire. His stay in this area was merely less than a year. This did not have any immediate administrative or cultural effect. The expeditions of Alexander were recorded by Arrian (around 175) in Anabasis and other chroniclers many centuries after the event. The names of places and personalities described in these chronicles are difficult to identify.

The companions of Alexander the Great did not record the names of Kamboja and Gandhara and rather, located a dozen small political units in their territories. Alexander conquered most of these political units of the former Gandhara and Kamboja Mahajanapadas.

According to Greek chroniclers, at the time of Alexander's invasion, hyparchs Kubhesha, Hastin (Astes) and Ambhi (Omphes) were ruling lower Kabul valley, Puskalavati (modern Charasadda) and Taxila respectively, while Ashvajit (chief of Aspasios or Ashvayanas) and Assakenos (chief of Assakenois or Ashvakayanas) (both being sub-units of the Kambojas) were ruling upper Kabul valley and Mazaga (Mashkavati) respectively.

Gandhara under the Mauryas

Chandragupta, the founder of Mauryan dynasty was living in Taxila when Alexander captured this city. Here he met Kautilya, who remained his chief adviser throughout his career. Gandhara was won back from the Greeks by Chandragupta Maurya. Having defeated Seleucus Nicator (Alexander's successor in Asia) in 305 BCE, the Mauryan Emperor extended his domains up to and including Southern Afghanistan. Using this Gandhara as his base Chandragupta led a rebellion against Magadha Empire and ascended to the throne at Pataliputra in 321 BC. [comment: There is very little known about the sequence of events leading to Chandragupta's defeat of the Nanda emperors of Magadha. There are no contemporary Indian records of Chandragupta Maurya and almost all that is known is based on the diaries of Megasthenes, the ambassador from Seleucus.] He was the first ruler of Mauryan dynasty. With the completion of the Empire's Grand Trunk Road, the region presumably prospered as a center of trade. Gandhara remained a part of the Mauryan Empire for close to a century and a half.

Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta was the one of the greatest rulers the world has ever known. Like his grandfather, Ashoka also started his career from Gandhara as a governor. Later he became Buddhist and promoted this religion in his empire. He built many stupas in Gandhara. Mauryan control over northern frontagers including the Yonas, Kambojas, and the Gandharas is attested from the Rock Edicts left by Ashoka, who shows special solicitude for these frontier highlanders. His successors, however, failed to cast such imperial shadows throughout the sub-continent.

It is also held by some scholars that the Gandharas and the Kambojas were one people. Based on time and space contiguity, this view does not seem to be wide off the mark.

Gandhara under Graeco-Bactrians, Sakas, and Indo-Parthians

The decline of the Empire left the sub-continent open to Greco-Bactrian expansion. Southern Afghanistan was absorbed by Demetrius I of Bactria in 180 BC. Around about 185 BC, Demetrius invaded and conquered Gandhara and the Punjab. Later, wars between different groups of Greek settlers of Bactria, resulted in the independence of Gandhara from Bactria and the formation of the Indo-Greek kingdom. Menander was the most famous king. He ruled from Taxila and later from Sagala (Sialkot). He rebuilt Taxila (Sirkap) and Pushkalavati. He became Buddhist and is remembered in Buddhists records due to his discussions with a great Buddhist philosopher in the book Milinda Panha.

Around the time of Menander’s death in 140 BC, Kushans overran Bactria and ended Greek rule there. Around 80 BC, Sakas, diverted by their Parthian cousins from Iran moved into Gandhara and other parts of Pakistan and Western India. The most famous king of Sakas was Maues, who established himself in Gandhara. The Pashtu (or Pakhtu) now spoken in North Western Pakistan and Afghanistan is said to be based on Saka’s language.

By 90 BC Parthians took control of eastern Iran and around 50 BC put an end to last remnants of Greek rule in Afghanistan. By around 7 an Indo-Parthian dynasty succeeded in taking control of Gandhara. Parthians continued to support Greek artistic traditions in Gandhara. The start of the Gandharan Greco-Buddhist art is dated to the period between 50 BC and 75. Links between Rome and the Indo-Parthian kingdoms existed, there is archaeological evidence that building techniques move between the two, records of political contact, and a controversial claim that around 40 AD Thomas the Apostle visited India and encountered the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares.^[6]

The Golden Age of Kushans Rule

The Parthian dynasty fell about 75 to another horde from Central Asia. Kushans, known as Yueh-Chih in China moved from Central Asia to Bactria, where they stayed for a century. Around 75, one of the tribe Kushan under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises gained control of Gandhara and other part of present Pakistan.

The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Peshawar Valley and Taxila are littered with ruins of stupas and monasteries of this period. Gandharan art flourished and produced some of the best pieces of sculpture of all time. Many monuments were created to commemorate the Jataka tales.

Gandhara civilization peaked during the reign of the great Kushan king Kanishka (128-151). This was the golden period of Gandhara. Cities of Taxila at Sirsukh, and Peshawar were built. Peshawar became the capital of a great empire stretching from Bengal to Central Asia. Kanishka was a great patron of the faith and Buddhism spread to Central Asia and the Far East over the Pamir where his empire met the Han Empire of China.

Kanishka's Empire was known as the Kingdom of Gandhara and under his leadership it became the center of civilization. The Buddhist art spread outward from Gandhara to other parts of Asia. He greatly encouraged Buddhism. Before Kanishka Buddha was not represented in human form. In Gandhara Mahayana Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form.

Kanishka created big monuments of Arts. He built a great tower to a height of 400 feet at Peshawar. This tower was reported by Fa-Hsien, Sun-Yun and Hsuan-Tsang. This structure was destroyed and rebuilt many times and remained in semi ruins until it was finally destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 11th century. Under him (Kanishka) Gandhara became a holy land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrimage to visit Gandhara to see monuments associated with many Jataka tales.

After Kanishka, the empire started losing territories in the east. In the west it came under Sassanid (who took power from Parthians in Iran) suzerainty and became their vassal from 241-450.

Under these Kushan chiefs new Buddhists stupas continued to appear and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides.

Gandhara after invasion by the Huns

Huns captured Gandhara around 450 AD, and did not adopt Buddhism. During their rule, Hinduism revived and Gandharan Civilization declined. Sassanids aided by Turks destroyed the Huns' power base in Central Asia and Gandhara once again came under Persian suzerainty in 568 AD. When the Sassanids were defeated by Muslim Arabs in 644 AD, Gandhara along with Kabul was ruled by Buddhist Turks.

The travel records of many Chinese Buddhists pilgrims record that Gandhara was going through a transformation during these centuries. Buddhism was declining and Hinduism was rising. Fa-Hsien travelled around 400 AD, when Prakrit was the language of the people and Buddhism was flourishing. 100 years later, when Sung-Yun visited in 520 AD, a different picture is described: the area had been destroyed by Huns and was ruled by Lae-Lih who did not practice law of Buddha. Hiun-Tsang visited around 644 AD and found Buddhism on the wane and Hinduism in the ascendant. Gandhara was ruled by a king from Kabul, who respected Buddha law, but Taxila was in ruins and Buddhist monasteries were deserted. Instead, Hindu temples were numerous and Hinduism was popular.

Gandhara under Turkshahi and Hindushahi

After the fall of the Sassanid Empire to the Arabs in 644 Afghanistan and Gandhara came under pressure from Muslims. But they failed to extend their empire to Gandhara. Gandhara was first ruled from Kabul and then from Udabhandapura (Hind).

In 665 Kabul was put under siege by the Arabs, but they never tried to cross the Hindu Kush. The Arabs never fully subdued Kabul and Gandhara was ruled from there by Turkshahi for next 200 years. Sometime in 9th century the Hindushahi replaced the Turkshahi. The date of the Hindushahi takeover is not certain. Based on various Muslim records the estimated date is 870.

According to Al-Biruni (973-1048), Kallar, a Brahmin minister of the Turkshahi, founded the Hindushahi dynasty in 843. The dynasty ruled from Kabul, later moved capital to Udabhandapura. They built great temples all over their kingdoms. Some of these buildings are still in good condition in the Salt Range of the Punjab.

End of Gandhara

Jayapala was the last great king of this dynasty. His empire extended from west of Kabul to the river Sutlej. However, this expansion of Gandhara kingdom coincided with the rise of the powerful Ghaznavid Empire under Sabuktigin. Defeated twice by Sabuktigin and then by Mahmud of Ghazni in the Kabul valley, Jayapala committed suicide. Anandapala, a son of Jayapala, moved his capital near Nandana in the Salt Range. In 1021 the last king of this dynasty, Trilocanapala, was assassinated by his own troops. That was the end of Gandhara.

The city of Kandahar in Afghanistan was probably named after Gandhara. According to H.W. Bellow, an emigrant from Gandhara in the fifth century brought this name to modern Kandahar. Faxian reported Buddha’s alms-bowl in Peshawar Valley when he visited around 400 (chapter XII). In 1872 Bellow saw this huge begging bowl (7 feet in diameter) preserved in the shrine of Sultan Wais outside Kandahar, which was probably brought there by refuge Buddhists monks. When Olaf Caroe wrote his book in 1958 (Caroe, pp. 170-171), this relic was reported to be at Kabul Museum The present status of this bowl is not known due to the war in Afghanistan since last couple of decades.

Discovery of Gandhara

By the time Gandhara had been absorbed into the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni, Buddhist buildings were already in ruins and Gandhara art had been forgetten. After Al-Biruni, the Kashmiri writer Kahana wrote his book Rajatarangini in 1148. He recorded events of Gandhara, its last royal dynasty and capital Udabhandapura. The history and art of the Gandhara remained unknown to the inhabitants of the area and the rest of the world until much later.

In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking interest in the ancient history of the Indian Subcontinent. In the 1830s coins of the post Ashoka period were discovered and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Charles Masson, James Prinsep, and Alexander Cunningham deciphered the Kharosthi script in 1838.

Chinese records provided locations and site plans of Buddhists shrines. Along with the discovery of coins, these records provided necessary clues to piece together the history of Gandhara.

In 1848 Cunningham found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar. He also identified the site of Taxila in the 1860s. From then on a large number of Buddhist statues were being discovered in the Peshawar valley.

John Marshall performed an excavation of Taxila from 1912 to 1934. He discovered Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and large number of stupas and monasteries. These discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and its art.

After 1947 Ahmed Hassan Dani and the Archaeology Department at University of Peshawar made a number of discoveries in the Peshawar and Swat Valley. Excavation on many sites of the Gandhara Civilization are being done by researchers from many universities around the world.

Language

The Gandharan Buddhist texts are both the earliest Buddhist and Indian manuscripts ever discovered. Most are composed on birch bark and were found in labeled clay pots. Panini has mentioned both Vedic form Gandhari as well as the later form Gandhari in his Ashtadhyayi.

Gandhara's language was a collection of related Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialects. They were written right-to-left in the Kharoṣṭhī script, which was ultimately adapted from the Aramaic alphabet. At the time of its adoption, Gandhāra was controlled by the Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian empire, which used a similar script to write the related Iranian languages of the Empire. Semitic scripts were not used to write Indian languages again until the arrival of Islam and subsequent adoption of the Persian-style Arabic alphabet for New Indo-Aryan languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Kashmiri. Kharosthi script died out about the 4th century, though Hindko and Kohistani, dialects of the ancient Indo-Aryan Prakrit language are still spoken today. Pashto, is the most dominant language of the region today.

Gandhara was an Indo-Aryan country. The inhabitant of Gandhara were mostly Buddhist or followers of Dharmic paganism.

Gandharan proselytism

Gandharan Buddhist missionaries were active, with other monks from Central Asia, from the 2nd century in the Chinese capital of Luoyang, and particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They promoted both Theravada and Mahayana scriptures.

• Lokaksema, a Kushan and the first to translate Mahayana scriptures into Chinese (167-186)
• Zhi Yao (c. 185), a Kushan monk, second generation of translators after Lokaksema
• Zhi Qian (220-252), a Kushan monk whose grandfather had settled in China during 168-190
• Zhi Yueh (c.230), a Kushan monk who worked at Nanjing
• Dharmaraksa (265-313), a Kushan whose family had lived for generations at Dunhuang
• Jnanagupta (561-592), a monk and translator from Gandhara
• Shikshananda (652-710), a monk and translator from Udyana, Gandhara
• Prajna (c. 810), a monk and translator from Kabul, who educated the Japanese Kūkai in Sanskrit texts

See also: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

Gandharan art

Gandhāra is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist art, a consequence of merger of Greek, Syrian, Persian, and Indian art traditions. The development of this form of art started in Parthian Period (50BC – 75). Gandhāran style flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period from 1st Century to 5th Century. It declined and suffered destruction after invasion of the White Huns in the 5th century.

See also: Greco-Buddhist art

Female spouted figure, terracotta, Charsadda, Gandhara, 3rd-1st century BC	Mother Goddess (fertility divinity), derived from the Indus Valley tradition, terracotta, Sar Dheri, Gandhara, 1st century BC	Prince Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni (1st-2nd century)	Standing Buddha (1st-2nd century)
Buddha head (2nd century)	The Buddha Dipankara (3rd-4th century)	Buddha in acanthus capital
The Greek god Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda	The Bodhisattva Maitreya, 2nd century	Wine-drinking and music, Hadda (1st-2nd century)	Maya's white elephant dream (2nd-3rd century)
The birth of Siddharta, (2nd-3rd century)	The Great Departure from the Palace, (2nd-3rd century)	The end of ascetism, (2nd-3rd century)	The Buddha preaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath, (2nd-3rd century)
Scene of the life of the Buddha (2nd-3rd century)	The death of the Buddha, or parinirvana (2nd-3rd century)	Head of the Buddha, Hadda, (1st-2nd century)	A sculpture from Hadda, (3rd century)
The Bodhisattva and Chandeka, Hadda (5th century)	The Buddha and Vajrapani under the guise of Herakles	Hellenistic decorative scrolls from Hadda, northern Pakistan	Hellenistic scene, Gandhara, 1st century

Timeline

• c.2300-c.1700 BC Indus Valley civilization
• c.1700-c.520 BC No records
• c.520-c.400 BC Persian Empire
• c.329-c.316 BC Occupied by Alexander the Great and Macedonian generals
• c.316-c.180 BC Controlled by the Maurya dynasty, founded by Chandragupta. Converted to Buddhism under King Asoka (273-232 BC)
• c.185-c.97 BC Under control of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, with some incursions of the Indo-Scythians from around 100 BC
• c.97 BC-c. AD 7 Saka (Scythian) Rule
• c.07-c.75 Parthian invasion and Indo-Parthian Kingdom, Rule of Commander Aspavarman?
• c.75- c.230 Kushan Empire
• c.230-c.440 Kushanshahi under Persian Sassanid suzerainty
• c.450-c.565 White Huns (Hephthalites)
• c.565-c.644 Local control under Sassanid suzerainty
• c.650-c.870 Turkshahi, ruled from Kabul
• c.870- 1021 Hindushahi, ruled from Udabhandapura

Notes

References

• Beal, Samuel. 1884. Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, by Hiuen Tsiang. 2 vols. Trans. by Samuel Beal. London. Reprint: Delhi. Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1969.
• Beal, Samuel. 1911. The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by the Shaman Hwui Li, with an Introduction containing an account of the Works of I-Tsing. Trans. by Samuel Beal. London. 1911. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi. 1973.
• Bellow, H.W. Kashmir and Kashgar. London, 1875. Reprint: Sang-e-Meel Publications 1999 ISBN 969350738X
• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Edition.http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html
• Legge, James. Trans. and ed. 1886. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fâ-hsien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. Reprint: Dover Publications, New York. 1965.
• Watters, Thomas. 1904-5. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India (A.D. 629-645). Reprint: Mushiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi. 1973.
• Caroe, Sir Olaf, The Pathans, Oxford University Press, Karachi, 1958.
• Herodotous, The Histories, Translated by Aubrey De Selincourt, Penguin Books, 1954.
• Hussain, J. An Illustrated History of Pakistan, Oxford University Press, Karachi, 1983.
• Isobel Shaw,Pakistan Handbook, The Guidebook Co., Hong Kong, 1989

See also

• Mahajanapadas
• Kambojas
• Kashmir Smast
• Ghandari
• Mankiala

External links

• Pakistan celebrates Gandhara week
• Gandhara Tours with Explore pakistan tourism
• Map of Gandhara archeological sites, from the Huntington Collection, Ohio State University (large file)
• The Buddhist Manuscript project
• University of Washington's Gandharan manuscript
• History of the Kashmir Smast Kingdom in ancient Gandhara- Waleed Ziad
• Coins of Gandhara janapada

Provinces of the Achaemenid Empire (Behistun and Daiva inscriptions)
Persia | Elam | Babylonia | Media | Sacae | Yauna | Macedon | Pamphylia | Paphlagonia | Cappadocia | Caria | Lydia | Thrace | Armenia | Cilicia | Taxila | Egypt | Gandara | Sattagydia | Gedrosia | Carmania | Maka | Drangiana | Arachosia | Bactria | Parthia | Aria | Chorasmia | Sogdia | Kush | Arabia | Hyrcania | Margu | Dahae | Libya | Eber-Nari By district (Herodotus)
District I | District II | District III | District IV | District V | District VI | District VII | District VIII | District IX | District X | District XI | District XII | District XIII | District XIV | District XV | District XVI | District XVII | District XVIII | District XIX | District XX
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Middle kingdoms of India
Timeline:	Northern Empires	Southern Dynasties	Northwestern Kingdoms
6th century BCE  5th century BCE  4th century BCE  3rd century BCE  2nd century BCE  1st century BCE  1st century CE  2nd century  3rd century  4th century  5th century  6th century  7th century  8th century  9th century 10th century 11th century	Magadha Shishunaga dynasty Nanda empire Kalinga Maurya Empire Sunga Empire Kuninda Kingdom Gupta Empire Harsha Pala Empire Solanki Sena dynasty	Pandyan Cholas Chera Satavahana empire Kalabhras Kadamba Dynasty Pallava Chalukya Rashtrakuta Western Chalukyas Hoysala Empire	Gandhara (Persian rule) (Greek conquests) Indo-Greeks Indo-Scythians Indo-Parthians Kushan Empire Western Satraps Indo-Sassanids Kidarite Kingdom Indo-Hephthalites (Islamic invasions) Shahi (Islamic empires)