TAXILA, is around 35 kilometres to the northwest of Rawalpindi, is one of the sub-continent’s most important archaeological treasures, with the remains of three great cities and dozens of Buddhist monasteries dating from 600 BC to AD 600, situated at the meeting place of trade routes linking China, India, Central Asia and the West. Taxila was incorporated in many empires and became the culture crossroads of the ancient world. Alexander the great of Grace arrived in 326 BC and held philosophical discussions with the resident intellectuals. He left a garrison at Taxila but his empire quickly disintegrated following his death in Babylon at the age of 33.Ashoka, before he inherited the whole of the Ganges-centered Mauryan Empire in about 275BC was viceroy at Taxila. He introduced Buddhism to Ganhara, from where the religion spread to Central Asia, Tibet and China. Ashoka died in 232 BC and soon afterwards his empire declined. Bactrian Greeks from northern Afghanistan then ruled Gandhara, who built a new city at Taxila, now called Sirkap, was laid out in a regular grid with streets crossing at right angles.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 20:16:26 +0000
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