ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am profoundly grateful to the Department of Archaeology and Museums for providing the
photographs and details. My special gratitude to Habibullah Khan Khattak for his meticulous
detailing of events in a chronological order for the initial draft. I would also like to express my
sincere thanks to Abdul Azeem, Tahir Saeed, Mahmood ul Hasan, Nazir Ahmad, Haroon-urRasheed in planning, editing and supervising the printing of this book. Special thanks to Ms.
Sumera Samad, Director Lahore Museum, Dr. Abdul Samad, Director Archeology, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Muhammad Shah Bukhari, Curator National Museum, Karachi for their
cooperation in facilitating our team to photograph these precious images. I owe thanks to Shiraz
and Farhan photographers of PNCA for travelling to all museums of Pakistan to photo shoot
these high resolution pictures for this book. My profound gratitude to Mr. Mashhood Ahmad
Mirza, Joint Secretary, for his personal supervision and minutely revising and reviewing the
book and for getting this important book printed. Last but not the least; I am highly indebted to
Mr. lrfan Siddiqui, adviser to the Prime Minister on National History & Literary Heritage
Division, for his keen interest and support in the publication of this book.
Mohsin S. Haqqani
Secretary
Islamabad
May 25, 2016
INTRODUCTION
Pakistan has been the cradle of Buddhist art and culture and the second holy land of Buddhism
for well over a thousand years. The religious faith has marked the most significant epoch in the
history of the cultural and social evolution in the subcontinent. Indeed, it has been one of the
greatest spiritual experiences the world has ever seen, and, which has left behind one of the finest
manifestation in the domain of art and culture.
A philosophy of life propounded by its founder Gautama Buddha, soon became the religion of
the subcontinent, influencing the life and imagination of the people. Gradually spreading across
the entire orient. Even today it is a dominant faith in various countries of the world including Sri
Lanka, Mayanmar (Burma), Thailand, Tibet, Mongolia, China and Japan, and its followers form
the third largest group among the religious communities of the world.
The advent and development of Buddhism owes a great deal to the ancient land of Pakistan. It
was here that the religious activities reached its climax through well-organized missionaries and
ultimately made it a world religion.
The land of Gandhara where the celebrated faith evolved is more or less a triangle about I00
kilometers across east to west and 70 kilometers from north to south, on the west of the Indus
River. It is surrounded on three sides by mountains. It covers the vast areas of today's Peshawar
valley, the hilly tracts of Swat (Udyana), Buner and the Taxila valley. The name 'Gandhara' is
found for the first time in the Rig-Veda, the sacred ancient hymns of the Hindus. The name also
appears in some Persian inscriptions, particularly in the Behistun inscription (528-486 B.C.), and
in the inscription discovered from the ruins of the Susa Palace in Persia (An archeological site
belonging to 6th century B.C.).
The Gandharan people served Persian over lords for well over two hundred years when, in 327 26 B.C., the territories were taken over by the Greek legions under Alexander the Great for a
short time (20 years). The Greek invaders held the town of Ora in Swat, Pushkalawati (Modern
Charsadda) and the areas around the, Indus river basin of Hund. Alexander is said to have stayed
in Taxila for one month.
It was during the long reign of the grandson of Chandragupta, the celebrated Ashoka (272 -237
B.C.), that Gandhara became the veritable centre of Buddhism. The king was himself converted
to the faith and became its ardent and enthusiastic patron. During his long reign he built
numerous stupas and monasteries throughout Gandhara, in Shahbazgarhi, Mansehra and Taxila.
While at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra are located his famous rock edicts, Taxila has the honour
of possessing the earliest known stupa named as 'Dharmarajika‟.
After the death of Ashoka in 237 B.C., Gandhara passed on successively to foreign rulers. The
first of these were the Bactrian Greeks, (190-90 B.C.), followed by Scytho-Parthians (90 B.C. to
64 AD.), Kushanas (64-241 AD.), Sasanians (241-358 AD.), and Kidara Kushanas (358-560
AD). Finally in 465 AD, the White Huns or Ephthelites swept over the entire Gandhara,
destroying whatever came in their way including the Buddhist religious establishments.
For over a thousand years, Buddhism prospered in Gandhara as a dominant religious faith. The
influence of Greco-Roman architecture can be found in the remains of the dwellings uncovered
at the Bhir mound at Taxila, in the shape of well-planned city of sirkap at Taxila and the
fabulous stupas and monasteries.
The coins minted and circulated in Gandhara normally had Greek legends on their obverse and
Kharoshthi on reverse; but in rare cases the legends were in Brahmi. The Brahmi script was also
used for writing the sacred books of the Buddhists.