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Gandhara civilisation in Pakistan
PAKISTAN is endowed with some of (he rarest civilisations and cultures spanning over thousands of years. Ilie much-famed Harappan Civilisation (hat flourished here in the Indus Valley
roughly between mid third and mid second millennia BC is termed as unique and stands out among its contemporaneous cultures of the world. With its decay, the localised cultures continued to flourish while
a new type of powerful culture called Gandhara developed in north-eastern Pakistan about the middle of the 1st millennium BC to around 7th century AD, famous for its refined art anil Buddhist architecture.
Gandhara Is generally taken as the region comprising of most of the areas of what now is North West Frontier Province of Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. In the past, the area beginning from the junction of the river Kabul and the river Indus, including Taxila, had also been known as 'Charene'. T h e first mention of Gandhara in the historical literature (in the Bisutun inscription of Darius) shows it as part of the Achaemenian Empire in the times of Cyrus the Great (558-28 BC). It had a major role as the channel of communication with Iran and Central Asia. Gandhara was invaded by Alexander the Great in the winter of327 BC.
In the early seventh century AD its
mention is found in the account*of the Chinese Pilgrim. Hsuan Tsang who visited (he Buddhist sites in this region. In the 5 centurv BC, Gandhara is mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus as one of the wealthiest territories. He further noted that it served as source in providing the forces for the Persian King Xerxes I in his battles against the Greeks. In fact Gandhara by then had become a melting pot of Persian and South Asian Vedic traditions, while its capital was at Taxila, which then was also a great seat of higher learning.
In the 3rd century BC the Mauryan king Asoka, a convert to Buddhism, was for a time governor of Gandhara. During his reign the region also converted to Buddhism and, according to some scholars, it could have been here that the Mahayana Buddhism (in contrast to the earlier Theravada Buddhism) began to emerge. The proof of the proclamation of Buddha’s Law in Gandhara is
amply clear from the edicts of Asoka on a rock boulder at Shahbazgarhi in the Mardan district In the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan The gradual decline of the Mauryan Empire following the death of Asoka in 232 BC again opened the region to foreign aggression.
Gandhara under the Kushans’ patronage developed as a centre for Buddhism around 64 AD Even long afterwards it continued to draw Buddhist pilgrims from all over the South Asian Subcontinent and also China. It is known for not. only giving the region a powerful rule but also maintaining contacts with the Roman Empire of Augustus.
The most famous of all the Kushan rulers was Kanishka, who became a convert to Buddhism like Asoka before him. His zeal for the newly adopted religion is evident from the numerous monasteries and stupas, the tornblike structures
containing the relics of the Buddha or of Buddhist saints, built by him throughout the length and breadth of his empire.
It was especially during (he period of Kushan that a style of Buddhist art known as Gandharan developed in the region. It was also this period to which are attributed the best pieces of sculptural art. Ilie architectural activities of Gandhara of this period occupy the same prominent position as its fascinating art 'Blending Hellenistic and Indian influences, the style depicted Buddha in human form for the first time, often with features resembling the Greek god Apollo and a Persian solar disk, or halo'. Although the Buddha himself never visited Gandhara, the texts composed by
Buddhist sages under the Kushans made the region a genuinely holy land of Buddhism.
The Huns swept over Gandhara and the Punjab in the third quarter of the fifth century, which led to the fall of the Buddhist Empire in this region. Thanks to the archaeologists' spade that these sites were retrieved from under the earth in the twentieth century as treasures of the past.
Padmasambhava (717-762)
In the Swat Valley of present-day Pakistan, the legendary Buddhist figure Padmasambhava is said to have incarnated as an 8 year old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha. In Bhutan and Tibet he is better
known as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Master") where followers of the Nyingma school regard him as the second Buddha.
Padmasambhava (Sanskrit for "born of the lotus flower"), is credited by popular belief with the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet in the mid - 8th century. He was a mem -ber of (he Vijrianavada (Consciousness Vehicle) school of Mahayana Buddhism. He also practiced Tantrism, a sect of Buddhism that emphasizes the use of symbolic models and sacred chants in worship. He is said to have had many books translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, and buned texts written by him were unearthed in Tibet from the 11th century onwards He is a highly revered personage both in Tibet and Bhutan.