Gandhara Art & Architecture Photos I
A small collection of photos that depict some of the beautiful works of Indo-Greek art and architecture produced in Buddhist Gandhara in the early centuries of the Common Era. The … Continue reading
Introduction to Gandhara
Read the first chapter from the book “Buddhist Architecture of Gandhara” by Kurt A. Behrendt, Assistant Curator of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This chapter … Continue reading
The Blind Prince
Prolific Pakistani author & travel writer Salman Rashid relates the tale of Prince Kunala, or Kunal, the circumstances that took him to Taxila where he was tragically blinded, and the … Continue reading
Legend of Prince Kunala
Kunala was the son of Emperor Ashoka and Queen Padmavati and presumptive heir to to the Maurya Empire, which, at the time (3rd century BCE), covered most of the Indian subcontinent and all of present-day Pakistan. Kunala was … Continue reading
Ashoka and Buddhism
Indian historian Romila Thapar does a critical assessment of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, the role that Buddhism played in his policies, and the social and political climate of the Indian subcontinent … Continue reading
Story of Jivaka
Jivaka, one of the most celebrated physicians in Ayurvedic tradition, trained at Taxila University and went on to serve many distinguished personages, including King Bimbisara of Magadha and his great … Continue reading
Taxila, Intellectual Capital of India
The great city of Takshashila (modern Taxila) was a capital of ancient Gandhara and home to one of the oldest, if not the oldest, university in the world. Takshasila University … Continue reading
Ashoka the Great’s Rock Edicts
Ashoka, the third monarch of the Maurya Empire, ruled the Indian subcontinent between 269 and 232 BCE. Regarded as one of India’s greatest rulers, Ashoka converted to Buddhism after waging … Continue reading
The Arthashastra
The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy, authored in the 4th century BCE by Kautilya (popularly known as Chanakya), a professor at Takshashila University and advisor … Continue reading
Megasthenes at the Mauryan Court
Shortly after Alexander and his troops withdrew from India in 325 BCE, leaving behind satraps (governors) in Taxila, Western Punjab and the Indus Valley, Chandragupta Maurya founded the first great … Continue reading
Alexander the Great in the Punjab
Dutch historian and author of a biography of Alexander the Great, Jona Lendering critically reviews the Macedonian king’s march through ancient Pakistan, highlighting the extreme violence used in the campaign. … Continue reading
On Raja Paurava and Alexander
Pakistani author and travel writer Salman Rashid pays homage to Raja Paurava, the King Porus who gave battle to Alexander the Great at the river Jhelum in 326 BCE. Rashid … Continue reading
Invasion of India by Alexander the Great
Alexander of Macedon, after conquering all of present-day Turkey, Egypt, the Eastern Mediterranean, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, set his sights on what the Greeks considered the frontier of the known world … Continue reading
Herodotus on India
Herodotus of Greece, the “Father of History”, had a most vague and meagre knowledge of the Indian subcontinent. He knew that it was one of the remotest provinces of the Persian Empire … Continue reading
Inscription of Darius the Great
Darius the Great (550–486 BCE) was the third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He ruled the empire at its peak, when it included much of modern Pakistan. The pre-Islamic Persian kings … Continue reading
Katas Raj – Where Shiva Wept
In 2005, Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani was invited to Pakistan on a goodwill tour. One of the places he visited was Katas Raj, a complex of beautiful, … Continue reading
Indra’s Beverage
British journalist Alice Albinia travels to the remote valleys of the Hindukush and Karakorum in northwest Pakistan in search of the original “Aryans” and the homeland of the Rigveda. There … Continue reading
Lament of Queen Gandhari
Gandhara was the name of an ancient Vedic kingdom, comprising the Peshawar Valley and Potohar Plateau in Pakistan, and the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan. According to the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, … Continue reading
Lava & Kusha, Founders of Lahore & Kasur
The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of ancient India, ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki. Consisting of 24, 000 verses, it tells the story of Rama, king … Continue reading
Discovering Pakistan 