History Travel

Imagine the academic repute of the city where Panini, the great Indian Sanskrit Grammarian and Chanakya, the Prime Minister of the founder of the Maurya Empire were said to have taught ! Taxila lies 30 km North West of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It was one of the most prominent cities on the Silk Road which connected China to the Western world and flourished between 1st-5th Century AD.

The city was initially discovered by Alexander Cunningham. The excavation was then undertaken by John Marshall, who was the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India at the time. He was also the person who discovered the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh. Under his command, the excavations took about twenty years, from 1913 to 1934. In 1980, Taxila was declared as UNESCO World Heritage site.

The city has found mention in many a text indicating its importance and fame – In Sanskrit, the city was called Takshaçila; in Pâli it was known as Takkasilâ; the Greeks knew the town as Taxila; the Chinese called it Chu-ch’a-shi-lo. Buddhist literature, especially the Jatakas, mentions it as the capital of the kingdom of Gandhara and as a great centre of learning. Gandhara is also mentioned as a province, in the inscriptions of the Achaemenian (Persian) king Darius I in the 5th century BC. Taxila, as the capital of Gandhara, was evidently under Achaemenian rule for more than a century. 

The Gandhara Region was an ancient kingdom which found mention in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda and many Vedic scriptures. They are recorded in the Avestan language of Zoroastrianism under the name Vaēkərəta. If you are familiar with the epic Mahabharata, you would remember that Shakuni was Gandharnaresh or King of Gandhara. While the geographical boundaries of the Gandhara Region may have shifted during the course of history, Taxila remained a prominent city which is over 3000 years old.

Rulers of Taxila

Due to its geographic location which was very strategic, it has changed hands many times. Its fate was determined by the invading rulers and armies from the West.

Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 BCE and Ambhi (Omphis), the ruler of Taxila, surrendered the city and placed his resources at Alexander’s disposal. After Alexander’s death, Taxila was absorbed into the Mauryan empire founded by Chandragupta, under whom it became a provincial capital. After three generations of Mauryan rule, the city was annexed by the Indo-Greek kingdom of Bactria. It remained under the Indo-Greeks until the early 1st century BC. They were followed by the Shakas, or Scythians, from Central Asia, and by the Parthians, whose rule lasted until the latter half of the 1st century AD.

Taxila was taken from the Parthians by the Kushans under Kujula Kadphises. The great Kushan ruler Kanishka founded Sirsukh, the third city on the site. (The second, Sirkap, dates from the Indo-Greek period.) In the 4th century AD, the Sassanian king Shapur II (309–379) seems to have conquered Taxila, as evidenced by the numerous Sassanian copper coins found there. There is little information about the Sassanian occupation. Eventually, it was sacked by Huns and never recovered from this blow.

Famous Visitors

The Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian visited the city at about the beginning of the 5th century AD and he found a flourishing centre of Buddhist sanctuaries and monasteries. He has said ‘Seven days journey from this to the east brought the travellers to the kingdom of Taxila, which means ‘the severed head ‘ in the language of China. Here, when Buddha was a Bodhisattva, he gave away his head to a man [a reference to a jataka tale], and from this circumstance the kingdom got its name.’ Another Chinese monk Xuanzang who can be credited with spreading Buddhism to China and the eastern world, visited the site in the 7th century AD and found the city ruined and desolate (after the sacking by Huns).

King Asoka was Viceroy here in the 3rd Century BC. Alexander garrisoned the city with Macedonians. Arrian, Strabo and Plutarch wrote of its beauty and its wealth. It is said that St Thomas turned up to preach the gospel here as well during the reign of Gondhophares I around 43-44 AD.

The many cities of Taxila and the Gandhara School of Art

Taxila was uniquely placed where the East and West co-existed and eventually gave birth to a new style of art. Experts have pointed out that the sculptures excavated here are quite unique with Hellenistic themes combined with Eastern motifs. This style is referred to as the Gandhara School of Art.

Ruins at Taxila clearly indicate that it participated in the formation of Harappan civilization (3100- 2500 BC). Most of the Buddhist stupas and monasteries date from the 1st to 5th century AD although the Dharmarajika Stupa was founded by Asoka in the 3rd century BC.

The ruins of Taxila consist of many different parts of the city buildings and Buddhist stupas
which are located in a large area. The main ruins of Taxila are divided into three major cities, each
belonging to a distinct time period. The oldest of these is Bhir Mound, which dates from the sixth
century BC. The second city of Taxila is located at Sirkap and was built by Greco-Bactrian kings in
the second century BC. The many private houses, stupas, and temples were laid out on the Hellenistic grid system and show the strong Western classical influence on local architecture. The third and last city of Taxila is at Sirsukh and relates to the Kushan kings.

The city is famous for its ruins and remnants of the Buddhist era, however, Jain and Hindu temples and relics have also been found here. Even a Zoroastrian Fire temple has been found near Taxila.

University of Taxila

Taxila was not a ‘University’ in the modern sense as teachers did not have membership of an institution. However, teachers taught students in smaller groups, something like a ‘gurukul’ and each of these being an institution by themselves. Taxila had privileged alumni and it attracted students and teachers from across Asia. The heir-apparent of kingdoms were usually educated along with monks at Taxila, as mentioned in the Jatakas.

The students here were taught the Vedas and the 18 shilpas or arts, which included skills such as archery and hunting. In addition, there were also law school, medical school and a school of military science.

To conclude, I would like to share a small piece of information. Mortime Wheeler was appointed as an external consultant to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1944, to evaluate deficiencies in the working of ASI. He set up a field training school at Taxila to train junior archaeologists. Taxila was chosen keeping in mind the richness of the ruins. It seems that even centuries later, Taxila and learning went hand in hand.

References

1. https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/faxian.html

2. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20141010-following-the-silk-road-to-the-end-of-china

3. https://www.livehistoryindia.com/story/cover-story/taxila/

4. https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/the-class-of-taxila-how-mortimer-wheeler-mn-deshpande-set-up-first-archaeology-school/536896/

5. Charles Allen, Ashoka: The Search for India’s Lost Emperor, Hachette UK, 2012

According to Ibn Arabshah, Ibn Khaldun, the illustrious scholar and Timur, the founder of the Timurid empire met in 1401 AD at Damascus. There are different versions of this meeting but that they met has been established as a fact through different historical accounts. The most reliable account of this meeting is from Ibn Khaldun himself. When they met, Ibn Khaldun explained some of the theories of his book Muqaddimah. There is an anecdote which says that Timur enquired from Ibn Khaldun about the fate of political dynasties. Khaldun’s opinion was that the glory of a political dynasty usually started fading from the fourth generation, unless diligent efforts were made by those concerned to prevent it. It definitely proved correct in the case of Mongols.

Who was Ibn Khaldun? We know a lot about him from his autobiography. In fact, Ibn Khaldun’s description of his own life is one of the most detailed in Medieval Muslim literature. He was born on May 27, 1332 in Tunis and died in 1406. His ancestors belonged to an ancient Arab tribe and migrated to Spain in the early decades of the 8th century. There are some accounts that doubt his Arab lineage and claim that it was to ‘get ahead’ in society. By the time of Ibn Khaldun, the days of Arab predominance in Spain and North Africa were long over and hence, this account can be viewed with scepticism as there was no influence to be gained through claims of an Arab ancestry. Ibn Khaldun belonged to an upper class, aristocratic family who had significant political and intellectual influence in Seville. He had the benefit of having access to the finest education from an early age. Unfortunately, at the age of 17, he lost both his parents to the Black Death, an epidemic that hit Tunis in 1348-49.

He strived for a political career which required aligning and re-aligning with regimes of that time. Since this was a time of political upheaval and regimes were short-lived, he had to do this quite often. His career took him from the chancellery of the Tunisian ruler Ibn Tafrakin to Fez, where over a period of time, he got a ministerial position. He also spent some time in Granada but realised that the environment was not ideal for him and the ruler adopted a cold attitude towards him.

Ibn Khaldun found himself in a a time of confused and short lived dynasties. What made him different from his contemporaries was that even though he was part of this mayhem, he was able to observe all this as a social scientist and thus was able to write a book like the Muqaddimah. He lived in the Western Algerian town of Qalat ibn Salama for a period of three years, where devoid of any public duties, he worked on his book. In 1378, he returned to Tunis to complete his book as he lacked some texts in Qalat ibn Salama. During the later part of his life, he had tired of politics and of continuously shifting loyalties.

In 1382, he travelled to the port of Alexandria and later moved to Cairo. He never returned to Tunis. Under the Mamluks, Egypt was enjoying a period of stability and prosperity. He must have hoped to live in peace at Cairo. He was invited to Al Azhar for a lecture on Maliki jurisprudence and the Muqaddimah. He was an eloquent speaker and prominent scholars of Egypt were in attendance. He was introduced to the Mamluk Sultan al Sahib Burquq. He enjoyed the Sultan’s patronage and after two years in 1384, was appointed the Chief justice of the Maliki school, one of the highest posts in the state. He suffered personal tragedy when a ship carrying his wife and children sunk off the coast of Alexandria. After this , he wished to renounce public life and resigned in 1384. He performed Hajj in 1387. After this, he spent his time in academic pursuits till his death.

His contribution in other fields like Sociology, Philosophy and Economics are also noteworthy. The concept of Asabiyya or social bonding is his thought. Some of his original thoughts on the economy were, the importance of consumption in keeping the economy alive, labour theory of value and that prices depended on supply and demand. The Laffer Curve of taxation named after the economist, Arthur Laffer was inspired by Ibn Khaldun’s work who had said “At the beginning of a dynasty, taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.” In addition to this, he was a master of the religious sciences, jurisprudence and theology.

He was one of the finest scholars of his time. It is heartening to note that there is increased recognition for him in recent years. Fun Fact : In 2011, Ibn Khaldun’s birthday was recognised by a Google Doodle.

References:

1. https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/philosophy/ibn-khaldun-the-man-who-invented-modern-history
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/01/trump-is-giving-arthur-laffer-presidential-medal-freedom-economists-arent-laughing/
3. https://fee.org/articles/the-laffer-curve-was-discovered-by-medieval-islamic-philosopher/
4. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Khaldun/The-Muqaddimah-Ibn-Khalduns-philosophy-of-history
5. The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun , Translated from the Arabic by Franz Rosenthal (Princeton Classics)

The kingdom of Khotan which had its origins in the 3rd and 2nd century BC existed in the region which is today in Western China. Khotan was on the Southern Silk Route but it was not just a city of passage as it had its own economy based on silk, paper and Jade. It was a centre for Buddhist learning and art as well as a strong political centre.

It is said that the population of Khotan was an amalgamation of three sources- Nomadic Saka horsemen, Indian and Chinese immigrants and traders. Such a diverse population gave birth to many innovations. In the fifth century, the Indian Gupta script called Late Brahmi script was used to write the Middle Iranian language of the Saka. There were bilingual Sino-Kharoshthi bronze and copper coins whose weights also matched those of the Kushan coins.

The Indian and Chinese origins of Khotan are also reflected in the Tibetan Annals of Li Yu which was composed in the mid eighth century. According to a legend, Vaishravana, the Buddhist guardian of the deity of the North impregnated the wife of Emperor Ashoka. Ashoka abandoned the child and Vaishravana took him to China and had him adopted as Emperor’s son. After some years, the prince quarrelled with the sons of the Chinese emperor and set off west with a small army. At the same time, a disgruntled minister left Ashoka’s India for a new homeland. When the two met, war threatened but Vaishravana was able to establish peace between them and the two communities founded Khotan. Hence, Vaishravana is honoured as the patron of the city. According to this legend, the date of foundation of Khotan would be around 134 BC.

There are many artworks and monastery ruins excavated in the region. One of the most impressive is the monastery stupa of Rawak. Karadong has Hinayana period wall paintings in the two storey temple featuring only standing and seated Buddhas. The faces at Karadong are distinctively Indian/Central Asian, dated to the first half of the Fourth Century. Dandan Oilak was a city of temples and monasteries and was a part of the Khotan empire. One of the paintings (which you can see at the top of the blog) talks about the legend of how Sericulture came to Khotan. The Chinese kept the art of Sericulture guarded. When a Chinese princess was getting married to a Khotan prince, he wrote to her that she would need to wear coarse clothes in Khotan as there was no silk available. The Princess smuggled Silkmoth eggs and Mulberry leaves out of China in her headdress. Thus, Khotan learned the secret art of making Silk.

The paintings excavated at Dandan Oilak are similar in style to the ones at Panjikent (ancient town of Sogdiana). There is a painting of a three headed figure who at the first look represents the Hindu God Shiva but in context of Khotan could be Maheshvara (tutelary deity under Tantric Vajrayana Buddhism) or the Sogdian God Weshparkar. Either of these is possible as there was a sizeable Sogdian community in Khotan. The Sogdian Zoroastrians merged the visual representation of their deities with Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism- cultures with whom they were in close contact through trade.

Khotan faced pressure from the Tibetans who conquered it around 798 AD. In 851 Khotan regained its independence and in 920 allied itself by marriage with the Chinese ruling family of Dunhuang. Khotan finally fell to Yusuf Kadr Khan in 1006.

References:

1. The History of Central Asia – The Age of the Silk Roads, Christoph Baumer
2. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/travel-atlases-maps-l18401/lot.196.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Khotan

The birth of a new religion, Islam, in the 7th century paved the way for a transitional period in the mid-eighth century for South-West Central Asia. It began with the conquest of Transoxiana by Umayyad general Qutaiba ibn Muslim (705-15). There were many factors which led to the conquest of this region. After the death of Khunuk Vardan Khudah, ruler of Bukhara in 709 and death or murder of other key leaders of this region, there was no strong ruler who could challenge the Arabs. As mentioned earlier, the Sogdian cities were never united politically to put up resistance against the Arabs. The Arabs were, on the other hand, united now through religion. The actual suzerain of Sogdians, the Chinese empire under the Tang dynasty, could not support them as they were embroiled in a costly war with Tibet. The victory of Arab forces led by Ziyad bin Salih in the battle of Talas in July 751 further weakened the Chinese.

The Umayyad rulers did not have an easy time in this region. The non-Arab local muslims felt discriminated and this led to several uprisings against them. The Umayyads ran the Caliphate as a business enterprise, more concerned for profits than equal rights. Hence, they were deemed as excessively materialistic and operating against the basic tenets of Islam which was based on simplicity and modesty.

Abu Muslim Khorasani emerged as an influential voice in the anti-Umayyad propaganda. He gathered forces and drove the Umayyad governor Nasr ibn Sayyar out of Central Asia between 747 to 748. The first Caliph of the Abassid dynasty was Abu’l Abbas al-Safah, a great-great-grandson of Muhammad’s uncle al-Abbas. This dynasty ruled till 1258 till it was crushed by the Mongols.

The Shias who had supported Abu Muslim in the hope that a descendent of Ali (fourth Caliph of Islam and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad) would come to power were disappointed. Readers who are familiar with history of Islam would know that the main cause of rift between Sunnis and Shias was the position of the Caliph. Shias felt that the rightful successor to Prophet Muhammad was Ali since the Prophet did not have any sons. Therefore, this conflict continued to represent a source of socio-political unrest in this region.

The first Caliph soon felt threatened by Abu Muslim’s influence. His successor Sunni al-Mansur had him murdered in 755. With his death, there arose several uprisings against the Abassid regime. One of the adversaries was Hashim ibn Hakim known as al-Muqanna, ‘the veiled one’. He claimed to be a prophet and the Mahdi of Islamic eschatology, the Messiah. Although he met with some success, he eventually committed suicide in 783.

The Barmakids (730-803) and Tahirids (821-73) owned allegiance to the Abassid regime but were almost independent dynasties. While the rulers, by and large, remained loyal to Caliphs, a love-hate relationship existed between these dynasties and the Caliphate. When the Caliph felt that the ruler was becoming too powerful, he had him removed or executed. At times, these rulers became influential enough to replace Caliphs. The Barmakids were popular as fair and just governors and were immensely wealthy. They were also patrons of mathematics, medicine, astronomy and philosophy. They perhaps had inter cultural communication in their blood, coming from the family of high priests of the famous Buddhist temple of Balkh, the ‘naubahar’. They were Buddhists who converted to Islam. According to Korean pilgrim monk Huichao, by the end of 720s most residents of Balkh were Buddhists despite the Arab occupation.

The Saffarid dynasty ruled for only 39 years from 861-900. When the Samanids ruled over Samarkand in the 9th and 10th centuries, it was a period of prosperity for the residents. They made Samarkand their capital in 819. Under them, large scale construction happened around the Afrasiab. City walls were built and a new citadel containing a palace for the Samanid ruler was built. During this period, the city spread beyond the Afrasiab which was used then primarily for administrative purposes. The housing and commercial centre moved to the area closer to today’s Samarkand. Samarkand became very famous for its ceramics between 8th and 12th century.

With the rise of two turkic dynasties, Karakhanids and Ghaznavids, who had recently converted to Islam, the Samanid empire suffered defeat. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna (998-1030) conquered the whole of Khorasan. The Samanid empire was split- the North went to Karakhanids, south to the Ghaznavids and in the South West, the Ghaznavids and Seljuks struggled for power.

The Mongols united under Genghis Khan were emerging as a major force. After conquering Bukhara in 1220, it was the turn of Samarkand. The forces at Samarkand were no match for the battle hardened Mongols. The destruction was so extreme that no building from the pre- Mongol era was left standing. It was only by the end of the 13th century that a new city was built.

After the death of Genghis Khan, the area came under his son, Chagatai Khan who was unable to prevent revolts against the Mongols in the second half of the 14th century. After his death in 1363, a local tribal leader Timur-e-lang was able to take control of Transoxiana and founded the Timurid empire. He was born in the village of Kesh, 80 km south of Samarkand.

Timur-e-lang was able to conquer a large area from the edge of China across the steppes of Southern Russia. He conquered lands from Afghanistan to India, sacking Delhi and massacring its residents in 1398. As Delhi is home for me, I recall the popular saying that the city was destroyed and re-built seven times. One of them must have been at the hands of Timur-e-Lang. While he is respected in Central Asia, he is vilified in the countries where he committed atrocities. He was on his way to conquer China but died of an illness in the city of Otrar.

Timur-e-Lang’s architectural legacy is still visible in Samarkand. He build mausoleums for his family and many madrasas and mosques prominent among them is the Bibi-Khanym mosque. Within a century of his death, his dynasty came to an end. One of his descendants, Babur (1483-1530) was the last independent Timurid prince who was eventually driven out of Central Asia in the early 16th century by the Shai-banids (an Uzbek confederacy) who moved the capital to Bukhara. Babur established the Mughal empire in India in 1526.

In the turmoil of the 16th and 17th centuries, Samarkand lost its former significance. In 1868, the city came under the official rule of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.

References:

1. Samarkand-The history and legacy of one of Asia’s oldest cities- Charles River Editors
2. The history of Central Asia-The age of Islam and the Mongols- Christoph Baumer
3. A History of the Arab Peoples- Albert Hourani

The city of Samarkand (in present day Uzbekistan) needs no introduction. The ancients called the area that is today Uzbekistan as Transoxiana i.e. Central Asia north of the river Oxus, the once great river known as Amu Darya. Samarkand is one of the oldest, continually inhabited cities in Central Asia and possibly the world as well. There are many versions of what is the meaning of ‘Samarkand’. The name could be in Sogdian where Samar means ‘Rock, Stone’ and Kand means ‘Fort or Town’. The historians and linguists point out that “Samarkand” originates from Turkish “Simiz kent”, that means “Rich settlement”. The medieval Chinese sources explain it as ‘Rich city’. Samarkand could also have originated from Hebrew “Meru-kand” (Holy city).

There have been traces of human existence in Samarkand since the Palaeolithic era, however, the city of Samarkand was probably founded between 8th and 7th century BC. There is no direct evidence of this but it is a reasonable estimate. Due to its prominent location between China and Mediterranean, the city prospered from trade along the Silk route.

In the 5th century BC, Samarkand was part of the Achaemenid empire under Darius I. The Greeks called the area Sogdiana and united it with Bactria. Alexander conquered Samarkand in 329 BC. He reportedly said, “Everything I have heard about the beauty of Samarkand is true except it is even more beautiful; than I could have imagined.” Soon afterwards he declared himself a God. Alexander’s conquest played an important role in strengthening the East-West trade routes on the Silk Road and dissemination of Greek culture into Asia. The Hellenistic influences continued for long after Alexander’s death.

The nomadic Turkic tribes that live in Central Asia today say that Alexander had two rams horns on the sides of his head and that is why he wore his hair long. Coins minted after his death show Alexander with horns. These “horns of Ammon” symbolize Alexander’s claim that he was the son of the Egyptian god Ammon.

After Alexander’s death, Samarkand passed into the Seleucid empire and then the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The Kushans played an instrumental role in developing a sophisticated irrigation system and thereby uplifting the social and economic status of the region. Unification of the agricultural land under one stable empire played a big role in this. There was a strengthening of trade relations with India, China and other Eastern countries. The crops produced during this region were very diversified-Millet, Barlet and Wheat; Apricots, Peaches, Plum, Grapes, melons; Poppy seeds; Lucerne and Sesame.

From the 1st to 3rd Century AD, handicraft production increased substantially such as ceramics, metal-working, iron-forging, weaving, jewellery-making, etc. Pottery was especially well developed at this time. The thin-sided goblets, bowls, cups and other types of ceramic products from the sites of Afrasiab are notable for their high quality. Craftsmen produced metalware and jewellery for women (bronze vessels, candlesticks, mirrors, bracelets, earrings, rings, etc.).

Weapons were also produced in large numbers- swords, daggers, spears, battle-axes, slings and bows-and-arrows. One weapon extensively used at this time was a special type of composite bow, pentagonal in shape, the parts fastened together with strips of bone or horn.

Samarkand was conquered by the Sassanians in 260 AD. In a previous blog, I have talked about the role of Sogdians in the Silk Trade (https://silkroadanecdotes.com/2018/12/09/sogdians-the-master-traders/). The 7th and 8th century conquest of Transoxiana by Arabs started a new chapter in the history of Samarkand.

References:

1. https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_II%20silk%20road_economy%20and%20social%20system%20in%20central%20asia%20in%20the%20kushan%20age.pdf -ECONOMY AND SOCIAL SYSTEM IN CENTRAL ASIA IN THE KUSHAN AGE*A. R. Mukhamedjanov
2. https://archive.asia.si.edu/explore/babur-gardens/memoir-03.php
3. https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/samarkand
4. The History of Central Asia-The Age of the Silk Roads, Volume Two, Christoph Baumer, I.B Tauris, 2014