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University of ancient Taxila

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The university of ancient Taxila (ISO: Takṣaśilā Viśvavidyālaya) was a center of the Gurukula system of Brahmanical education in Taxila, Gandhara, in present-day Punjab, Pakistan, near the bank of the Indus River. It was established as a centre of education in religious and secular topics.[1][2] It started as a Vedic seat of learning;[2] while in the early centuries CE it became a prominent centre of Buddhist scholarship as well.[3][2]

University of ancient Taxila
Takṣaśilā Viśvavidyālaya
Ruins of Bhir Mound archaeological site.
University of ancient Taxila is located in Punjab, Pakistan
University of ancient Taxila
Shown in Punjab
University of ancient Taxila is located in Pakistan
University of ancient Taxila
University of ancient Taxila (Pakistan)
LocationTaxila, Punjab, PakistanPunjab,  Pakistan
RegionSouth Asia
Coordinates33°44′N 72°47′E / 33.74°N 72.78°E / 33.74; 72.78
TypeCentre of learning
Part ofAncient higher-learning institutions
History
Foundedc. 5th century BCE
Abandonedc. 5th century CE
Site notes
ConditionRuins
OwnershipGovernment of Pakistan
Public accessYes

Early history of Taxila

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Following the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley, around 540 BCE, Taxila became the capital of their Hindush satrapy (colony), the earliest known archaeological remains date to this period.[4][5] The city surrendered to Alexander in 326 BCE, was annexed by the Maurya Empire around 317 BCE, became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, around 200 BCE, annexed by the Indo-Scythians around 80 BCE, conquered, destroyed, and a new city founded by the Kushan Empire around 30 CE, to flourish as a seat of Buddhist learning, to be conquered, destroyed, and the site abandoned by the Hunas in the 5th century CE. [2][6][7] Taxila was at the crossroad of the main trade roads of Asia, and was probably populated by Indians, Persians, Greeks, Scythians and many ethnicities coming from the various parts of the Achaemenid Empire. The 4th - 3rd century BCE Buddhist Jataka tales assert Taxila is where Aruni and his son Shvetaketu each had received their education, while 4th century BCE grammarian, Pāṇini, mentions the city in his Aṣṭādhyāyī.[8]

University

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According to John Marshall, Taxila emerged as a centre of learning after the Persian conquests due to its geographical position, "at the North-Western gateway of the subcontinent," and the "cosmopolitan character of her population."[1] It started as a Brahmanical seat of learning.[2] According to Frazier and Flood, the highly systemized Vedic model of learning helped establish Buddhist Mahavihara at the site, and later Nalanda (mid 5th century CE), Odantapuri (8th century CE), and Vikramashila (late 8th century CE).[9] These Buddhist institutions not only taught Vedic texts and the ritual but also the different theoretical disciplines associated with the limbs or the sciences of the Vedas, which included disciplines such as linguistics, law, astronomy and reasoning.[9] Taxila was particularly renowned for Vedic science, medicine, and the arts, but both religious and secular subjects were taught, and even subject such as archery or astrology in.[1]

According to John Marshall, "In early Buddhist literature, particularly in the Jatakas, Taxila is frequently mentioned as a university centre where students could get instruction in almost any subject, religious or secular, from the Veda to mathematics and medicine, even to astrology and archery."[1] The role of Taxila as a center of knowledge grew stronger under the Maurya Empire and Greek rule (Indo-Greeks) in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.[1] In the early centuries CE it was a prominent centre of Buddhist scholarship as well.[3]

It was not a university in the modern sense, in that the teachers living there may not have had official membership of particular colleges,[10][11][12] in contrast to the later Nalanda university in Bihar.[12][13][14]

The destruction by Toramana in the 5th century CE seem to have put an end to the activities of Taxila as a centre of learning.[15]

Teachers

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Influential teachers who are said to have taught at university of Taxila include:

Students

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Students with their oblong palettes used for writing, in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. The young Buddha accompanying them to go to school is also part of the complete scene. 2nd-3rd century CE, Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
Bhir Mound, excavation of ancient buildings.

According to Stephen Batchelor, the Buddha may have been influenced by the experiences and knowledge acquired by some of his closest followers in the foreign capital of Taxila.[18] Several contemporaries, and close followers, of the Buddha are said to have studied in Taxila, namely:

  • King Pasenadi of Kosala, a close friend of the Buddha,
  • Bandhula, the commander of Pasedani's army
  • Aṅgulimāla, a close follower of the Buddha. A Buddhist story about Aṅgulimāla (also called Ahiṃsaka, and later a close follower of Buddha), relates how his parents sent him to Taxila to study under a well-known teacher. There he excels in his studies and becomes the teacher's favorite student, enjoying special privileges in his teacher's house. However, the other students grow jealous of Ahiṃsaka's speedy progress and seek to turn his master against him.[19] To that end, they make it seem as though Ahiṃsaka has seduced the master's wife.[20]
  • Jivaka, court doctor at Rajagriha and personal doctor of the Buddha.[21]
  • Charaka, the Indian "father of medicine" and one of the leading authorities in Ayurveda, is also said to have studied at Taxila, and practiced there.[2][22]
  • Chandragupta Maurya, Buddhist literature states that Chandragupta Maurya, the future founder of the Mauryan Empire, though born near Patna (Bihar) in Magadha, was taken by Chanakya for his training and education to Taxila, and had him educated there in "all the sciences and arts" of the period, including military sciences. There he studied for eight years.[23] The Greek and Hindu texts also state that Kautilya (Chanakya) was a native of the northwest Indian subcontinent, and Chandragupta was his resident student for eight years.[24][25] These accounts match Plutarch's assertion that Alexander the Great met with the young Chandragupta while campaigning in the Punjab.[26][27]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Marshall (2013), p. 23.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lowe & Yasuhara (2016), p. 62.
  3. ^ a b Kulke & Rothermund (2004)"In the early centuries the centre of Buddhist scholarship was the University of Taxila."
  4. ^ "Taxila". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  5. ^ Marshall (2013), p. 10.
  6. ^ Le, Huu Phuoc (2010). Buddhist Architecture. Grafikol. p. 50. ISBN 9780984404308.
  7. ^ Batchelor, Stephen (2010). Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 255–256. ISBN 9781588369840.
  8. ^ Scharfe 2002a, pp. 140–141.
  9. ^ a b Frazier & Flood (2011), p. 34.
  10. ^ Altekar (1965), p. 109: "It may be observed at the outset that Taxila did not possess any colleges or university in the modern sense of the term."
  11. ^ F. W. Thomas (1944), in Marshall (1951), p. 81: "We come across several Jātaka stories about the students and teachers of Takshaśilā, but not a single episode even remotely suggests that the different 'world renowned' teachers living in that city belonged to a particular college or university of the modern type."
  12. ^ a b "Taxila". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007: "Taxila, besides being a provincial seat, was also a centre of learning. It was not a university town with lecture halls and residential quarters, such as have been found at Nalanda in the Indian state of Bihar."
  13. ^ "Nalanda" (2007). Encarta.
  14. ^ "Nalanda" (2001). Columbia Encyclopedia.
  15. ^ The Pearson CSAT Manual 2011. Pearson Education India. p. 439/ HC.23. ISBN 9788131758304.
  16. ^ Schlichtmann, Klaus (2016). A Peace History of India: From Ashoka Maurya to Mahatma Gandhi. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. p. 29. ISBN 9789385563522.
  17. ^ Watters, Thomas (1904-01-01). On Yuan Chwang's travels in India, 629-645 A.D. Dalcassian Publishing Company.
  18. ^ Batchelor, Stephen (2010). Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Random House Publishing Group. p. 255. ISBN 9781588369840.
  19. ^ Malalasekera (1960).
  20. ^ Wilson (2016), p. 286.
  21. ^ Batchelor, Stephen (2010). Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Random House Publishing Group. p. 256. ISBN 9781588369840.
  22. ^ Gupta, Subhadra Sen (2009). Ashoka. Penguin UK. p. PT27. ISBN 9788184758078.
  23. ^ Mookerji (1988), pp. 15–18.
  24. ^ Mookerji (1988), pp. 18–23, 53–54, 140–141.
  25. ^ Modelski, George (1964). "Kautilya: Foreign Policy and International System in the Ancient Hindu World". American Political Science Review. 58 (3). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 549–560. doi:10.2307/1953131. JSTOR 1953131. S2CID 144135587.
  26. ^ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1966). Chandragupta Maurya and His Times. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9788120804050.
  27. ^ "Sandrocottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth". Plutarch 62-4 "Plutarch, Alexander, chapter 1, section 1".

Sources

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