Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Panch therta
Peshawar Pushkalawathi
Vedic mythology refers to an ancient settlement called Pushkalavati in the area, after Pushkal, the son of King Bharata in the Ramayana. but this settlement's existence remains speculative and unverifiable. In recorded history, the earliest major city established in the general area of Peshawar was called Purushapura (Sanskrit for City of Men) was founded by the Kushans, a Central Asian tribe of Tocharian origin, over 2,000 years ago.[6] Prior to this period the region was affiliated with Gandhara, an ancient Indo-Iranian kingdom and was annexed first by the Persian Achaemenid empire and then by the Hellenic empire of Alexander the Great. The city passed into the rule of Alexander's successor, Seleucus I Nicator who ceded it to Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya empire in 305 BCE. Buddhism was introduced into the region at this time and may have claimed the majority of Peshawar's inhabitants before the coming of Islam.[7]
Peshawar formed the eastern capital of the empire of Gandhara under the Kushan king Kanishka I who reigned from at least 127 CE . Peshawar also became a great centre of Buddhist learning. Kanishka built what may have been the tallest building in the world at the time, a giant stupa, to house the Buddha's relics, just outside the Ganj Gate of the old city of Peshawar.
Kanishka stupa of Peshware was said to be an imposing structure as one travelled down from the mountains of Afghanistan onto the Gandharan plains. The earliest account of the famous building is by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim monk, Faxian, who visited it in 400 and described it as being over 40 chang in height (probably about 120 m. or 394 ft) and adorned "with all precious substances". "Of all the stûpas and temples seen by the travellers, none can compare with this for beauty of form and strength." It was destroyed by lightning and repaired several times. It was still in existence at the time of Xuanzang's visit in 634. From the ruined base of this giant stupa there existed a jewelled casket containing relics of the Buddha, and an inscription identifying Kanishka as the donor, and was excavated from a chamber under the very centre of the stupa's base, by a team under Dr. D.B. Spooner in 1909. The stupa was roughly cruciform in shape with a diameter of 286 ft (87 m.) and heavily decorated around the sides with stucco scenes.
His grandson, Akbar, formally named the city Peshawar which means "The Place at the Frontier" in Persian and expanded the bazaars and fortifications.
The Sikhs, who were oppressed under the Mughal rule then invaded and conquered Peshawar in 1834 after wresting it from Afghanistan. In the wars between to two nations, Peshawar's own Shalimar Gardens were destroyed, not to mention the dwindling of the city's population by almost half.
With the rapid collapse of the Sikh Empire caused by internal fighting after the Kings death and its defeat in the second Anglo-Sikh War, the British eventually occupied the city. They continued to rule from 1849 to 1947, when the city became part of the new nation of Pakistan.
Sometime in the 1st millennium BCE, the group that now dominates Peshawar began to arrive from the Suleiman Mountains of southern Afghanistan to the southwest, the Pashtuns. Whether or not the Pashtuns existed in the region even earlier is debatable, as evidence is difficult to attain. Some writers such as Sir Olaf Caroe write that a group that may have been the Pakhtuns existed in the area and were called the Pactycians by Herodotus and the Greeks, which would place the Pakhtuns in the area of Peshawar much earlier along with other Aryan tribes. Ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Rig-Veda, speak of an Aryan tribe called the Pakht, living in the region. Regardless, over the centuries the Pakhtuns would come to dominate the region and Peshawar has emerged as an important center of Pakhtun culture along with Kandahar and Kabul as well as Quetta in more recent times. Muslim Arab and Turkic arrived and annexed the region before the beginning of the 2nd millennium. The Pakhtuns began to convert to Islam following early annexation by Arab empire from Khurasan (in what is today western Afghanistan and northeastern Iran).[8]
“ Sebuktagin dying in 997 was succeeded as governor of Khorasan by his son Mahmud , who throwing of all dependence on the Samani princes,assumed the title of Sultan in 999, and from this reign the Hindu religion in these parts may be said to have received a death blow . In the early reign of this celebrated invader of India the plains of Peshawar were again the scene of some great battles , the first of which was fought on the maira between Nowshera and the Indus , in the year 1001 . Mahumad was opposed by Jaipal , who had been constantly endevouring to recover the country wrested from him by Sebuktagin , still aided by some Pathans whose allegiance to the Muhammadan governor of Peshawar was not of long continuance . The battle took place on 27th November and the Hindus were one again routed , Jaipal himself being taken prisoner , who upon his subsequent release , resigned the crown to his son Anandpal . On this occasion Mahmud punished the Pathans who had sided with the enemy , and as they were now converted entirely to the Muhammadan faith , they were ever afterwards true to their new allegiance , and joined the Sultan in all his wars against the infidels .[9]
Pakistan's Buddhist Gandhara heritage
Gandhara – the pinnacle of Buddhist Civilization at the time Venerable Mahinda's father, Emperor Ashoka, ruled a greater part of the Indian sub-continent – Arahat Mahinda poplular buddist guru in sri lanka is from Gandhara that Buddhism spread to Sri Lanka and other Asian countries during Ashoka's reign.
The name Gandhara is virtually synonymous with Buddhist art and culture throughout the world.
Although there is hardly any Buddhists or Buddhist clergy in Pakistan today but it is a land blessed with the world's vast cultural treasures linked to the glorious Gandhara Civilization that flourished in the country's northwestern areas. It was here that a sculptural representation of the Buddha first emerged during the rule of Indo-Greek kings who finally embraced Buddhism. The statues - inspired by Greco-Roman art – became an inspiration for Buddhist art in Sri Lanka and other Asian Buddhist countries. Buddhist monks and scholars who traveled to Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan introduced Gandhara Art to those countries.
Gandhara is an insight into the richness of the ancient civilization that remained the cradle of culture and seat of learning and legacy of the ancient world. Most of ancient India's basic philosophy, science, physics, mathematics, medicine, and grammar originated from this region where most famous specimen is the Taxila University. Named after the city where it is located, this university, the world's oldest seat of higher learning having been in existence even before the time of the Buddha and even before the Achaemanid rulers who occupied the Taxila valley in 6th- 5th century B.C. Taxila (or Takshasila), which came under the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1980, figures prominently in Buddhist literature. The city flourished from fourth millennium B.C to the 6th Century A.D.
During Emperor Asoka's reign, the network of Buddhist monastic institutions expanded throughout the Mauryan Empire and in Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Gandhara, and the Swat Valley. Archaeological remains of stupas and monasteries established during the Mauryan period show that Buddhist centers in these regions functioned as bases for the transmission of Buddhism to Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
One of the world's best collections of Gandhara art, including statues of the Buddha and bodhisattvas are housed in the Peshawar Museum.
Beside Buddhism, many sacred historical places of other religions particularly Sikhism are also present in Pakistan at Hassanabdal, just 15 kms away from Taxila.
In the words of the Nepalese Buddhist Monk, Venerable Lama Mama, "Pakistan is like an ocean rich in Buddhist treasure." (Reloaded Gandhara – 2008)
- Asian Tribune -