University of ancient Taxila

The university of ancient Taxila (ISO: Takṣaśilā Viśvavidyālaya) was a center of the Gurukula system of Sanskrit and Vedic learning 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.
Shown in Punjab Show map of Punjab, Pakistan University of ancient Taxila (Pakistan) Show map of Pakistan
Location	Taxila, Punjab,  Pakistan
Region	South Asia
Coordinates	33.74°N 72.78°E / 33.74; 72.78
Type	Centre of learning
Part of	Ancient higher-learning institutions
History
Founded	c. 5th century BCE
Abandoned	c. 5th century CE
Site notes
Condition	Ruins
Ownership	Government
Public access	Yes

Early history of Taxila

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

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

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

• Pāṇini, the 4th century BCE grammarian, possibly from Gandāra^[2]
• Chanakya, the influential, 4th century BCE, Prime Minister of the founder of the Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta Maurya, is also said to have been teaching at Taxila.^[16]
• Kumāralāta, according to the 3rd century CE Chinese Buddhist monk and traveller Yuan Chwang, Kumāralāta, the founder of Sautrāntika school was also an excellent teacher at Taxila and attracted students from as far as China. ^[17]

Students

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

• Sharada Peeth
• Nalanda Mahavihara (Mid 5th Century CE)
• Odantapuri Mahavihara (8th century CE)
• Vikramashila Mahavihara (late 8th century CE)
• Ancient institutions of learning in the Indian subcontinent