Английская Википедия:Gandhāra (kingdom)
Шаблон:About Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Use Indian English
Шаблон:Infobox country Gandhāra (Шаблон:Lang-sa) was an ancient Indo-Aryan kingdom of northwestern Indian subcontinent whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The inhabitants of Gandhāra were called the Gāndhārīs.
Location
Шаблон:Multiple image Шаблон:HistoryOfSouthAsia The Gandhāra kingdom of the late Vedic period was located on both sides of the Indus river, and it corresponded to the modern Rawalpindi District of modern-day Pakistani Punjab and Peshawar District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[1]Шаблон:Sfn By the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra had expanded to include the valley of Kaśmīra.Шаблон:Sfn
The capitals of Gandhāra were Takṣaśila (Pāli: Шаблон:Transl; Ancient Greek: Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl), and Puṣkalāvatī (Prākrit: Шаблон:Lang; Шаблон:Lang-grc Шаблон:Transl) or Puṣkarāvatī (Pāli: Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:Sfn
History
Kingdom
The first mention of the Gandhārīs is attested once in the [[Rigveda|Шаблон:Transl]] as a tribe that has sheep with good wool. In the [[Atharvaveda|Шаблон:Transl]], the Gandhārīs are mentioned alongside the Mūjavants, the Āṅgeyas. and the Māgadhīs in a hymn asking fever to leave the body of the sick man and instead go those aforementioned tribes. The tribes listed were the furthermost border tribes known to those in [[Madhyadesha|Шаблон:Transl]], the Āṅgeyas and Māgadhīs in the east, and the Mūjavants and Gandhārīs in the north.[2][3]
The Gāndhārī king Nagnajit and his son Svarajit are mentioned in the [[Brahmana|Шаблон:Transls]], according to which they received Brahmanic consecration, but their family's attitude towards ritual is mentioned negatively,Шаблон:Sfn with the royal family of Gandhāra during this period following non-Brahmanical religious traditions. According to the Jain [[Uttaradhyayana|Шаблон:Transl]], Nagnajit, or Naggaji, was a prominent king who had adopted Jainism and was comparable to Dvimukha of Pāñcāla, Nimi of Videha, Karakaṇḍu of Kaliṅga, and Bhīma of Vidarbha; Buddhist sources instead claim that he had achieved [[Pratyekabuddhayāna|Шаблон:Transl]].Шаблон:Sfn[4]Шаблон:Sfn
By the later Vedic period, the situation had changed, and the Gāndhārī capital of Takṣaśila had become an important centre of knowledge where the men of Шаблон:Transl went to learn the three Vedas and the eighteen branches of knowledge, with the Шаблон:Transl recording that [[Brahmin|Шаблон:Transls]] went north to study. According to the [[Shatapatha Brahmana|Шаблон:Transl]] and the Шаблон:Transl, the famous Vedic philosopher Uddālaka Āruṇi was among the famous students of Takṣaśila, and the Шаблон:Transl claims that his son Śvetaketu also studied there. In the [[Chandogya Upanishad|Шаблон:Transl]], Uddālaka Āruṇi himself favourably referred to Gāndhārī education to the Vaideha king Janaka.Шаблон:Sfn
During the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra was an important imperial power in north-west Iron Age South Asia, with the valley of Kaśmīra being part of the kingdom,Шаблон:Sfn while the other states of the Punjab region, such as the Kekayas, Madrakas, Uśīnaras, and Shivis being under Gāndhārī suzerainty. The Gāndhārī king Pukkusāti, who reigned around 550 BCE, engaged in expansionist ventures which brought him into conflict with the king Pradyota of the rising power of Avanti. Pukkusāti was successful in this struggle with Pradyota, but war broke out between him and the Pāṇḍava tribe located in the Punjab region, and who were threatened by his expansionist policy.[4][5] Pukkusāti also engaged in friendly relations with the king Bimbisāra of Magadha.[4]
Due to this important position, Buddhist texts listed the Gandhāra kingdom as one of the sixteen [[Mahajanapadas|Шаблон:Transls]] ("great realms") of Iron Age South Asia.[6][7]
Conquest by Persia
By the later 6th century BCE, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus, soon after his conquests of Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, marched into Gandhara and annexed it into his empire.[8] The scholar Kaikhosru Danjibuoy Sethna advanced that Cyrus had conquered only the trans-Indus borderlands around Peshawar which had belonged to Gandhāra while Pukkusāti remained a powerful king who maintained his rule over the rest of Gandhāra and the western Punjab.[9]
However, according to the scholar Buddha Prakash, Pukkusāti might have acted as a bulwark against the expansion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire into north-west South Asia. This hypothesis posits that the army which Nearchus claimed Cyrus had lost in Gedrosia had in fact been defeated by Pukkusāti's Gāndhārī kingdom. Therefore, following Prakash's position, the Achaemenids would have been able to conquer Gandhāra only after a period of decline of Gandhāra after the reign of Pukkusāti combined the growth of Achaemenid power under the kings Cambyses II and Darius I.[4] However, the presence of Gandhāra, referred to as Шаблон:Transl in Old Persian, among the list of Achaemenid provinces in Darius's Behistun Inscription confirms that his empire had inherited this region from conquests carried out earlier by Cyrus.[8]
It is unknown whether Pukkusāti remained in power after the Achaemenid conquest as a Persian vassal or if he was replaced by a Persian satrap (governor),[10] although Buddhist sources claim that he renounced his throne and became a monk after becoming a disciple of the Buddha.[11] The annexation under Cyrus was limited to Gandhāra proper, after which the peoples of the Punjab region previously under Gāndhārī authority took advantage of the new power vacuum to form their own states.[4]
See also
References
Further reading
