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Taxila is a ‘ city of secrets and rich history ‘
The passage to the ruins at hillock from the main the main road is
Taxila is a ‘ city of secrets and rich history ‘
Taxila city is 35 km, which is 20
minute drive from Islamabad
towards the northwest where the civilization of
Gandhara exist
Taxila original name was Takshasila.
After being destroyed 3 times
by the earth quake it was made earth quake proof.
Its name was
change from Takshasila to Taxila where the word tax means to cut
and sila means stone cut of stone city
Taxila is one of richest South Asia
archeologist site.
Taxila is a testament to Buddhism.
The Buddha himself spent 40
years in life traveling and teaching in this part
of Pakistan and
many says that it is from here the modern Buddhism takes its
roots.
The Greeks came to Taxila under the banner of the conqueror,
Alexander
the great.
Buddhism religion finds its roots in
the subcontinent so it is not
surprising that some of the best archeologist
figures for Buddhism
are in Pakistan. Taxila is one of the greatest.
Taxila Museum
Taxila Museum is located 35 km from
Islamabad on the Grand
Trunk Road to Peshawar. Founder of the museum is Sir
John
Marshall, who was then the director Genral of Archeology in India.
He was
behind the Greek style concept of the museum.
It has many significant finds from
the Taxila site. And is perhaps
few of the museums in the world that tells the
story of Europe
meeting the Far East. Museum is most noted for its Buddhist
sculpture with features that were created when Alexander the great
visited here
in some 2400 years ago.
This is a site museum and its
collection consists of objects from the
period 600 B.C to 500 AD. Related to
Buddhist, Hindu and Jain
religions objects discovered from three ancient cities
are more than
twenty Buddhist stupas and monasteries and Greek temples. The
collection of Stone Buddhist sculpture from the first to the seventh
centuries
in Pakistan is called Gandharan Art. There are 5000
objects displayed,
including stone, stucco, terracotta, silver, gold,
iron and semiprecious
stones.
The material has been presented in
the six galleries of the
museum. In the middle of the halls are table
showcases & other
objects have been exhibited in the wall showcases as
well.
As we enter the museum, there is a
main big hall, which has a
complete stupa from the Buddhist monastery of Mohra
Moradu to
showcase. Archaeological map of Taxila is present on its left side.
Table showcases exhibit small finds. The wall show cases schist
stone
sculptures on the two sides. The museum presents scenes
from the life of the
Buddha and examples of Gandharan Art. Red
sand stone sculptures, two sandstone
sculptures have also been
displayed.
The second hall to the left has
stucco sculptures from Mohra
Moradan in the wall showcases and Buddhist sculptures
brought
from Julian monastery. On the floor are glazed tiles of the Kushan
a
period.
In the third hall they have stucco
heads on the hall showcases. The
heads show different faces and hairstyles. The
big Buddha heads
are typically Gandharan in style.
Through the main hall, we can enter
a small fourth hall, which has
silver and gold jewelry and coins of the local
kings in the display.
The gold jewellery is in foreign as well as local styles.
In the fifth small hall the first
object is an Aramaic inscription of
King Asoka. Then we see a series of
inscription written in
Kharoshthi and also in Brahmi on paper. Then we see
small
terracotta figurines and a small terra cotta ceremonial tank model.
On
the opposite wall there are iron objects; arrowheads, nails,
horse strips and
plough.
Finally when we enter the last sixth
hall, on the wall showcases we
see silver glasses of different shapes, bowls
and spoons, toilet
trays, small pottery pieces, bowls and plates of terracotta
and
pottery arranged for distillation. On the floor are big storage jars,
pestle and mortar and saddle querns.
It is one of the best museum in the
whole world. Its timings are
from 8 30 to 530 in summer and from 9-4 in winter.
SIRKAP
The Greeks came to Taxila under the
banner of the conqueror,
Alexander the great. They built Taxila 1stcity and
called it Sirkap.
The city was first of its kind in South Asia using the same
building
style that was found in the Asian Greek capital of Athens. Today
all
that is left is roads and building foundations. Sirkap history
spends for over
1000 years that involves different empires
conquering and rebuilding it.
It is the second major ancient city
at Taxila. It is known as Sirkap
after the name of a wicked character
of a folk legend, “Raja Rasalu
and seven demons” that is said to have lived on
this site. The
excavation of this old city was carried out by H. Hargreaves
during
1912-1930 under the direction of Sir John Marshall and in 1944-45
by Sir
Mortimer Wheeler and his colleagues.
Sirkap is part of the larger
archaeological complex at Taxila, now
located in the modern state of Pakistan,
in the province of Punjab.
The archaeological complex at Taxila, of which
Sirkap is one site,
is located about 22 kilometers to the west of Islamabad,
and about
25 kilometers to the northwest of the city of Rawalpindi.
The great city was one time termed
the greatest university for law,
history and medicine on subcontinent. And the
ancient city
architectural design plans was so ahead of its time that it was
put to
use when Islamabad was built some 50 years ago.
It was a well planned city islamabd
is built on this design. It has 2
cities beneath it which is still to be
dugged. When in 1912 digging
was carried out, just to show the signs of 2
cities under it, on one
corner of the city 3 layers were digged which
represents 3 periods
Archaeologists have identified three
phase
1-The first, Demetrian phase of the
Greek city, second century AD.
(picture, bottom)
2- The Saca period, until an
earthquake in ca. 30 CE. (Picture,
center)
3- The Parthian period (picture,
thin layer at the top).
The city is heavily influenced by
Greek city planning principles.
The streets of the city were more regular than
those at Bhir, and the
houses were mostly made of coursed stone. There were
temples,
houses, shrines, and stupas. A stupa is a funeral mound, usually
associated with the death and nirvanas of Buddha. Buddhists
always were the
main religious group, and we find many stupas
in Sirkap.
A straight line, dividing the
1200 m long town into two halves.
The private houses were constructed of rubble
masonry covered
with mud plaster. Usually, they had a small court, a second
floor
and a flat roof. After the earthquake that marks the break between
the
Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian periods, many houses were
rebuilt with stronger
walls and deeper foundations.
THE MAIN ROAD OF SIRKAP
The city is dominated by the main
street along, which small rooms
are meant for shops. As we enter the
gateway,we see the refuse the
walls just inside, and than the passage bends and
we have the inner
guard rooms before we reach the main street
Sun Temple
There were sakas people who believed
in sun god. When the city
was digged, a statue of a sun god was found. When Parthian
came
they changed the place and used it as a sun dile. It’s been called a
“SUN
TEMPLE” because the residents used it to know the timing
,standing in front of
the temple to see where the shadow of sun
comes in different angles and
identifying the timings.
Round Stupa
On the left side of Sun temple there is
the solid drum of a round
stupa, is also called private stupa because it was
built in a house.
When it was digged, the statue of a dancer was found Raqasa
Apsidal Temple
After the earthquake that destroyed
the city in 30 AD, the Buddhist
shrine was built in spacious courtyard.The
round part was probably
in use for a small stupa, but no traces of it remain.
Jain Temple
It is a sect of Hindus who believe
in a mahaveer. When mahaveer
died his ashes were divided into different parts.
One part of ashes
is inside it. When city was dugged, some temples of mahaveer
were
found which are now in Taxila museum. Some inscriptions
regarding jain
mark were also found
Juliann Buddhist Monastery
Its real name was Jaye Walian means
place of Walian. It is included
in the Gandharan civilization as one of the
best educational city.
People from different parts of the world used to come
here to learn
Buddhism.
Buddha sculptures found here were
more than anywhere and were
in better condition. Before 600 BC Julian
University was on its
peak. It was created in a top hill mountain which was 100
m above
the ground. What is let over now, one can find signs of kitchen,
bathrooms dining room and places of worship there. Many stupas
were built
here. Places of worship are covered with roofs of steel.
At that time whenever
monks’ type people used to come here to
worship main stupa than just as a favor
before going back they used
to build one small stupa. Here statues of Yunnan
god Atlantes are
also found about which it is said that he is holding skies in
his own
shoulders.
Main statue of Julian which is
mahatma statue is known as statue
for health, people of Buddhism believe that
when an ill person out
his finger in the belly button of it and pray for his
health then he
gets fit. Around main stupa there are about 21 more stupas
Julian
University was burned by Mongol tribal in 400 century and after
1000 of
years these signs were found by South Korean experts. By
promoting Historical
places like Julian, tourism can be enhanced
which in turn will also help
Pakistan economy.
Dharmarajika Stupa (2nd century AD)
The earliest Buddhist monument in
Pakistan.It’s an archeological
site situated about 2km from Taxila Museum.
It was built by Asoka to enshrine
the relics of lord Buddha at the
time of its re distribution to enshrine
them in a number of other
stupas at different places , it is referred that king
asoka opened 7
original old stupas and collected
memento to accept thousand of
stupas and dharmarajika stupa is one of
them.
The stupa is situated in a circular
structure and is about 15 meter
high, raised on a plate form.
The passage to the ruins at hillock from the main the main road is
very fine
and lush green with lots of trees and there seems to be a
small stream from the
old times of Asoka, used to for water supply
to the resident of the shrine and
monastic areas.
Dharmarajika Stupa is one of eight
shrines constructed in the 3rd
century BC during the reign of Emperor Asoka of
the Mauryan
dynasty to house relics of the Buddha. The shrine gradually
expanded, reaching its largest size in the 2nd century A.D. Now a
ruin, the
stupa was once coated with lime plaster and gilding
, though these have fallen
away along with a seven-tier umbrella
stone that once crowned the top. Near the
stupa are the remains of
vast monasteries that are barely distinguishable but
for the
foundation stones
Shrine of Double Headed Eagle
:
There is a double headed eagle
shrine along the main street of
sirkap. Nobody knows its original name.
It is called shrine of
double headed eagle because of the bird on the arch that
has two
heads. The alexander’s army also left the cultural imprint on this
shrine. The pediment of the shrine is of classical greek
architecture. Indian
culture influence can also be seen especially
on the outer side of the shrine.
Bhirmound
:
The ruins of the city were first
discovered in 1913 – 1925 by the Sir
John Marshall and it continued uptill 2002
by different
archeologists. The ruins form a town of irregular shape.
Bhirmound remained very important city as it was the centre of
administration,
education, trade. Bhuddhism became an important
religion during the period of
Ashoka – The grandson of
chandargupta. It was also provincial capital
during mauryan
dynasty.
Jandial Temple :
It is one of the most unique
buildings in Central Asia. It closely
follows the structure of classical
temples of Greece. It consists of a
central shrine with four Ionic columns
supporting a porch. Two
variations are noted in temple layout at Jandial :
Firstly, the roof of
the temple was supported by a wall that had 20 windows
instead of
the Greek colonnade. Secondly, the place of the tower was
traditionally reserved for a chapel. It is probably the only or atleast
one of
the very few greek temples in the subcontinent.
Nicholson Monument
:
There comes a monument enroute the
historical city of taxila. The
monument was constructed in honour
of brigadier general
Nicholson who was a famous british military
figure. It is situated
at the Tarnol pass or Margalla Pass. It was
constructed in 1868. It
is about 40 feet high monument. There is also a
small memorial
fountain at the base of the hillock on which the Memorial
stands.Besides these places, there are also no. of other places that
can be
visited while one is in taxila. No. of good restaurants, hotels
and motels have
been build and they provide good facilities. E.g
Ghandhara hotel,
Ghandhara restaurant, PTDC motel.
There are also hindu temples located
in the heart of town. These
were the temples built by Ram rakhi in memory
of her husband
Bhaghat Lal.
