Gandhara

Gandhara (IAST: Gandhāra) was an ancient Indo-Aryan culture and historical region located in what is now northwestern Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan. Situated at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, it was known for its influential Buddhist culture and absorbed diverse influences from neighbouring areas. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Valley of Peshawar, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus River to Taxila and westwards into the Kabul Valley as far as Bamyan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range, including Swat, Bajaur and other valleys.

Gandhara is named after the Gandhara tribe of the Vedic period, who are attested in the Rigveda (c. 1500 – c. 1200 BCE). Indo-Aryans migrated into the region sometimes between 1900 and 1500 BCE, and mixed with the local population. The Gandhara grave culture (c. 1400–800 BCE) has sometimes been taken as a representative of Indo-Aryan migrations, although it has also been regarded as a local development or a combination of the two.

Gandhara was recognised as one of the sixteen mahajanapadas ("great realms") by the 6th century BCE. It was annexed in the late 6th century BCE by the Achaemenid Empire as the satrapy of Gandāra. During its invasion by Alexander the Great in 327–326 BCE, Gandhara was divided among various polities, notably that of Taxila under king Omphis and the tribes of Aśvaka.

Gandhara became a part of the Maurya Empire in 321 BCE. In the succeeding centuries it was ruled by the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, and the Indo-Parthians; Apracharajas, a regional Gandharan dynasty whose rulers carried the title of Lord of Gandhara, remained autonomous in some parts until the ascent of the Kushan Empire, which saw the zenith of region's cultural and political influence. Gandhara was devastated during the Hunnic invasions, but existed as a core region of the Turk Shahis and Hindu Shahis, before Gandhara as a geographical term faded into obscurity after the Ghaznavid conquest.

Gandhara was a major centre for Greco-Buddhism (4th c. BCE – 5th c. CE) under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties; Gandhara was also the central location for the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Central and East Asia, and was famed for its unique Gandharan style of art influenced by the classical Hellenistic styles. Gandhārī, an Indo-Aryan language written in the Kharosthi script, acted as a lingua franca of the region.