Guide to Historic Taxila
Dani_Professor_Dr..GIF (22364 bytes)
Professor Dr. Ahmad Hasan Dani


PREFACE

Since Sir John Marshall wrote his Guide To Taxila, it has become common to speak of the three cities of Taxila, and the visitors are taken first to Taxila Museum and then to three city sites, and finally to Buddhist establishments, ending with the story that Taxila was destroyed by the Huns in 5th century A.D.

It is just this impression which needs to be corrected. The short guide, presented here, removes such an impression. The three sites are actually three excavation sites but the of Taxila is much more than this. The present Guide begins with prehistoric Taxila, goes on to Taxila of the Aryans,the Achaemenids, Alexander the Great, the Mauryans, later Greeks, Scythians and Parthians, Kushanas, and finally to the time of the Huns and of the Turkishahis, when Shah Dheri, the latest village of the time of Sir Alexander Cunningham, was flourishing in the 19th century along with the Mughal Caravan-Serai, called Saraikala. The last old constructions were at Giri, an route from Taxila to Islamabad by foot, which continued right upto the Muslim period. Into this chronology has been fitted development of the Buddhist monasteries and Gandhara art. With this Guide Book the visitors will have a correct picture of Taxila and they would appreciate and enjoy magnificent ruins in the beauteous valley of Taxila.

Chapter - I Chapter - VI
Chapter - II Chapter -VII
Chapter - III Chapter - VIII
Chapter - IV Chapter - IX
Chapter - V Chapter - X

Taxila Museum

 

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