TAXILA
Taxila is an archaic place of Pakistan and it is located in the most populous province of Pakistan that is Punjab.Taxila is an ideal place for archeologists of Pakistan to study and describe the ancient times. Taxila contains the damaged remains of the Takshashila city of Gandharan. Takshashila was an important Buddhism and Hinduism learning center since 6th BCE until 5th century CE. Due to its archeological importance and being an archaic place Taxila was declared as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 1980. According to the ancient history, Taxila was located at the crossroads of three major routes of trade of the Asia, these are: the Royal Highway, Through Bactria and Peshawar in the north-western route and third is from Central Asia and Kashmir through Srinagar, Mansehra and Haripur that across the Khunjerab pass to Silk Road. Taxila is about 549 meter high from the sea. It is located approximately 32 km far from the Capital city Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Taxila contains the damaged remains of the buildings that were the part of the Taxila city and Buddistic Stupas that was covering the huge area of Taxila. Mainly Taxila ruins are divided into three cities and each of them belonged to the specific time period. These three cities are as follows:
Bhir Mound: It is the oldest city of Taxila.
Second city was constructed by Kings of Greco-Bactria.
Third city was belongs to the Kushan kings.
Besides these major cities, Buddhists ruins were also the major part of Taxila ruins. An Indian king named as Taksha was found to rule in Taxila, his kingdom was named as Taksha Khanda (Tashkent), at that time; Taksha built the city called Takshashila. Taxila was the learning center of Buddhists and Hinduism and it is considered as the University of ancient times. It was highly honored by the Hindus and Buddhists because of religious values. Taxila is city near Islamabad at current times. It has small colonies where posh and rustic rural environs live. There are hospitals, industries and educational institutes that are located in the modern Taxila city. A British monument called Nicholson's obelisk is located at the grand trunk road and it welcomes the outsiders to the city of Taxila. Current city of Taxila contains industries of heavy machinery manufacturing, cement factory, stoneware, pottery and footwear manufacturing factories. Mughal Gardens are also the memorandum of ancient Taxila that was constructed by Emperor Sher Shah Suri. Taxila museum is dedicated to the Gandhara ruins and it is very popular among tourists. Tourism department of Taxila also built a hotel for tourists. The popular higher education institute of Taxila if University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, besides this university so many other educational institutes are the part of current Taxila city.
