Ancient Institutions of learning in Pakistan

The region of modern day's Pakistan has a long history of education and learning, from the era of Indus Valley Civilization , where Indus script, the first script in South Asia was created in what is now Harrapa in Pakistan during 2700–1900 BCE. Another script with the name of Kharosthi was developed independently from other regions of South Asia in Gandhara, northern Pakistan. It was used in Central Asia as well. An abugida, it was introduced at least by the middle of the 3rd century BCE, possibly during the 4th century BCE, and remained in use until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE, it remained in use during the time period of 400 BCE-300 CE.

example of Kharosthi script, developed in Gandhara in Pakistan

example of Indus script, developed in Harrapa in Pakistan

Important ancient institutions of learning in the region of modern day's Pakistan are as follows;

Takshashila

The University of ancient Taxila was a renowned ancient institute of higher-learning located in the city of Taxila. According to scattered references that were only fixed a millennium later, it may have dated back to at least the fifth century BC. Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the sixth century BC. The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was most likely still provided on an individualistic basis.

Ruins of University of Taxila

Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the fifth century AD.

It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BC, and continued to attract students until the destruction of the city in the fifth century AD.

Important Teachers

Important teachers that are said to be teaching at university of Taxila include;

• Pāṇini, the great 5th century BCE Indian grammarian Pāṇini is said to have been born in Shalatula near Attock, not far from Taxila. This region was then part of Gandāra satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, but the ethnicity in his name or the way of his life shows that he was of Indian origin. He is likely to have been teaching at Taxila university.
• Chanakya, the influential Prime Minister of the founder of the Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta Maurya, is also said to have been teaching at Taxila.
• Kumāralāta, according to the 3rd century Chinese Buddhist monk and traveller Yuan Chwang, Kumāralāta, the founder of Sautrāntika school was also an excellent teacher at Taxila university and attracted pupil from as far as China.
• Vasubandhu, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism is said to be teaching there. His famous pupil includes Dharmakirti and Dignaga.

Important Students

Students with their oblong palettes used for writing, in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. The young Buddha accompanying them to go to school is also part of the complete scene. 2nd-3rd century CE, Victoria and Albert Museum.

Bhir Mound, excavation of ancient buildings.

Important pupil from ancient University of Taxila includes;

• King Pasenadi of Kosala, a close friend of the Buddha
• Bandhula, the commander of Pasedani's army
• Aṅgulimāla, a close follower of the Buddha. A Buddhist story about Aṅgulimāla (also called Ahiṃsaka, and later a close follower of Buddha), relates how his parents send him to Taxila to study under a well-known teacher. There he excels in his studies and becomes the teacher's favorite student, enjoying special privileges in his teacher's house. However, the other students grow jealous of Ahiṃsaka's speedy progress and seek to turn his master against him. To that end, they make it seem as though Ahiṃsaka has seduced the master's wife.
• Jivaka, court doctor at Rajagriha and personal doctor of the Buddha.
• Charaka, the Indian "father of medicine" and one of the leading authorities in Ayurveda, is also said to have studied at Taxila, and practiced there.
• Chandragupta Maurya, Buddhist literature states that Chandragupta Maurya, the future founder of the Mauryan Empire, though born near Patna (Bihar) in Magadha, was taken by Chanakya for his training and education to Taxila, and had him educated there in "all the sciences and arts" of the period, including military sciences. There he studied for eight years. The Greek and Hindu texts also state that Kautilya (Chanakya) was a native of the northwest Indian subcontinent, and Chandragupta was his resident student for eight years. These accounts match Plutarch's assertion that Alexander the Great met with the young Chandragupta while campaigning in the Punjab.

Sharada Peeth

It is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in present-day Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, stories recount scholars travelling long distances to access its texts. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the Sharada script in North India.

Library at Sharada Peeth

Sharada Peeth was also valued by scholars across the Indian subcontinent for its library, and stories detail long journeys they would take to consult it.

• In the 11th century, the Vaishnava saint Swami Ramanuja traveled from Srirangam to Sharada Peeth to refer to the Brahma Sutras, before commencing work on writing his commentary on the Brahma sutras, the Sri Bhasya.

17th-century birch bark manuscript of Pāṇini's grammar treatise from Sharada Peeth

• The 13th century CE (1277 – 78) text Prabhāvakacarita contains a story of the Śvētāmbara scholar Hemachandra. As Sharada Peeth was the only place with a library known to have all such works available in their complete form, Hemachandra requested King Jayasimha Siddharaja to send a team to retrieve copies of the existing eight Sanskrit grammatical texts preserved there. These supported his own text of Sanskrit grammar, the Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāśana.

Important Students

The important pupil who studied here include:

• Kumarajiva (344 – 413 CE) was born to a Kashmiri father, Kumārāyana, and a Chinese mother from Kucha. He was sent to Kashmir at a young age to gain a grounding in Buddhism, where he studied under a Kashmiri scholar of the Sarvastivada school.
• Thonmi Sambhota (7th century CE) was sent on a mission to Kashmir to procure an alphabet for the Tibetan language. There, he learned various scripts and grammar treatises from learned pandits, and then devised a script for Tibetan based largely on the Sharada alphabet.

Thonmi Sambhota, inventor of Tibetan script

• Rinchen Zangpo, a principal lotsawa or translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan, is also said to be studied here.

Ruins of Sharada Peeth

• The Kashmiri historian Kalhana Pandit
• Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara.

See also

• List of people from Gandhara
• Sharada Peeth
• University of ancient Taxila
• Pre-Islamic scripts of Pakistan

References

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