Gandhāra was a land that is now situated partly in Afghanistan and mainly in Pakistan. In the last centuries BCE it was a focul point for Buddhism, through which the religion travelled into Central Asia, China and beyond. It was also one of the three main centres of Buddhist art at the time: Gandhāra, Mathura and Amarāvatī, and produced some of Buddhism’s most iconic images.
This film, which was made for German TV and dubbed into English, is a short overview of the region and its contribution to Buddhism. It features photographs of some of the Buddhist artworks, maps, and computer-generated recreations of monasteries and cities that prevailed in the area.
If you do not know much about Gandhāra or its contribution to Buddhism this will be a good short introduction that should whet your appetite to know more. Pakistan particularly is keen to develop their Buddhist heritage as a tourist attraction, and more people are in fact visiting the country these days.
if the video does not appear on the page, try reloading the page; and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)
to see an album of screenshots click here
We never divided Gandahar between two lands. Ghandahara Civilization is an ancient part of the history of Ariana – Afghanistan, from Helmand to Kandahar, and Peshawar to Chitral.
Gandhara extended between northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Its core center was in the Peshawar, Swat valleys and Taxila of Pakistan, but its cultural and political boundaries stretched westward into the Kabul Valley and Jalalabad in Afghanistan. Gandhara is not same place as Kandahar.