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Through the course of history and prehistory, the north western regions of South Asia have been at the crossroads of demographic, cultural, and economic exchanges. Although partially sheltered by the rugged Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Pamir Mountain ranges and harsh deserts, migrations of peoples and exchange of goods and ideas has always been a distinctive feature of these lands. The mighty Indus river has also been a vital means of transportation and the passages and passes cut through the mountains by its many tributaries have enabled the mobility of travellers, traders, and often enough, of invading armies.
The ancient kingdom of Gandhara stretched across much of what is today eastern Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. Although its origins are mired in the shadows of prehistory, archaeological findings and Vedic literature offer hints of its deep antiquity. During the Achaemenid era, Gandhara encompassed the valleys of Kabul and Peshawar and extended far north into the highlands to include Swat, Bajaur, and Buner.1 The Persian Achaemenid rock inscriptions of Behistun, Persepolis, Susa Palace, and Naksh-i-Rustum offer us the glimpse of the name Gandhara as "Gadara" when it lists the Indian satrapies of that vast Empire and proclaims that "Gadara" was conquered by Cyrus the Great (558 B.C.).2
The astounding conquests of Alexander (336-393 B.C.) of Macedonia brought about radical changes in the cultural and artistic fabric of the societies the Greeks defeated. Although the initial political impact of Alexander's triumph on the region was short-lived, the succeeding Seleucid Empire in Western Asia and the eventual establishment of the independent Greek kingdom of Bactria ensured the Greco-Roman influence on the area during much of the fourth, third and second centuries, well into the early first century B.C.E. and the arrival of the Shāka or Scythian hordes who overran much of the former Seleucid Empire and North India. However, in the immediate aftermath of Alexander's conquests, a restructuring of political power in north India resulted in the emergence of a new dynasty and empire under the dynamic Chandragupta Maurya who, in c. 304 B.C.E. managed to extricate Gandhara from the Seleucids and added it to his own expanding domain.
It was during the reign of Chandragupta's equally remarkable grandson Ashoka that an invigorated art and architectural form emerged, an amalgamation...