Gandhara, literally meaning the land of fragrance, was an ancient civilization that existed from the middle of the 1st millennium BCE to the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE on the west of River Indus in what is now the northern bounds of Pakistan, namely Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Bajaur, Buner, Mardan and Swabi. The boundaries of Greater Gandhara spread from the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan to the Pothohar (Potwar) Plateau in Pakistan, near the modern city of Islamabad. The civilization consisted of a series of dynasties who ruled over the same region and were mainly connected by their patronage of Buddhism as a religion.
Gandhara was originally a province of the Achaemenid Empire until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 327 BCE. The region became prominent under the Mauryan Empire by Chandragupta Maurya, and was introduced to Buddhism by his grandson, Emperor Ashoka. During Ashoka’s rule, the people of Gandhara accepted Buddhism and spread it across the borders, to China and other regions. The Mauryan Empire declined after Ashoka’s death. For the next four hundred years, Gandhara remained under Bactrian Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and Kushans respectively. Although Buddhism was introduced to Gandhara as early as by Ashoka, it was only after the arrival of the Kushans that the region reached its peak in the history of Buddhism and Gandharan Art.
The decline of the Kushan Empire witnessed a series of short-lived dynasties taking control over Gandhara, and the region was constantly raided and invaded. After its decline, Hinduism revived itself and the Buddhist Gandharan Civilization came to an end.