Gandhara was an ancient region in the north-west of Pakistan and parts of north-east Afghanistan with its core at Peshawer basin and Swat Valley but influence going far up to Kabul and the Pothohar Plateau.[1][2] This region played an important role in the history of South Asia and East Asia.[3] Following is the list of important Gandharans from modern day's Gandhara region in chronological order;
Important Gandharans who influenced Ancient India include;
See also: Gandharan Buddhism |
Gandharan Buddhist monks directly or indirectly developed important schools and traditions of Buddhism like Nyingma school of Tibet, Sautrāntika school of China, Hossō, Jōjitsu and Kusha-shū schools of Japan, as well as traditions of Dzogchen and Yogachara in East Asia. Gandharans were instrumental in spreading Buddhism to China, Korea and Japan and thus deeply influenced East Asian philosophy, history, and culture. Founders of various buddhist schools and traditions from Gandhara are as follows;
.
Important Gandharans who played a significant role in translation of buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese are as below;
During the ancient era (500 BC-500 AD) there were multiple independent Gandharan rulers. Notable in this era were: