TAKHT-I-BAHI & SHAHBAZ GARHI Mardan, Khyber
Takht-i-Bahi:
The site is considered among the most important relics of Buddhism in all of what was once Gandhara
The monastery was founded in the 1st century CE and was in use until the 7th century
The region was subjugated by the Huns in the middle of the fifth century, which ended the Kushan rule. The Huns slaughtered the inhabitants of the Gandhara region and destroyed most, if not all, Buddhist monasteries. Evidence suggests that Takht-i-Bahi was damaged in the same period by the Huns. However, the complex appears to have been in use until the 7th century
The name Takht-i-Bahi is uncertain. According to a local belief, it got it's name from two wells on the hill or the springs nearby. In Persian, Takht means 'top' or 'throne' while bahi means 'spring' or 'water'
Shahbaz Garhi: Ashokas rock edicts
The town is the location of ancient Indian rock-inscriptions that are cut into two large rock boulders and written in the Kharosthi script
They appear to be the first examples of writing in the subcontinent. They were constructed during the 3rd Century BC (272-231 BC), during the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka
