[12] Following the Macedonian downfall, Gandhara became part of the Mauryan Empire with Chandragupta Maurya receiving an education in Taxila under Chanakya and later assumed control with his support.

[13][14] Subsequently, Gandhara was successively annexed by the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Scythians, and Indo-Parthians though a regional Gandharan kingdom, known as the Apracharajas, retained governance during this period until the ascent of the Kushan Empire.

In Greek, Gandhara was known as Paropamisadae[17] One proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word gandhaḥ (गन्धः), meaning "perfume" and "referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they (the inhabitants) traded and with which they anointed themselves".

[23] The geographical location of Gandhara has undergone alterations throughout history, with the general understanding being the region situating between Pothohar in contemporary Punjab, the Swat valley, and the Khyber Pass also extending along the Kabul River.

Backwards projections, based on ancient DNA analyses, suggest ancestors of Swat culture people mixed with a population coming from Inner Asia Mountain Corridor, which carried Steppe ancestry, sometime between 1900 and 1500 BCE.

[35] According to Rigvedic tradition, Yayati was the progenitor of the prominent Udichya (Gandhara and Vahika tribes) and had numerous sons, including Anu, Puru, and Druhyu.

[37][38] The Gandhara tribe, after which it is named, is attested in the Rigveda (c. 1500 – c. 1200 BCE),[39][40] while the region is mentioned in the Zoroastrian Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the seventh most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda.

According to the Jain Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, Nagnajit, or Naggaji, was a prominent king who had adopted Jainism and was comparable to Dvimukha of Pāñcāla, Nimi of Videha, Karakaṇḍu of Kaliṅga, and Bhīma of Vidarbha; Buddhist sources instead claim that he had achieved paccekabuddhayāna.

[42] Due to this important position, Buddhist texts listed the Gandhāra kingdom as one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas ("great realms") of Iron Age South Asia.

[61] The sovereign of Taxila, Omphis, formed an alliance with Alexander, motivated by a longstanding animosity towards Porus, who governed the region encompassed by the Chenab and Jhelum River.

[62] Omphis, in a gesture of goodwill, presented Alexander the great with significant gifts, esteemed among the Indian populace, and subsequently accompanied him on the expedition crossing the Indus.

Under Chanakya's tutelage, Chandragupta received a comprehensive education at Taxila, encompassing various arts of the time, including military training, for a duration spanning 7–8 years.

[75] During this time, Ashoka erected numerous rock edicts in the region in the Kharosthi script and commissioned the construction of a monumental stupa in Pushkalavati, Western Gandhara, the location of which remains undiscovered to date.

This engagement is corroborated by Polybius, who records an instance where Antiochus III the Great descended into India to renew his ties with King Subhagasena in 206 BCE, subsequently receiving a substantial gift of 150 elephants from the monarch.

Around 125 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from the Yuezhi invasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of the Jhelum River.

This epigraphic source further articulates that King Vijayamitra, a descendant of Vijayakamitra, approximately half a century subsequent to the initial inscription, is credited with its restoration following inflicted damage.

[86] Some Aprachas are documented on the Silver Reliquary discovered at Sirkap, near Taxila, designating the title "Stratega," denoting a position equivalent to Senapati, such as that of Indravarma who was a general during the reign of the Apracharaja Vijayamitra.

Indravarmas son Aspavarma is situated between 20 and 50 CE, during which numismatic evidence overlaps him with the Indo-Scythian ruler Azes II and Gondophares of the Indo-Parthians whilst also describing him as 'Stratega' or general of the Aprachas.

[90] In accordance with a Buddhist Avadana, Aspavarma and a Saka noble, Jhadamitra, engaged in discussions concerning the establishment of accommodation for monks during the rainy seasons, displaying that he was a patron of Buddhism.

For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings held Taxila (in the present Punjab province of Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence, the capital shifted between Kabul and Peshawar.

[97] It was noted by Philostratus and Apollonius of Tyana upon their visit with Phraotes in 46 AD, that during this time the Gandharans living between the Kabul River and Taxila had coinage of Orichalcum and Black brass, and their houses appearing as single-story structures from the outside, but upon entering, underground rooms were also present.

With fervent support from the populace, Phraotes led a triumphant entry into the residence of the usurpers, whilst the citizens brandished torches, swords, and bows in a display of unified resistance.

During this period in the 1st century CE, Pliny the Elder notes a list of tribes in the Vahika and Gandhara regions spanning from the lower Indus to the mountain tribes near the Hindu Kush.After passing this island, the other side of the Indus is occupied, as we know by clear and undoubted proofs, by the Athoae, the Bolingae, the Gallitalutae, the Dimuri, the Megari, the Ardabae, the Mesae, and after them, the Uri and the Silae; beyond which last there are desert tracts, extending a distance of two hundred and fifty miles.

Above these peoples there are some mountain tribes, which lie at the foot of Caucasus, the Soseadae and the Sondrae, and, after passing the Indus and going down its stream, the Samarabriae, the Sambraceni, the Bisambritae, the Orsi, the Anixeni, and the Taxilae, with a famous city, which lies on a low but level plain, the general name of the district being Amenda: there are four nations here, the Peucolaitae, the Arsagalitae, the Geretae, and the Assoi.The Kushans conquered Bactria after having been defeated by the Xiongnu and forced to retreat from the Central Asian steppes.

[108] In 78 CE the Indo-Parthians seceded Gandhara to the Kushans with Kujula Kadphises son Vima Takto succeeding the Apracharaja Sases in Taxila and further conquering Tianzhu (India) before installing a general as a satrap.

[109][110] According to the Xiyu Zhuan, the inhabitants residing in the upper reaches of the Kabul River were extremely wealthy and excelled in commerce, with their cultural practices bearing resemblance to those observed in Tianzhu (India).

[156][157] The last to disappear was Tirahi, still spoken some years ago in a few villages in the vicinity of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, by descendants of migrants expelled from Tirah by the Afridi Pashtuns in the 19th century.

[169] Tāranātha wrote that in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jālandhra monastery during the time of Kaniṣka, suggesting some institutional strength for Mahāyāna in the north-west during this period.

[169] Edward Conze goes further to say that Prajñāpāramitā had great success in the north-west during the Kushan period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early Mahāyāna, but not its origin, which he associates with the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism.

[172] Sacred artworks and architectural decorations used limestone for stucco composed by a mixture of local crushed rocks (i.e. schist and granite) which resulted compatible with the outcrops located in the mountains northwest of Islamabad.