The Buddhist cultural heritage of Taxila valley: its nature, importance, Preservation & promotion

Abstract

Taxila valley is widely known throughout the world for its Buddhist cultural heritage. The heritage material shows the development of Buddhism in Pakistan over centuries. In fact, it consists of a number of archaeological sites such as Dharmarajika, Jaulian, Mohra- Morado, Bhamala, Badalpur, Giri etc. Interestingly, all these sites have given a good amount of cultural objects which are presently lying in the Taxila museum. Taxila cultural heritage garners special importance in terms of the living monuments of the Buddhist period of the history of Pakistan. But, no doubt this valuable wealth faces some preservation problems, on one hand, and popularization issue, on the other. The preservation problem of Taxilan Buddhist heritage may be encapsulated in terms of lack of proper and updated management and the weather factor in this respect. The present study is an attempt to explore the issue in depth while collecting firsthand information. The issue of preservation and its successful tackling is interlinked with the popularization and promotion of the Buddhist cultural heritage of Taxila. Popularization is meant to bring archaeology to the community in local context and to the general public across the world. This paper also attempts to synthesise the various concepts towards popularization of history and cultural heritage and then to apply them in the context of Taxila. In this way the Buddhist cultural heritage of Taxila would maintain its importance both academic and cultural intact. Resultantly, the heritage belongs to the humanity would be used by scholars in the best interest of human beings in terms of friendly relation, tolerance and mutual coexistence.