Pakistan's land has been a cradle of not one but many civilizations forthousands of years. Fossils in the Soan Valley, situated near Islamabad,indicate that homo sapiens, inhabited this land 50,000 years ago. Theearliest human settled habitation and agriculture date back to 7, 000 to 5,000B. C.The Indus Valley Civilization flourished five thousand years ago. TheAryan civilization surfaced around 1, 500 B. C. And then we saw the rise ofGandhara Civilization which in its wake ushered in Buddhism. The adventof Islam in the region added yet another rich civilizational layer to this land.The cities of Mehrghar, Harappa, Moenjodaro, Taxila, Charsada, Peshawar,Lahore, and Multan have the remnants of these civilizations and areinheritors of their glorious traditions.

本书为穆罕默德·瓦利乌拉·汗先生晚年所著，是关于犍陀罗的唯一一本乌尔都文著作，由国家民间与传统遗产研究所出版，出版时间为1988年或1989年。著者曾在犍陀罗地区工作14年之久，在物质条件极为贫乏的漫长岁月里，主要靠步行进行实地考察，故本书除征引大量文献资料外，还能结合著者本人长期考察所得，对犍陀罗的地理沿革、历史兴衰、社会变迁，以及各种宗教和建筑艺术作了较详细的介绍，使读者对犍陀罗有更多、更全面的了解。