Many major cities mentioned in ancient Indian texts were identified in the 19th century. One of the men who significantly contributed to this field was Sir Alexander Cunningham, an archaeologist who became the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1871. Like others, Cunningham pieced together valuable clues to the location of ancient Indian cities from details given in the classical Graeco-Roman accounts and the travelogs of the Chinese pilgrims Xuanzang and Faxian. Unlike others, however, he routinely confirmed his identifications through field surveys. Cunningham counted among his significant achievements the identifications of Aornos, Taxila, Sangala, Srughna, Ahichchhatra, Bairat, Sankisa, Shravasti, Kausham- bi, Padmavati, Vaishali, and Nalanda. Cunningham had initially identified the site of ancient Taxila (Takshashila) with Manikyala. However, his explorations at Shah-dheri in 1863-64 convinced him that the correct identification lay here. The following extract reveals how he reached this conclusion:
The position of the celebrated city of Taxila has hitherto remained unknown, partly owing to the erroneous distance recorded by Pliny and partly to the desire for information regarding the vast ruins that still exist in the vicinity of Shah-dheri. All the copies of Pliny agree in stating that Taxila was only 60 Roman, or 55 English, miles from Peucolaitis, or Hashtnagar, which would fix its site somewhere on the Haro river, to the west of Hasan Abdal, or just two days’ march from the Indus. But the itineraries of the Chinese pilgrims agree in placing it at three days’ journey to the east of the Indus, or in the immediate neighborhood of Kala-ka-Sarai, which was the third halting-place of the Mogul emperors, and which is still the third stage from the Indus, both for troops and baggage. Now as Hwen Thsang, on his return to China, was accompanied by laden elephants, his three days’ journeys from Takhshasila [sic] to the Indus at Utakhanda, or Ohind, must necessarily have been of the same length as those of modern days, and, consequently, the site of the city must be looked for somewhere in the neighborhood of Ka- la-ka-sarai. This site is found near Shah-dheri, just one mile to the north-east of Kala-ka-sarai, in the extensive ruins of a fortified city, around which I was able to trace no less than 55 stupas, of which two are as large as the great Manikyala tope (i.e., stupa), 28 monasteries, and nine temples. Now the distance from Shah-dheri to Ohind is 36 miles, and from Ohind to Hashtnagar is 38 more, or 74 miles, which is 19 above the distance recorded by Pliny between Taxila and Peukelaotis [sic]. To reconcile these discrepant numbers, I suggest that Pliny’s 60 miles, or LX, be read as 80 miles or LXXX, equivalent to 73% English miles, or within half a mile of the distance between the two places.
Then follows a discussion of Taxila’s history and a detailed description of the mounds at the site, namely Bhir, Hathial, Sirkap, Kacha-kot, Babar Khana, and Sirsukh.
In closing my account of the extensive ruins near Shah-dheri, which I have endeavored to identify with the famous Taxila of the Greeks, I may remark that the identification is most satisfactorily confirmed by the bearings and distances of the following two places visited by Hwen Thsang, both of which will be now de- scribed under the names of Hasan Abdal and Baoti Pind. The ruins at these places form what may be called the western group of the suburban or outlying remains of Taxila, the ancient capital of Panjab.
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Source: Cunningham, 1871: 111-35
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