A question that often arises from our readers is ‘just who was the oldest known ruler of Lahore? Also ever since I wrote that Lahore had a 700-year long Buddhist period, it evoked wonderment, if disbelief is not a better description. Better still how and why did the Buddhist period end. The first question was a difficult one to pin down. But then research does provide reasonable answers. The fact remains that the oldest ‘known’ ruler was Puskara Sarin, a Kshatriya by caste, a Khatri by clan and a Kohli by tribe. Complex as that may sound let us delve into some history.

Let it be clear that surely there would have been earlier rulers, but the known ones we are discussing. In recent times two respectable Indian prime ministers, Inder Kumar Gujral, born in Pakistan’s Jhelum, and Sardar Manmohan Singh, born in Gah village of Chakwal in Pakistan, were also of Kshatriya-Khatri-Kohli lineage. After all Hinduism was born in the land of Pakistan, as were all their holy books written here. These are undeniable facts, not that it matters.

Now let us see what we know of Puskara - or Puskarasarin as known in Sanskrit - as some books refer to him as. He ruled in the 6th century BC and technically was king of the ‘Iron-Age Indo-Aryan kingdom of Gandhara’ as Wikipedia describes him. One Pali source describes him as a Brahmin with immense knowledge of the sciences, with a lot of wealth and very handsome. He had an immense interest in Buddhism and to Buddha he sent a courtier named Ambattha to meet, and report. The Buddha refused to see him as his clothes were dirty. Puskara went himself to apologise. After spending some time with the Buddha the king – Puskara - himself turned to the Buddhist faith.

We know from Cuyler Young’s ‘Early History of the Medes’ as well as ‘The Cambridge Ancient History’ Vol. 4 (CUP), that Puskara Sarin became the ruler of Gandhara in 550 BC, that was 2,575 years before the present times – that is 2025 AD. Just for ‘time perspective’ we know that Islam was revealed over a 23-year period ending in 632 AD. So Buddhism appeared 1,182 years before Islam was revealed. Furthermore, the Greek invader Alexander entered the sub-continent 225 years after.

Puskara Sarin was the ruler when Gandhara was the largest power in the sub-continent, ruling over the whole of Punjab, with Lahore as an important military point. Just as a reference among the various items discovered in the archaeological dig in the Lahore Fort in 1959 opposite the Dewan-e-Aam, though at 50 feet ancient pottery times by carbon-dating at 4,500 years ago, at a higher-level Gandhara pottery timed at 2,550 years was also discovered. As such the reign of Puskara Sarin is described as being of the South Asian Iron Age, which spread as far as “Madraspatnam” or now called Chennai. If this be the case then in the reign of Puskara Sarin though Gandhara was the central capital, Lahore and other relevant cities had their own importance. As Lahore had a river port its priority in trade had its own place. In that time period, Lahore consisted of approximately seven ‘walled’ mounds, and at the Mohallah Maullian inside Lohari Gate were found pottery times at 3,250 years. So for the great Gandhara ruler Lahore Fort and the smaller walled mounds, it was an important site for forward thinking.

When Pushkara Sarin came to power his religion was Vedic, probably a local variation of the emerging deity-based faiths. After meeting Buddha the ruler was influenced enough to accept Buddhism. At this point we understand that he spread the faith preached by Gautam Buddha. One account tells us that this was the beginning of Lahore being an important Buddhist city. There is proof of the Buddha coming to Lahore and staying in Mohallah Maullian. In that time period the Avanti reign, one of the six great reigns of the sub-continent, was rising and came into conflict with Pushkara Sarin. The Mahabharata describes this conflict. The Avanti people followed initially the faith of idol worshipping, and then went over to Buddhism and finally Jainism. This is the path that the people and the rulers of Lahore also followed. In the conflicts that followed between Puskara Sarin and the Avanti ruler Pradyota, which led to the war between the Punjabi tribes of Pandavas and the expansionists Pradyota of the Avanti. But then the Gandhara-Lahore ruler got along with Bimbisara of Magadha. The alliance proved too much for the Avanti expansionists.

In the last years of the rule of Puskara Sarin, we see an invasion of the sub-continent by the Persian Empire ruler Cyrus the Great, who marched with his massive army into the western portion of Gandhara. There are two versions of the actual Persian conquest. One says that Cyrus managed to only capture the western portion of the Indus, which included Peshawar. However, another version tells us that Cyrus did capture Gandhara but withdrew, leaving Gandhara and the Punjab headquartered at Lahore with Puskara Sarin. However, according to the scholar Buddha Prakash, Puskara Sarin could have led the fight against the Persians expansion. One account claims that Pushkara Sarin defeated Cyrus. That account claims that the Persians under Darius managed to conquer Gandhara. Tablets and monuments in Peshawar and Taxila do indicate such a happening. Here a strange claim in Buddhist texts points out that Puskara Sarin renounced his kingship and became a monk and a disciple of Buddha. But what is certainly claimed is that Lahore had become completely Buddhist. Now let us move over to when Buddhism completely disappeared from Lahore. In an earlier piece this was described but not the time period involved.

In 502 AD, the Alcon Huns invaded the sub-continent and their leader Mihirugula set up their capital at Sagala, the modern Sialkot. They initially appreciated Buddhism, but when they got to Lahore the Hindu Brahmins put it to them that how can any religion exist without a god.

Buddhism was the one religion where people found the answers to their problems within themselves. They abhorred deities and gods of different types. They searched within themselves. In a way the Sufis of today follow an almost similar track, only they ascribe to it the ways of Allah. The Brahmins won the mind of the Huns, and they started killing every Buddhist they came across and knocked down their temples. Within a few months Lahore had lost all its Buddhists, and the city was almost empty. The Brahmins had won. By the year 530 AD came Lahore was without any Buddhist. So a belief system that set up in Lahore in 550 BC was ended by 530 AD - almost 980 years. Buddhism was lost to Lahore. The strict Brahmin priests had established themselves. It was the invasion of Lahore by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1021 that Lahore saw the next religion - Islam – to make an appearance. But then to be honest even till 1947 the city of Lahore had at the most a 57 per cent Muslim population. Such has been the sway of beliefs.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2025