Purushapura

Purushapura is the ancient name for the city now identified with Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Sanskrit name is often rendered as Purushapura or Puruṣapura, and is commonly interpreted as “city of men” or “city of rulers.” Located in the Peshawar Valley near the Khyber Pass, Purushapura was a major urban center in the Gandhara region along ancient trade routes that connected Central Asia with the Indian subcontinent.

Historically, Purushapura rose as an important political and commercial hub under successive powers, including the Indo-Greeks and especially the Kushan Empire (roughly 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE). It benefited from its position on the Silk Road, serving as a gateway between northern and southern Asia. The city was part of the Gandharan cultural milieu, which produced distinctive Buddhist art and monasteries that blended Greek artistic influence with local traditions.

In later centuries, political shifts, invasions, and changing trade patterns diminished Purushapura’s prominence as a capital. The area remained inhabited and continued to be referenced in medieval Islamic and Persian sources, but the political center shifted to other sites. In the modern era, the city is a densely populated urban center, and the historical name Purushapura survives primarily in archaeological and historical scholarship identifying Peshawar with the ancient Gandharan city.