[Ar.saurabh_in]

The ancient site of Taxila was identified by Cunningham with the mound of
Shahdheri, nearly one mile northeast of Kala-Ka-Sarai, in the district of Rawalpindi.
The site is situated at a distance of nearly 20 miles, northwest of modern city of
Rawalpindi.

To the east of Indus, Taxila was a trade center par excellence. Taxila gave an easy
access to the Indus system and thus to the Arabian Sea and to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

The three successive urban settlements of Taxilla the Bhir mound, Sircap and
Sirsukh, grew in the western part of the northern valley within three and a half miles of
one another.