This is a VLOG by Rizwana Shelley of her visit to Jaulian on March 19th 2023. The site is a ruined university college just outside present day Taxila. Built about 200 BCE, it was devoted to the study of Buddhism and was part of the Gandhara Civilisation. For somebody familiar with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the layout is very similar to that of an Oxbridge College. The only significant differences are that Oxford and Cambridge colleges traditionally have a square lawn in their front quad or court, and this college had a square lotus pond. Also Oxbridge Colleges were very often set up by the Christian Church, but this one was Buddhist.
Pakistan has gone to great efforts to make these sites pleasant and interesting to visit, in order to attract tourists from Buddhist countries, as well as others.
The Gandhara civilisation flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East, connecting trade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse civilizations and continued until it was devastated by the White Huns in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries AD.
Taxila itself, not far from the remains of the ancient university colleges, is a thriving industrial town with a University of Engineering and Technology, established in 1975 and chartered as an independent university in 1993.