Gandāra
Gandāra, or Gadāra in Achaemenid inscriptions was one of the easternmost provinces of the Achaemenid Empire in South Asia, following the Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley. It appears in various Achaemenid inscriptions such as the Behistun Inscription, or the DNa inscription of Darius the Great.
The Province was also referred to as Paruparaesanna in the Babylonian and Elamite versions of the Behistun inscription. The extent of this province was apparently wider than the actual geographical region of Gandhara.
According to Herodotus, soldiers of Gandāra participated to the Second Persian invasion of Greece circa 480 BCE. They had a different equipment from the Hindush, rather akin to that of the Bactrians, and were under the command of Artyphius son of Artabanus:
The depiction of Indian soldiers and the names of the three Ancient Indian provinces including Gandāra still appear in trilingual cuneiform labels above their respective figures on the tomb of Artaxerxes II.
of Darius the Great.
