Kandahar was earlier known as Gandhara. How did it later become Kandahar from Gandhara? Much has been told about this in the epic Mahabharata of Ved Vyasji. About 5500 years ago, King Subal ruled over Gandhara. His daughter's name was Gandhari. Gandhari was married to Dhritarashtra, the prince of Hastinapur. Gandhari had a brother named Shakuni. After the death of his father, the entire kingdom of Gandhara came in the hands of Shakuni. When Bhishma had destroyed the entire family of King Subal, in order to avenge him, Shakuni had conspired to destroy the entire Hastinapur by making Kauravas and Pandavas fight among themselves.
It is believed that hundreds of descendants of Kauravas settled in Afghanistan after their defeat at the hands of Pandavas. Here he took refuge in Gandhara, the province of his Shakuni maternal uncle, from here he gradually settled in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
After the end of the Mahabharata period, gradually Buddhism started spreading here. Even Buddhism began to spread rapidly in some parts of Asia. The worship of Lord Shiva gradually started to end from here and after that the followers of Buddhism started promoting their religion. Many Maurya rulers ruled here before the Muslim rulers took over. After that in the 11th century, Mahmud Ghaznavi established his power here and thus Gandhara became Kandahar. Which is now known here as a city named Kandahar. Historical evidence suggests that at that time the state of Gandhara also included some part of present-day northern Pakistan.
The mention of the word Gandhara is found in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, apart from the Rigveda. The word Gandhara means scent and Gandhara means fragrant land. The reason behind this name is that saffron is cultivated here. According to mythological beliefs, one of the names of Lord Shiva is Gandhara. This is mentioned in Shiva Sahasranama. It is believed that the devotees of Lord Shiva used to reside here first. In ancient times some part of north-western Punjab was also amalgamated with Gandhara.
