The northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent is a well-studied region. An extensive range of ancient historical sources have been employed to study the region, thereby contributing to its rich histori- ography. The history of scholarly interest in the region may be traced back to the early seventeenth century due to the antiquarian pursuits of the European travellers and explorers to the Indian subcontinent, 1 one of the earliest being the French scholar and antiquarian named Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580–1637), whose chief interest in India was to collect information about Alexander the Great. 2 During the eighteenth century, other French explorers such as Colonel Gen- til and General Perron collected valuable numismatic material from Punjab and also popularized them in Europe, consequently evoking a general interest among Europeans about the presence of Greek civili- zation in India. 3 In the initial stages, the curiosity to look for Greek material remains largely motivated the European urge to study the region. Although this trend continues even in contemporary times, the nineteenth- century marked an important shift on account of the recognition of the emphatic presence of Buddhism in the northwest. This shift was largely actuated by a couple of factors which include the decipherment of ancient scripts such as Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī by James Prinsep; the foundation of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) resulting in the intense archaeological activities and numismatic interest of its first director-general, Alexander Cunningham; and the excavation of a large number of Buddhist art objects by the ASI under James Burgess. Daniel Michon accurately summarizes the initial course of studies on the northwest as antiquarian interest in Punjab was initially dominated by the search for Alexander and evidence of the Greeks, and explorers 4 Region through text Representation of Gandhāra in the Mahābhārata Tanni Moitra 15037-0192d-1pass-r01.indd 104 14-10-2017 15:30:17