According to available ancient references, Takshashila was an early Buddhist learning center. Scholars date back this ancient university to the 5th or the 6th century BC.
At ancient Takshashila University, more than 10,500 students (two out of three applicants rejected) came from India and outside (Babylonia-now Iraq, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor-now Turkey, Arabia, and China) to be taught by nearly 2000 master teachers.
The university became a prominent center of learning at least several centuries before Christ and maintained its reputation until the city's destruction in the 5th century AD.