Editing Peshawar (section)

==== White Huns ====
The [[Hephthalite Empire|White Huns]] devastated ancient Peshawar in the 460s CE,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Saletore |first1=Bhasker Anand |title=India's Diplomatic Relations with the East |date=1960 |publisher=Popular Book Depot}}</ref> and ravaged the entire region of Gandhara, destroying its numerous monasteries.<ref name="Basic Books">{{cite book |last1=Wriggins |first1=Sally |title=The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang |date=2008 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-7867-2544-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSYKO5zLgZkC&q=xuanzang+peshawar&pg=PT60 |access-date=29 March 2017 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307070303/https://books.google.com/books?id=eSYKO5zLgZkC&q=xuanzang+peshawar&pg=PT60 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kanishka stupa was rebuilt during the White Hun era with the construction of a tall wooden superstructure, built atop a stone base,<ref name="Le" /> and crowned with a 13-layer copper-[[gilding|gilded]] ''[[Chatra (umbrella)|chatra]]''.<ref name="Le" /> In the 400s CE, the [[China|Chinese]] Buddhist [[pilgrim]] ''[[Faxian]]'' visited the structure and described it as "the highest of all the towers" in [[Jambudvipa|the "terrestrial world"]],<ref name="Le" /> which ancient travelers claimed was up to {{cvt|560|ft|m}} tall,<ref name="Le" /> though modern estimates suggest a height of {{cvt|400|ft|m}}.<ref name="Le" />

In 520 CE the Chinese monk [[Song Yun]] visited Gandhara and ancient Peshawar during the White Hun era, and noted that it was in conflict with nearby ''Kapisa''.<ref name="autogenerated1962">{{cite book |last1=Cotton |first1=James |title=Imperial Gazetteer of India:Gazetteers of British India, 1833–1962 Volume 20 of Imperial Gazetteer of India |url=https://archive.org/details/imperialgazettee20grea |date=1908 |publisher=Clarendon}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dani |first1=Ahmad Hasan |title=Peshawar: Historic City of the Frontier |url=https://archive.org/details/peshawarhistoric0000dani |url-access=registration |date=1995 |publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications |isbn=9789693505542}}</ref> The Chinese monk and traveler [[Xuanzang]] visited ancient Peshawar around 630 CE,<ref>{{cite book |last1=hastings |first1=captain e. g. g. |title=report of the regular settlement of the peshawar district of the punjab |date=1878 |publisher=Oxford University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7JoIAAAAQAAJ&q=sung+yun+peshawar&pg=PA312 |access-date=29 March 2017 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307070311/https://books.google.com/books?id=7JoIAAAAQAAJ&q=sung+yun+peshawar&pg=PA312 |url-status=live }}</ref> after ''Kapisa'' victory, and expressed lament that the city and its great Buddhist monuments had decayed to ruin<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zhang |first1=Guiyong |title=Chinese History: Middle ages |date=1978 |publisher=China Academy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQdGAAAAMAAJ&q=peshawar+middle+ages |access-date=24 March 2017 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307070311/https://books.google.com/books?id=PQdGAAAAMAAJ&q=peshawar+middle+ages |url-status=live }}</ref>—although some monks studying [[Theravada Buddhism]] continued to study at the monastery's ruins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heirman |first1=Ann |last2=Bumbacher |first2=Stephan Peter |title=The Spread of Buddhism |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789047420064}}</ref> Xuanzang estimated that only about 1,000 families continued in a small quarter among the ruins of the former grand capital.<ref name="Basic Books" />