Once upon a time, Afghanistan was not how we see it today, that is what studies say. It was once known as Gandhara and the fact that it still has a city known by the name of Kandahar confirms the truth. As per the experts, the Gandhara kingdom covered portions of today’s northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. It was spread over Pothohar Plateau, Peshawar Valley and Kabul River Valley.
The word Gandhāra finds mention in the Rig Veda, Uttara-Ramayana and Mahabharata. The word means gandha (fragrance), i.e. the land of fragrances. It is said that Gandhara is one of the names of Lord Shiva as mentioned in the Sahastranaam (thousand names) that was obtained by Lord Krishna from sage Upamanyu in the Mahabharata. The same was narrated to Yudhisthira, Bhishma and other members of the Kuru clan. It is possible that the devotees of Shiva were the first inhabitants of Gandhara.
As per the sources, it is believed that people lived on the banks of River Kabul (also Kabol or Kubhā) right till its confluence with the River Indus since the Vedic times.

It is believed that northwest Punjab was also a part of Gandhara once. Studies state that it was a significant route of communication with ancient Iran, India and Central Asia for commercial purposes.
Significance of Gandhara in Mahabharata
Mahabharata, the scripture authored by sage Veda Vyasa also mentions the Kingdom of Gandhara. As the story goes, King Subala ruled Gandhara some 5500 years ago. He had a daughter named Gandhari, who was married to the prince of Hastinapur kingdom, Dhritrashtra. Gandhari also had a brother, Shakuni, who later took over the kingship of Gandhara after his father’s death. Gandhari gave birth to a hundred sons, who became famous as the Kauravas.
It is believed that after failing miserably at the hands of the Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata war, several Kaurava descendants settled in the Gandhara kingdom. Later, they slowly migrated to today’s Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

How Gandhara became Qandhar (currently Kandahar)?
With the spread of Buddhism in the Gandhara region, including parts of Asia, Shiva worship was slowly wiped out. A few Mauryan kings ruled Gandhara for some time until the invading Muslims, including Mahmud Ghazni, took over the reins in the early 11th century. The rest, as they say, is history.
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