Xuanzang left Peshawar and traveled northeast to the Swat Valley. Reaching Oḍḍiyāna, he found 1,400-year-old monasteries, that had previously supported 18,000 monks. The remnant monks were of the Mahayana school. Xuanzang continued northward and into the Buner Valley, before doubling back via Shahbaz Garhi to cross the Indus river at Hund. He visited Taxila which was desolate and half-ruined, and found most of its sangharamas (temples) still ruined and desolate with the state of having become a dependency of Kashmir, with the local leaders fighting amongst themselves for power. Only a few monks remained there. He noted that it had some time previously been a subject of the Kingdom of Kapisa. He went to Kashmir in 631 where he met a talented monk, Samghayasas (), and studied there. In Kashmir, he found himself in another center of Buddhist culture and describes that there were over 100 monasteries and over 5,000 monks in the area. Between 632 and early 633, he studied with various monks, including 14 months with Vinītaprabha ( or ), 4 months with Candravarman ( or ), and "a winter and half a spring" with Jayagupta (). During this time, Xuanzang wrote about the Fourth Buddhist council that took place nearby, ca. 100 AD, under the order of King Kanishka of Kushana. He visited Chiniot and Lahore as well and provided the earliest writings available on the ancient cities. In 634, Xuanzang arrived in Matipura (), known as Mandawar today.