the palm leaf

When Alexander reached Punjab in 327 BC, Takshashila, the world's oldest university had established itself as a place of learning. John Keay in his book India: a History" writes

Students went there to learn the purest Sanskrit. Kautilya, whose Arthashashtra is the classic Indian treatise on statecraft, is said to have been born there in the third century BC. It was also in Taxila that, in the previous century, Panini compiled a grammar more comprehensive and scientific than any dreamed of by Greek gammarians.

The glory for the western world is the library of Alexandria, which was sanctioned by Ptolemy I Soter, the successor of Alexander of Macedonia in around 300 BC. While the Maurya empire was in power in India, Euclid (300 BC), Archimedes (287-212 BC), Eratosthenes (276-195 BC) etc were making important science and math discoveries in Alexandria. The Al-Ahram weekly has an article about the ancient Library of Alexandria and the discoveries made there.