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| September 26, 2006 | Tuesday | Ramazan 2, 1427 |
A site revered by people of different faiths
PESHAWAR, Sept 25: Gor Khuttree in the provincial metropolis is an ancient monument and a rich archaeological site revered by people of different faiths.
Excavation at the site revealed that the monument was a natural mound of soil where Buddhists and Hindus performed their religious rituals.
According to a study, Buddhists and Hindus used to perform here the ritual of hair cutting.
Mughal ruler Zaheerudin Babur in his book Babur Nama has mentioned his visit to Gor Khuttree, where he found a heap of hair in the basement of the monument.
According to the study, Hindus came here to perform Sradja, a ritual in honour of their ancestors. Some places in the basement revealed that they were specially built for meditation.
It is believed that Gorak Nath, a spiritual figure of Hindus, used to sit here and people visited him for religious teachings and treatment of diseases.
The mound, during those days, was called ‘Gor De Hatti’ (The seat of Gor) and with the passage of time changed into Gor Khuttree. In Hindko, Hatti is still used, meaning a shop.
The history of Gor Khuttree goes back to the pre-Christian period and to some prominent archaeologists it is the place where the famous Alm Bowl (Tower of Buddha) once stood.
Chinese pilgrim Fahain also spoke of the site. Records show that Mughal rulers, Jehangir and Akbar also visited Gor Khuttree.
Gor Khuttree is as old as the Peshawar city itself which is considered an ancient living city in the South Asia.
The ongoing excavation at Gor Khuttree, for finding the exact archaeological profile of Peshawar, have reached up to the Indo-Greek period, dating back to the 3rd century BC proving that Peshawar has since been a living city.
The excavation will continue to reach the Mauryan period which is around 2600 years back.
Gor Khuttree was not only a religiously revered place but also remained an important place for successive rulers who invaded Peshawar and its adjoining areas.
Due to strategically significant location and spaciousness of the site, every ruler or inhabitant of Peshawar gave it importance in the city.
The building at the site is historically rich and was used by Hindus, Buddhists, Mughals, Sikhs and the British.
The study says that pottery products were produced at Gor Khuttree and supplied to other parts of the sub-continent.
The Mughals got control of Peshawar in 1640 AD and built an inn after the name of Jehan Ara, daughter of Shah Jehan at Gor Khuttree.
Shah Jehan built a mosque here which was later converted into a Sikh temple.
The Mughals built inns at various places in the sub-continent some of them are ‘Begum ki Sarayeh’ (Begum’s Inn) at Attock and ‘Akbari Sarayeh’ in Lahore.
After the Mughal rule, the Sikhs got control of the area and Gor Khuttree was used by them for defence purpose.
Commander of the Sikh force, Gen Evitable, an Italian by birth, used this building as his official residence from 1838 to 1842 AD.
Later, the British used Gor Khuttree for different purposes like tehsil office, fire brigade, revenue office and police station. The beauty of the monument was defaced by Sikhs who ruthless destroyed the Mughal construction.
For protection of the city’s historical monument, the NWFP Archaeology Department has carried out conservation and renovation with emphasis on preservation of evidence of all the rulers who used the building during their rule.
A museum has also been set up on the premises of the site where 1,800 antiques recovered during excavation at Gor Khuttree have been displayed.
The antiques displayed relate to the British period and trace back to the Sikh era, Mughal rule, Sultan Ghaznavi time, Hindu Shahi, Kushan-o-Sassanian, Kushans, Sytho-Parthians (both early and later)and Indo-Greek period (3rd century BC).
The department is also trying to convince Unseco to undertake the preservation of ancient monuments in Peshawar, including Gor Khuttree.—APP
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