When Peshawar was Purshapura and Charsadda Pushkalavati
THE audience was mixed, but predominantly local and mostly British born Pakistanis. And they were given a three-hour long exclusive insight into Pakistan’s history, its culture and its glorious landscapes. There were paintings of breath-taking mountain ranges and films depicting the varied and enchanting aspects of the country.
But the most captivating of them all at the Pakistan Society Function held in the Pakistan High Commission’s jam-packed hall was Mohammad Zahir.
Zahir, a lecturer in Archaeology in the Higher Education Department of North-West Frontier Province is at Cambridge. He is the first Pakistani at the Ancient India and Iran Trust -- and researcher at Department of Archaeology and Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge.
Zahir traced Pakistan’s history starting from around 1.6 million years ago till the present day with special emphasis on the cultural profile of Pakistan, Indus Valley and Gandhara Civilisations, and the new explorations and excavations being undertaken in Chitral.
A spell-bound audience was told that Pakistan had been a cradle of many cultures and civilisations ranging from the Early Stone Age to the British rule. The remains are scattered all over the country and include evidences for Palaeolithic, Middle Stone, Neolithic, Indus Valley, Aryans, Achaemenians, Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, Hindu Shahis, Mughals, Suris, Sikhs, Durranis and British periods. But the most popularly known among these are the Indus Valley and Gandhara Civilisations, which are known all over the world.
The first evidence of pre-historic human occupation in Pakistan, Zahir said, was reported from the Soan Valley near Rawalpindi. This was followed by the Middle Stone Age site of Sanghao Cave in the Mardan District of NWFP. However, the discovery of 35 Middle Stone Age sites in the Mohmand-Bajaur agencies by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, NWFP, has further strengthened this data. Middle Stone Age sites, workshops and quarries have also been reported from the Rohri Hills and Thar Desert by the Department of Archaeology, University of Khairpur, Sindh.
The pre-historic period in Pakistan was followed by Neolithic Cultures dating from 9th to 4th millennium BC. The earliest evidence for this phase comes from the site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan and Gumla, Jhandi Babar-I in the Gomal Plain, D I Khan and Sheri Khan Tarakai in Banu, NWFP. The introduction of metal technology transformed the Neolithic Phase into Chalcolithic which is dated to the 2nd half of the 4th millennium BC. The excavations at Kot Diji, provided extensive evidence for this period in Sindh and NWFP respectively. The Chalcolithic Period was followed by an urbanised and developed Indus Valley or Harappan civilisation which was almost contemporary to the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations.
The Harappan civilisation was followed by the invasion of Aryans in the 2nd millennium BC, represented by an elaborate grave culture, known as Gandhara grave culture. The Italian Archaeological Mission to Pakistan, the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, Federal Archaeological Department and the NWFP Archaeology Department, have excavated and reported sites of this period in Swat, Dir, Malakand, Bajaur-Mohmand, Chitral, Peshawar and Taxila. In the 6th century BC, large cities like Pushkalavati (now Charsadda), Purshapura (now Peshawar), Akra (now Bannu) and Takshasila (now Taxila) came into being. The northern part of Pakistan remained under the Great Achaemenid Empire from 6th century till the Alexander invasion in 327 BC. After Alexander, most of the present Pakistan, was ruled by the Mauriyans, Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Partians, Kushans, Huns, Turk Shahis and Hindu Shahis. The Shahi rulers of Hund were dethroned by Mahmud of Ghazna in 998 AD. All the three capitals of ancient Gandhara; Pushakalavati, Peshawar and Hund, are located in NWFP.
The Indus Valley or Harappan civilisation was the first urbanisation in the subcontinent, routes of which lie in Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The existing evidence shows that this civilisation was larger than any of the known civilisations of the ancient world. Starting from the border of Afghanistan, in northern Balochistan (at Periano Ghundai) and the Iranian border on the Makran Coast (at Suktagendor), it extended eastward to Dholavira in Kutch-Gujarat, India. However, the most important centres of the Indus Valley civilisation are Harappa and Mohenjodaro, located in Pakistan.
Pakistan is also best known for the Buddhist art and architecture, which flourished in the region of Gandhara (the land of fragrance and beauty). Gandhara is the area to the west of Indus and north of Kabul rivers, which includes the valleys of Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Bajaur, extending westwards to Hadda in Afghanistan and Taxila Valley in Punjab. Gandhara, the cradle of Buddhist civilisation, which gave birth to the famous Gandhara Art, is first mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the religious book of Aryans.
At the tea break when I told him that it was an impressive work, Zahir gave credit to his senior colleague Ihsan Ali who he said was the moving spirit behind the research efforts.
There were three more speakers at the event. And all the three had highly interesting tales to tell about Pakistan. Antonia Windsor, a freelance journalist, travel writer and playwright living in London spoke about her adventures and fascinating experiences as she discovered the beauties of Pakistan’s northern region.
Dr Rachael Jack is a molecular geneticist and has worked as a research scientist for several years. In 2005 she took a short holiday to walk in the mountains of North Pakistan and seduced by landscape, she decided to stay a little longer. She now lives in Gilgit and runs the department of biology at the Karakurum International University. She spoke about her experiences as a tourist, a scientist, a boss and a woman living and working in Pakistan.
Daniel Russel is a London-based freelance filmmaker who has worked with likes of BBC, Frieze Art Fair, Talvin Singh, Gavin Turk and The Fall. In his recent visit to Pakistan, he captured the spirit of a diverse and ever changing landscape and culture.
Half a dozen paintings of the jaw-dropping majesty of the Karakoram range of mountains by Tim Benson, 28, who visited Pakistan recently adorned the High Commission’s L-shaped hall.
Tailpiece: Frontline Pakistan by friend Zahid Hussain who reports for the London Times, Wall Street Journal and Newsweek from Pakistan was given rousing receptions at Britain’s prestigious think-tanks -- the IISS and the Rusi. And more interestingly Amir Tahiri reviewing the book for London Times said that the cumulative effect of the book was the opposite of what the author apparently intended.
President Musharraf will be very happy to read these two particular paragraphs in Tahiri’s review:
“After asking the reader to form a negative image of Musharraf, Hussain proceeds to portray a determined, hard-working leader who has fought corruption, risked his life by taking important strategic decisions against terrorists and presided over a restoration of discipline in a government that had run out of control.
At one point, Hussain notes that “the war against militancy and Islamic extremism can best be fought -- and won -- in a liberal democracy”. Elsewhere, however, he asserts that “a leader in a military uniform can deliver far more than a democratically elected one”. He then provides a long list of Musharraf’s successes in curbing the extremist groups through legal, political and military measures.”