Charsadda District
Encyclopedia
Charsadda is a district
in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan
that contains the town of Charsadda
. The town was part of the Peshawar
ex-metropolitan region. Pashtuns make up majority of the population of the district.
, however around 516 BC Gandhara became part of the seventh satrapy or province of the Achaemenid Empire
and paid tribute to Darius the Great of Persia, until its overthrow by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.
After the death of Alexander in 323 BC the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya
rose to power and brought Gandhara under his sway. According to a popular tradition, Emperor Ashoka
built one of his stupas there. This stupa was mentioned by the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hieun Tsang
, who visited in 630, according to him Po-Lu-Sha (as he called the stupa) was 2.5 miles (4 km) in circumference.
A Brahminical temple to the east and a monastery to the north which according to Buddhist legends was the place where Buddha preached the Law. The name Gandhara disappeared after Mahmud of Ghazni
conquered the area and converted it to Islam in 1026.
who ruled until 10 AD.
s in 1897 It has since been rebuilt.
is first mentioned in the Hindu epic story the Ramayana
.
, Sir John Marshall
, in 1902 and by Sir Mortimer Wheeler
in 1958. According to South Asian Archaeology Research Group of Bradford University Wheeler suggested that Bala Hisar "was founded by the Persians in the sixth century BC as a colony guarding the eastern edge of their empire".
on the north. Mardan district
on the east, Nowshera and Peshawar
districts on the south and the Mohmand Agency
of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
on the west. The district covers am area of 996 square kilometres.
s which contained a total of 46 Union Councils
:
The district is represented in the provincial assembly by six MPAs who represent the following constituencies:
Districts of Pakistan
The Districts of Pakistan are the second order administrative divisions of Pakistan. Districts were the third order of administrative divisions, below provinces and "divisions", until the reforms of August 2000, when "divisions" were abolished...
in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
that contains the town of Charsadda
Charsadda
Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°8'43N 71°43'51E with an altitude of 276 metres and lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar....
. The town was part of the Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
ex-metropolitan region. Pashtuns make up majority of the population of the district.
History
Charsadda was once part of the kingdom of GandharaGandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
, however around 516 BC Gandhara became part of the seventh satrapy or province of the Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
and paid tribute to Darius the Great of Persia, until its overthrow by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.
After the death of Alexander in 323 BC the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
rose to power and brought Gandhara under his sway. According to a popular tradition, Emperor Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
built one of his stupas there. This stupa was mentioned by the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hieun Tsang
Xuanzang
Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...
, who visited in 630, according to him Po-Lu-Sha (as he called the stupa) was 2.5 miles (4 km) in circumference.
A Brahminical temple to the east and a monastery to the north which according to Buddhist legends was the place where Buddha preached the Law. The name Gandhara disappeared after Mahmud of Ghazni
Mahmud of Ghazni
Mahmud of Ghazni , actually ', was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty who ruled from 997 until his death in 1030 in the eastern Iranian lands. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Iran,...
conquered the area and converted it to Islam in 1026.
Bactrian Greeks
This area was also ruled by the Bactrian Greeks between 250–125 BC which was succeeded by the Indo-Greek KingdomIndo-Greek Kingdom
The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other...
who ruled until 10 AD.
Sharkargarh
Shabqadr is a small town in Charsadda tehsil 17 miles (27.4 km) north west of Peshawar. Here is a fort built by the Sikhs called Sharkargarh. The town was burnt by MohmandMohmand
The Mohmand are a clan of Sarban Pashtuns, living primarily in the FATA & Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan & northeastern Afghanistan.- Demographics :...
s in 1897 It has since been rebuilt.
Bibi Syeda Dheri
Bibi Syeda Dheri is a site half a mile to the north of Umarzai village in Charsadda tehsil here is a mound 60 ft (18.3 m) high. Believed to be the site of the stupa erected to commemorate the conversion by Lord Buddha of goddess Hariti who used to devour children of the locality. There is also a shrine of a lady saint Bibi Syeda. It is believed that a pinch of earth from the site is an effective antidote in the case of smallpox.....Shar-i- Napursan
Shar-i-Napursan is an archaeological site in Charsadda tehsil near the village Rajjar Excavations have unearthed two distinct settlements of the Buddhist period and two of the Muslim period. Coins of Manander, Hermaeous and Kanishka have been unearthed.Palatu Dheri
Palatu Dheri is another archaeological site near Charsadda tehsil. A mile from Shar-i-Napursan A mound which contains the remains of a stupa, which according to Hieun Tsiang, was built by one Deven and some coins which connect them both to the first century AD have been unearthed Other finds include the image of the goddess Kalika-devi. Three inscribed jars, which were presented by some laymen to "the Community of the Four Quarters", are now in the Peshawar Museum.Charsadda
The city of Charsadda originally known as PushkalavatiPushkalavati
Pushkalavati is an ancient site situated in Peshawar valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located on the banks of Swat River, near its junction with Kabul River, now it is known as Charsadda...
is first mentioned in the Hindu epic story the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
.
Bala Hisar of Charsadda
Bala Hisar was excavated twice by the head of the Archaeological Survey of IndiaArchaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . The ASI is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country in accordance with the various acts of the Indian Parliament...
, Sir John Marshall
John Marshall (archaeologist)
Sir John Hubert Marshall was the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928...
, in 1902 and by Sir Mortimer Wheeler
Mortimer Wheeler
Brigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC, FBA, FSA , was one of the best-known British archaeologists of the twentieth century.-Education and career:...
in 1958. According to South Asian Archaeology Research Group of Bradford University Wheeler suggested that Bala Hisar "was founded by the Persians in the sixth century BC as a colony guarding the eastern edge of their empire".
Location
The district lies between 34-03' and 34-38' north latitudes and 71-28' and 71-53' east longitudes. Charsadda is located in the west of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is bounded by Malakand DistrictMalakand District
Malakand District is a district of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.The District was formed in 1970 as a Provincially Administered Tribal Area, It had previously been a Tribal Area known as the Malakand Protected Area, part of the Malakand Agency...
on the north. Mardan district
Mardan District
Mardan is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city of Mardan is the headquarters of the district. The district also contains the famous archaeological site of Takht Bhai, Jamal Ghari and Sawal Dher.-Administration:...
on the east, Nowshera and Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
districts on the south and the Mohmand Agency
Mohmand Agency
The Mohmand Agency is a district in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan created in 1951. Before that, the Mohmand Tribes were administered by the Deputy Commissioner based in Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. However it was not until 1973 that the headquarters of...
of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas are a semi-autonomous tribal region in the northwest of Pakistan, lying between the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and the neighboring country of Afghanistan. The FATA comprise seven Agencies and six FRs...
on the west. The district covers am area of 996 square kilometres.
Administration
The district is administratively subdivided into two tehsilTehsil
A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....
s which contained a total of 46 Union Councils
Union Councils of Pakistan
A sherwan or village council in Pakistan is an elected local government body consisting of 21 councillors, and headed by a nazim and a naib nazim...
:
| Name of Tehsil | No. of Unions |
|---|---|
| Charsadda Charsadda Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°8'43N 71°43'51E with an altitude of 276 metres and lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar.... |
34 |
| Tangi Tangi Tehsil Tangi Tehsil is an administrative subdivision of Charsadda District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.-Administration:The tehsil is administratively subdivided into 12 Union Councils, one of which form the headquarters - Tangi.... |
12 |
The district is represented in the provincial assembly by six MPAs who represent the following constituencies:
| Constituency | MPA | Party |
|---|---|---|
| PF-17 (Charsada-1) | Fazle Shakoor Khan (nisata) | Awami National Party Awami National Party The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International... |
| PF-18 (Charsada-2) | Barrister Arshad Abdullah | Awami National Party |
| PF-19 (Charsada-3) | Shakeel Bashir Umerzai | Awami National Party |
| PF-20 (Charsada-4) | Aftab Ahmad Sherpao | Pakistan Peoples Party (Sherpao) |
| PF-21 (Charsada-5) | Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao | Pakistan Peoples Party (Sherpao) |
| PF-22 (Charsadda-6) | Mohammad Ali Khan | Pakistan Peoples Party (Sherpao) |