Lund Khwar
Encyclopedia
Lund Khwar, also Lundkhwar, | Urdu: لوندخوڑ) and pronounced "/Lu:/+/nd/, /Kh/+/va'/+/r:/" is a historical village and union council
of Takht Bhai
Tehsil in Mardan District
of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It is located at 34°23'22N 71°58'51E with an altitude of 371 metres (1220 feet) and literally it means "the ever flowing stream or brook". Origins of the founding of Lund Khwar are shrouded in mystery. Archeological and Historical evidence clue towards the Gandhara
n era. Earliest written accounts of the village trace it back to the 8th century with the arrival of the Uthman Khel branch of the Yousafzai
and in the 15th century by the Khattak
tribesmen of the Afghans
,. Currently it is a major town near the entrance to the Malakand
mountains. Alternatively, there is also a Lund Khwar in the Paktika Province of Afghanistan.
n era (2nd century BCE) it had been a visiting sanctuary for Buddhist Monks from their nearby strongholds at Takht Bhai
. Many archaeological sites have thus been discovered. Even before the Buddhist times it was a major cattle and herd breeding area. Archeological and Historical clues point towards these conclusions. The armies of Alexander the Great reached the Indus Valley by two separate routes, one through the Khyber Pass
and the other led by Alexander himself through Kunar, Bajaur, Swat, and Buner in 326 BCE. After Alexander's death, the valley came under the rule of Chandragupta
, who ruled the valley from 297 to 321 BCE. During the reign of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka
(the grandson of Chandragupta) Buddhism became the religion of the Peshawar Valley. The valley saw the revival of Brahmanism after the Greeks took over in the time of King Mehanda. The Scythians and Indians followed and retained control of the valley till the 7th century CE.
had appeared in the valley. At that time the Peshawar valley was under control of the rulers at Lahore. The Afghans joined the Gakkhars who held the country between the Indus and the Jhelum
rivers and compelled the Lahore
rulers to cede to them the hill country west of the Indus and south of the Kabul River
. Accordingly, the Yousafzai
and the Khattak
s founded and occupied what is modern day Lund Khwar. The first to arrive were the Uthman Khel of the Yousafzai
in the 8th century CE following their migration eastwards from current day Afghanistan
into the N.W.F-P. province of Pakistan
. and populated the area. At this time it was also occupied by Hindu
s who remained albeit scarcely until the Independence of Pakistan in 1947. The Yousafzai, conquered much of what was called Samah in the olden days from various Hindu Tribes. After Yousafzai Afghans the next major tribe was the Khattak
s, who settled here in 15th century, in the time of their great chieftain, Malik Ako, who moved the capitol of the Khattak Tribe from Teri (a village in Karak District) to Sarai Akora, the town which Akoray founded and built. Another famous tribe the Dilazak
also settled here much later.
made this area the rallying point for his numerous raids into the interior of India. In the 12th century the Persians of Ghor (Ghurids) overthrew the Ghaznavis and the era of Ghaznavis came to an end.
invaded the area through Khyber Pass
. Later, in the time of the Mughal
Emperor Akbar his most prominent rathan Birbal
(also Beerbal) was killed in the Katlang Area during a battle with the Yousafzai
tribe. The relevant details of the incident are as follows:
and the Malandari pass. Attempting to crush the unrest, Akbar sent troops for the battle. However, the troops faced resilient resistance from the Afghans and suffered many losses. At this time, the Afghan Lashkar's (army) front was concentrated on one end in what is now the Katlang area of Lund Khwar to the other end near the Malandari Pass at the head of the Barkua Stream, about
30 miles N. E. of Hoti Mardan. After a succession of defeats in the February of 1583 A.D. Akbar sent Birbal
his Grand Vizier (Wazīr-e Azam), closest advisor and chief among the navaratna
s to help Zain Khan in the battle. Birbal
took command of the troops and around mid February marched into a concentrated formation of the Afghans in the Katlang area of Lund Khwar. On the 16th of February, 1583 A.D. during a major skirmish and while in the thick of the battle, Birbal
along with his personal troops advanced into a narrow pass in katlang at night. The Yousafzai and the Khattak Afghans were well prepared and were ready on the hills. Many men on Birbal
's side lost their way or were killed in the holes and the caverns and it was a terrible defeat, in which Birbal
fought with bravery but died on 16 Feb 1583 A.D. Birbal
's death was said to be caused by treachery, not military defeat. Akbar was very shocked by the death of Birbal and he didn't attend court for two full days and didn't eat or drink anything and mourned for a long time."
It remained under the rule of the Mughal emperors up to the time of Aurangzeb. During his regime the Pashtun tribes revolted and Aurangzeb
himself led his army to re-establish his authority but after a hard struggle which lasted for two years(1673–75) he was compelled to agree to the terms which left the Pashtuns
practically independent. In 1738 came the surrender of Peshawar to Nadir Shah by which all the territory west of the Indus, which included present Mardan district was ceded by the Mughals to Nadir Shah Afshar.
conquered Attock
1814 and Peshawar in 1818. He left Hari Singh Mfl1a in command and withdrew himself to Lahore. This valley remained under the control of the Sikhs until 1849. They were defeated by the British in the Second Sikh War. Major Lawrence was appointed first Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar. From that time Peshawar (which included Mardan) became an administrative district under the Punjab Government. In 1909 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (than NWFP) province was constituted and in 1937, Peshawar district was bifurcated into Peshawar and Mardan districts.
About Lund Khwar, Sir Olaf Caroe in his book entitled "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited, writes at "The Greek Historians 39" writes:
..........."Lundkhwar, village and stream in Samah"
and a very famous personality of lundkhawar whom graduated from these institution was sahib-e-haq (saint Abdul Ali). but lundkhawar has also served as a home for many famous Saints, Ghazi and Ulema. Such famous names include Saint Syed Abdul Wahab Akhun Panju Baba, Syed Ismail Shaheed Barelvi, Shah Ismail Shaheed and Haji Sahib of Rashakai great great grandson of Sadar Khan. The people of the village contributed to the liberation of India in the 19th century by joining Syed Ahmad Shaheed
Barelvi.
"Operation is the Lund Khwar Valley 1849"
"The 1st Brigade was then at Lundkhwar, on the road to the Shahkot pass ; the 2nd and 3rd Brigades were at Jellala, on the road to the Malakand pass. Consequent on the above information I determined to deceive the enemy" (1895)
In his book, "The Pathan Unarmed: opposition & memory in the North West Frontier", Mukulika Banerjee writes on page 98,:
".........A Chief Secretary's report from 193 stated that:
In and around Lund Khwar.......increase in the active participation of women. On 30 April...15 women volunteers paraded....in Lund Khwar it was announced that meetings would be held....about two or three thousand at meetings...Speech prepared by Abdul Ghaffar Khan read out by a boy and resolutions passed that, if permanent peace was not concluded, the women should join the men in future struggle, that khaddar [khadi cloth] only should be worn by the women and that the full rights of women under the shari'a should be conceded to them by men."
Note on the reference: The name of the boy who read out the speech was Qasim Khan, the son of a woman Grana who because of the purdah could not participate in the presence of adult male speakers.
"Though not publicly acknowledged, British official correspondence confirms that women picketers were active in Bannu and Lund Khwar. In mobilizing the Pathan women, Khurshedbehn Naoroji appears to have played an important role as she lived there for some time and worked among the frontier ladies exhorting them to start Swadeshi activities"
Tehsil of Distrcit Mardan
. It falls in the NA-10 seat of the National Assembly's Electoral Process.
of the All India Congress, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
founder of Bangladesh
, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
, Sardar Abdur rab Nishtar All India Muslim League. Prime minister zulfiqar ali bhuttu also visited Lund khwar to the hujra of khan of Lundkhwar(Khan Ghulam Muhammad Khan Lundkhwar).
and about 30 km from Mardan
on the National Highway between Swat
and Peshawar District
. The town is surrounded by two main streams and a smaller brook from 3 directions which flow throughout the year thus lending Lund Khwar its name as well as a safety against possible invaders, a strategic point and basis for its foundation. The town is connected with Sher Garh through a main road which reaches the town through a bridge on the stream.
The Lund Khwar town includes the suburbs of Gul Mera (abdul kabir khan kali) and then Gulshan Abad on the west; which further extends to Salo on the north and Sanga, Ghano Dheri to the south, whereas Dagai, Mian Essa, Chail and JANGA(lower & upper) which is extended on one side to ALO(which then leads to KATLUNG(another town in the south-east of MARDAN, holding the old traces of BUDDHA civilization and gymstones on the hills)) and on the contrary to QASAMI (a dwelling habitat of the most sacred tribe MIAN and holding one of the vast graveyards of Asia) and a lot of small Bandas(small town holding 15 to 50 houses) lie in the north where it ends at Kandao BABA. On the east it is stretched to Saddad Baba and Shamshi Danda (a deep lake) on one side and Karkanai, Pul Kali and Muti Banda on the other. In the south here is Shahdand and a lot of Bhandas.
"Uthman Khel: A powerful tribe, probably pathans of the Kodai branch of the Karlanri, which attached itself to the Yousafzai and Mandanr when the latter migrated from their seats on the North-West of the Sulaiman Range to the tract round Lund Khwar at the foot of the hills in the present Peshawar distrcit. Thence in the 16th century they occupied their current territory which is a mountainous tract between the Rud and Ambhar rivers and thence stretches eastwards between the Swat River and Peshawar District as far as the Ranizai and Sam Ranizai borders. A portion of the tribe originally belonging to the Sanizai, Bimbarzai and Peghzai septs still dwells in the country round Lund Khwar and has become separated from the rest of the tribe. The Utman Khel comprise many septs which are constantly at feuds with one another".
About the Yousafzais of today's Lund Khwar, Sir Olaf Caroe in his book entitled "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited, writes at "The Greek Historians 39"<:
........."and with few exceptions the Yusuf-
zais now the Mandanr section of them only hold the rest of
the Samah Valley north of the Landai River. It is very hard to
believe in the truth of this tradition. In those days the Samah 8
proper had no irrigation; it was a great dry tract, in many parts
sandy, scored by ravines such as the Bagiari, Kalpanri, and Lund
Khwar, with at best scattered cultivation from wells where the
water table allowed it. The Doaba and Hashtnagar on the other
hand are level lands beside the Kabul and Swat affluents, and it is
almost certain that even then they enjoyed irrigation by inunda-
tion. The Yusufzais by their own account ruled the roost: why
should they have allotted the finest land to the Gigianis who had
been disloyal to the tribal nexus, and to the Muhammadzais who
were not even of the Khakhay brotherhood?"
..........."Taken together, the Khataks and the Shitaks, who now have a
common boundary close to Bannu, cover a stretch of territory as
large as that held by any Afghan or Pathan tribe, whether Yusuf-
zai, Durrani or Ghalji. From the Khatak settlements around
Lundkhwar, close to the Malakand Pass, to the Shitak villages in
Upper Daur in the Tochi, the distance is over 200 miles. The wide
extent of their present territory, their large population, and the
association of both groups of tribes at one time or another with
the rich oases of Bannu and the Tochi, suggest sufficiently their
importance in this family of peoples. They did not spring from
nowhere in the night. They are Karlanris."
and at "220 The Pathans", writes:
............."The Khataks, loyal Mughal vassals under Akoray and
his immediate successors, not only overran a considerable tract of
Yusufzai country north of the Kabul River and opposite Akora,
but planted a colony under the hills, separating the Yusufzais and
the Mandanrs, in the area known as Baizai. That is the origin
of the Khatak villages of Lundkhwar, Jamalgarhi and Katlang on
the boundaries of Swat. In all the Mughal fighting against the
Yusufzais the Khataks took a prominent part. Echoes of this
rivalry can be heard in the poetry of Akoray's descendant, Khush-
hal Khan.
In the scales of history the result was incommensurate with the
effort put out. The might of Akbar had not prevailed in any
decisive fashion against any of the tribes except those who found
it to their interest, in return for consideration, to guard the King's
highway."
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...
of Takht Bhai
Takht Bhai
Takht Bhai is a Buddhist monastic complex dating to the 1st century BCE. The complex is regarded by archaeologists as being particularly representative of the architecture of Buddhist monastic centers from its era. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.The word Takht Bhai may...
Tehsil in 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:...
of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It is located at 34°23'22N 71°58'51E with an altitude of 371 metres (1220 feet) and literally it means "the ever flowing stream or brook". Origins of the founding of Lund Khwar are shrouded in mystery. Archeological and Historical evidence clue towards the Gandhara
Gandhara
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...
n era. Earliest written accounts of the village trace it back to the 8th century with the arrival of the Uthman Khel branch of the Yousafzai
Yousafzai
The Yūsufzai is one of the largest Pashtun tribes...
and in the 15th century by the Khattak
Khattak
Khattak or Khatak , is the name of an Afghan tribe. speaking a variant of the Kandahari Pashto. They are accorded the status of being one of the original and true Afghans. The tribe is settled along the western bank of the river Indus from as north upwards as Sammah; modern day Lund Khwar & Sher...
tribesmen of the Afghans
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
,. Currently it is a major town near the entrance to the Malakand
Malakand Pass
The Malakand Pass is a mountain pass in Malakand District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.The pass road begins at Dargai. The road across the pass is in good condition, but is always crowded with a continuous stream of trucks. From a viewpoint about one kilometre before the top of the pass, one can...
mountains. Alternatively, there is also a Lund Khwar in the Paktika Province of Afghanistan.
Ancient history
Lund Khwar has historically been an important town due to its geography. During the 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...
n era (2nd century BCE) it had been a visiting sanctuary for Buddhist Monks from their nearby strongholds at Takht Bhai
Takht Bhai
Takht Bhai is a Buddhist monastic complex dating to the 1st century BCE. The complex is regarded by archaeologists as being particularly representative of the architecture of Buddhist monastic centers from its era. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.The word Takht Bhai may...
. Many archaeological sites have thus been discovered. Even before the Buddhist times it was a major cattle and herd breeding area. Archeological and Historical clues point towards these conclusions. The armies of Alexander the Great reached the Indus Valley by two separate routes, one through the Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
and the other led by Alexander himself through Kunar, Bajaur, Swat, and Buner in 326 BCE. After Alexander's death, the valley came under the rule of Chandragupta
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...
, who ruled the valley from 297 to 321 BCE. During the reign of the Buddhist 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...
(the grandson of Chandragupta) Buddhism became the religion of the Peshawar Valley. The valley saw the revival of Brahmanism after the Greeks took over in the time of King Mehanda. The Scythians and Indians followed and retained control of the valley till the 7th century CE.
Arrival of the Afghans
By the 8th century, the AfghansAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
had appeared in the valley. At that time the Peshawar valley was under control of the rulers at Lahore. The Afghans joined the Gakkhars who held the country between the Indus and the Jhelum
Jhelum
Jhelum or Jehlum may refer to:* Jhelum, a city in Pakistan on the banks of the Jhelum River* Jhelum District, an administrative division in Punjab, Pakistan surrounding the city of Jhelum...
rivers and compelled the Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
rulers to cede to them the hill country west of the Indus and south of the Kabul River
Kabul River
Kabul River , the classical Cophes , is a 700 km long river that starts in the Sanglakh Range of the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan and ends in the Indus River near Attock, Pakistan. It is the main river in eastern Afghanistan and is separated from the watershed of the Helmand by the Unai Pass...
. Accordingly, the Yousafzai
Yousafzai
The Yūsufzai is one of the largest Pashtun tribes...
and the Khattak
Khattak
Khattak or Khatak , is the name of an Afghan tribe. speaking a variant of the Kandahari Pashto. They are accorded the status of being one of the original and true Afghans. The tribe is settled along the western bank of the river Indus from as north upwards as Sammah; modern day Lund Khwar & Sher...
s founded and occupied what is modern day Lund Khwar. The first to arrive were the Uthman Khel of the Yousafzai
Yousafzai
The Yūsufzai is one of the largest Pashtun tribes...
in the 8th century CE following their migration eastwards from current day Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
into the N.W.F-P. 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...
. and populated the area. At this time it was also occupied by Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s who remained albeit scarcely until the Independence of Pakistan in 1947. The Yousafzai, conquered much of what was called Samah in the olden days from various Hindu Tribes. After Yousafzai Afghans the next major tribe was the Khattak
Khattak
Khattak or Khatak , is the name of an Afghan tribe. speaking a variant of the Kandahari Pashto. They are accorded the status of being one of the original and true Afghans. The tribe is settled along the western bank of the river Indus from as north upwards as Sammah; modern day Lund Khwar & Sher...
s, who settled here in 15th century, in the time of their great chieftain, Malik Ako, who moved the capitol of the Khattak Tribe from Teri (a village in Karak District) to Sarai Akora, the town which Akoray founded and built. Another famous tribe the Dilazak
Dilazak
The Dilazak are a Pashtun tribe of the Afghan Karlani branch, found in Pakistan and India.-History:The Dilazak descended from the Suleman Range into the valley of Peshawar during the time of the Samanid Dynasty, between 750 and 850 CE. They expelled or subdued local people of the Swati, Degan and...
also settled here much later.
Ghaznavid Era
In the 10th century the area came under the control of Sultan Sabuktigin who defeated Raja Jaipal, the Hindu ruler of Lahore. Sabuktgin's son Sultan Mahmud of GhazniMahmud 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,...
made this area the rallying point for his numerous raids into the interior of India. In the 12th century the Persians of Ghor (Ghurids) overthrew the Ghaznavis and the era of Ghaznavis came to an end.
Mughal Era
In 1505 the Mughal emperor BabarBabur
Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
invaded the area through Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
. Later, in the time of the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
Emperor Akbar his most prominent rathan Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
(also Beerbal) was killed in the Katlang Area during a battle with the Yousafzai
Yousafzai
The Yūsufzai is one of the largest Pashtun tribes...
tribe. The relevant details of the incident are as follows:
The Smite of the Navaratna Birbal
............"The Yousafzai and Khattak tribes of the Afghans in the North West had started low level skirmishes and looting raids against the Mughal Empire's outposts and trading routes along the East Bank of the River Indus, AttockAttock
Attock is a city located in the northern border of the Punjab province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Attock District...
and the Malandari pass. Attempting to crush the unrest, Akbar sent troops for the battle. However, the troops faced resilient resistance from the Afghans and suffered many losses. At this time, the Afghan Lashkar's (army) front was concentrated on one end in what is now the Katlang area of Lund Khwar to the other end near the Malandari Pass at the head of the Barkua Stream, about
30 miles N. E. of Hoti Mardan. After a succession of defeats in the February of 1583 A.D. Akbar sent Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
his Grand Vizier (Wazīr-e Azam), closest advisor and chief among the navaratna
Navaratna
Navaratna is literally a Sanskrit compound word meaning "nine gems".-Royal setting:The ancient origin of the 9 Gems—called Navaratna in Sanskrit, Hindi, Burmese, Indonesian, and Nepalese, Navarathinam in Tamil, Navarathnalu in Telugu,Navarathnam in Malayalam, Navaratne in Singhalese, Nopparat in...
s to help Zain Khan in the battle. Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
took command of the troops and around mid February marched into a concentrated formation of the Afghans in the Katlang area of Lund Khwar. On the 16th of February, 1583 A.D. during a major skirmish and while in the thick of the battle, Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
along with his personal troops advanced into a narrow pass in katlang at night. The Yousafzai and the Khattak Afghans were well prepared and were ready on the hills. Many men on Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
's side lost their way or were killed in the holes and the caverns and it was a terrible defeat, in which Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
fought with bravery but died on 16 Feb 1583 A.D. Birbal
Birbal
Raja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
's death was said to be caused by treachery, not military defeat. Akbar was very shocked by the death of Birbal and he didn't attend court for two full days and didn't eat or drink anything and mourned for a long time."
It remained under the rule of the Mughal emperors up to the time of Aurangzeb. During his regime the Pashtun tribes revolted and Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
himself led his army to re-establish his authority but after a hard struggle which lasted for two years(1673–75) he was compelled to agree to the terms which left the Pashtuns
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
practically independent. In 1738 came the surrender of Peshawar to Nadir Shah by which all the territory west of the Indus, which included present Mardan district was ceded by the Mughals to Nadir Shah Afshar.
British Era
Ranjit SinghRanjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
conquered Attock
Attock
Attock is a city located in the northern border of the Punjab province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Attock District...
1814 and Peshawar in 1818. He left Hari Singh Mfl1a in command and withdrew himself to Lahore. This valley remained under the control of the Sikhs until 1849. They were defeated by the British in the Second Sikh War. Major Lawrence was appointed first Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar. From that time Peshawar (which included Mardan) became an administrative district under the Punjab Government. In 1909 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (than NWFP) province was constituted and in 1937, Peshawar district was bifurcated into Peshawar and Mardan districts.
About Lund Khwar, Sir Olaf Caroe in his book entitled "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited, writes at "The Greek Historians 39" writes:
..........."Lundkhwar, village and stream in Samah"
Valley of the Latter Day Saints (Ulema)
Lund Khwar has always remained very rich in its Islamic tradition and heritage of knowledge. Not only have many Lund Khwarians been great Ulema graduating in great numbers from great institutions like DeobandDarul Uloom Deoband
The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic school in India where the Deobandi Islamic movement was started. It is located at Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was founded in 1866 by several prominent Islamic scholars , headed by Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi...
and a very famous personality of lundkhawar whom graduated from these institution was sahib-e-haq (saint Abdul Ali). but lundkhawar has also served as a home for many famous Saints, Ghazi and Ulema. Such famous names include Saint Syed Abdul Wahab Akhun Panju Baba, Syed Ismail Shaheed Barelvi, Shah Ismail Shaheed and Haji Sahib of Rashakai great great grandson of Sadar Khan. The people of the village contributed to the liberation of India in the 19th century by joining Syed Ahmad Shaheed
Syed Ahmad Shaheed
Not to be confused with Ahmed Raza Khan BarelviSyed Ahmad Shaheed , also called Syed Ahmed Barelvi, was a Muslim activist from Rae Bareli, India. and founder of the "The Way of the Prophet Muhammad" , a revolutionary Islamic movement...
Barelvi.
Military Campaigns and references of the British Period
"Ahmad (Ahmad Shaheed Barelvi) suffered a crushing defeat and fled with a few followers to Lund Khwar (1827), to Swat and then to Buner""Operation is the Lund Khwar Valley 1849"
"The 1st Brigade was then at Lundkhwar, on the road to the Shahkot pass ; the 2nd and 3rd Brigades were at Jellala, on the road to the Malakand pass. Consequent on the above information I determined to deceive the enemy" (1895)
Plundering by the Sikh
"There is scarce a village," records the Peshawar Gazetteer, "from the head of the Lundkhwar Valley to the Indus, which was not burnt and plundered by this commander (Ranjit Singh)" [Ranjit looted and plundered then set fire to Lund Khwar as the Afghan offence against him traditionally centered in Lund Khwar among the Yusufzai and the Khattaks]Holy war against the Sikh
"500 yards long and 300 yards broad, formed by two short, steep and rugged spurs from the lofty ridge of hills dividing Lundkhwar from Sudum. Only the year previously the village had repulsed a superior force under the Sikh Sirdar.."Role in the Pakistan Freedom Movement
The Khans of the town grew famous because of their early involvement in politics(Khan Ghulam Muhammad Khan Lundkhwar)had a great name in the politics of sub-continent. This was brought about when the Khans grew rich from trade with the far reaches of India as far as Calcutta. In the late 19th century political thought had grown to a point where it became necessary for the English Imperialists to permanently station their troops here. This was justified on the basis that religious leaders and freedom fighters from the village joined forces against the English. With such a background the English becamain streams and a smaller brook from 3 directions which flow throughout the year thus lending Lund Khwar its name as well as a safety against possible invaders, a strategic point and basis for its foundation. The town is connected with Sher Garh through a main road which reaches the town through a bridge on the stream.In his book, "The Pathan Unarmed: opposition & memory in the North West Frontier", Mukulika Banerjee writes on page 98,:
".........A Chief Secretary's report from 193 stated that:
In and around Lund Khwar.......increase in the active participation of women. On 30 April...15 women volunteers paraded....in Lund Khwar it was announced that meetings would be held....about two or three thousand at meetings...Speech prepared by Abdul Ghaffar Khan read out by a boy and resolutions passed that, if permanent peace was not concluded, the women should join the men in future struggle, that khaddar [khadi cloth] only should be worn by the women and that the full rights of women under the shari'a should be conceded to them by men."
Note on the reference: The name of the boy who read out the speech was Qasim Khan, the son of a woman Grana who because of the purdah could not participate in the presence of adult male speakers.
"Though not publicly acknowledged, British official correspondence confirms that women picketers were active in Bannu and Lund Khwar. In mobilizing the Pathan women, Khurshedbehn Naoroji appears to have played an important role as she lived there for some time and worked among the frontier ladies exhorting them to start Swadeshi activities"
Ghaffar Khan and Ghulam Muhammad Khan
"The only serious challenge to his (Ghaffar Khan's) position came from Ghulam Muhammad Khan of Lundkhwar, a Khan among the Baizai Khattaks of Mardan District, who served as the PCC President in 1938. There was no ideological basis for the rift, no burning issues to divide the two men. The conflict was purely a struggle for power.."LundKhwar, Quaid-i-Azam and Pakistan
"Met Ghulam Mohammad Khan Lundkhwar, Abdul Qaiyum Khan, Qasim Shah Mian and Dr. CG Ghosh in the evening."Current Times
Lund Khwar is now a Union Council of the Takht BhaiTakht Bhai
Takht Bhai is a Buddhist monastic complex dating to the 1st century BCE. The complex is regarded by archaeologists as being particularly representative of the architecture of Buddhist monastic centers from its era. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.The word Takht Bhai may...
Tehsil of Distrcit Mardan
Mardan
Mardan , known as The city of hospitality, is a city and headquarters of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is the de facto headquarters of the Yousafzai tribe and the second most populous city in the province, located at 34°12'0N 72°1'60E and an altitude of in the south...
. It falls in the NA-10 seat of the National Assembly's Electoral Process.
Localities and parts
Lund Khwar consists of the main town, once a walled town which had five gates, and its surrounding sub-towns known as "Banda" and barbarity by stripping the men and lashing them, the men were randomly chosen and lashed just to frighten the villagers. Years of armed struggle later culminated in political figures such as Khan of Lund Khwar(Khan Ghulam Muhammad Khan Lundkhwar) who with the "Hoti Khel" "Pila Khel "Kati kheil""Shah Bat Khel""dewan khel" "Awal Khael" participated and became famous for his struggle in the liberation movement of Pakistan. It was therefore not out of place for politicians of international fame to have visited the village. Such famous people that visited to khan of Lundkhwar's hujra,include Gandhi and Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
of the All India Congress, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its...
founder of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani-Bengali politician and statesman who served as 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 till 1957, and a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime minister of Pakistan...
, Sardar Abdur rab Nishtar All India Muslim League. Prime minister zulfiqar ali bhuttu also visited Lund khwar to the hujra of khan of Lundkhwar(Khan Ghulam Muhammad Khan Lundkhwar).
Location
It is located some 18 km from Takht Bahi, 10 km from Sher GarhSher Garh
Sher Garh, pronounced "sheyr Garh", is a town located 12 km from Takht Bhai, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. Its name literally means "home of the lions". Sher Garh is now a Union Council of the Takht Bhai Tehsil of Mardan District...
and about 30 km from Mardan
Mardan
Mardan , known as The city of hospitality, is a city and headquarters of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is the de facto headquarters of the Yousafzai tribe and the second most populous city in the province, located at 34°12'0N 72°1'60E and an altitude of in the south...
on the National Highway between Swat
Swat (Pakistan)
Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...
and Peshawar District
Peshawar District
Peshawar is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Until divisions were abolished as part of local government reforms in 2000 it was part of Peshawar Division. The city of Peshawar, as well as being the provincial capital, is the capital of the district...
. The town is surrounded by two main streams and a smaller brook from 3 directions which flow throughout the year thus lending Lund Khwar its name as well as a safety against possible invaders, a strategic point and basis for its foundation. The town is connected with Sher Garh through a main road which reaches the town through a bridge on the stream.
Localities and parts
Lund Khwar consists of the main town, once a walled town which had five gates, and its surrounding sub-towns known as "Banda" and "Meraa". The heart of Lundkhwar is its main Bazaar called "Adaa" or Station. It is the junction point of roads leading to the different suburbs of Lundkhwar. Core Lund Khwar (once the walled town) is where peela kheil, Seeni, mamoti, Shah Bat Khel and Awal Khel are settled. But now the Lund Khwar main town has expended a lot around its previous existence. Now there is a big population living on the northern side of the bazaar commonly known as "Adda Cham", which has further multiplied in to mohallas and Chams.The Lund Khwar town includes the suburbs of Gul Mera (abdul kabir khan kali) and then Gulshan Abad on the west; which further extends to Salo on the north and Sanga, Ghano Dheri to the south, whereas Dagai, Mian Essa, Chail and JANGA(lower & upper) which is extended on one side to ALO(which then leads to KATLUNG(another town in the south-east of MARDAN, holding the old traces of BUDDHA civilization and gymstones on the hills)) and on the contrary to QASAMI (a dwelling habitat of the most sacred tribe MIAN and holding one of the vast graveyards of Asia) and a lot of small Bandas(small town holding 15 to 50 houses) lie in the north where it ends at Kandao BABA. On the east it is stretched to Saddad Baba and Shamshi Danda (a deep lake) on one side and Karkanai, Pul Kali and Muti Banda on the other. In the south here is Shahdand and a lot of Bhandas.
Tribes and sub tribes
The main population comprises Khattak and Yousaf Zai Tribes. The Khattak sub-tribes Pil Khel,Mamooti,bara dewan khel, kooz dewan khel,Mishak are the early inhabitants, Shah Bat Khel, Awal Khel(both are direct descendants of Sadar Khan the famous Great grandson of Khushal Khan Khattak) beside a number of people belonging to different tribes, who migrated here are living jointly in Lund Khwar. The other main resident tribe is the Yousafzai settled mainly in Mian Eesa. A large number of Dalazak tribe also live in Lund Khwar.The Yousaf Zai of Lund Khwar
About the Yousaf Zai of Lund Khwar, Horace Arthur Rose, Denzil Ibbetson (Sir), Edward Douglas Maclagan (Sir) et al. write in their book entitled "A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West" on page 484:"Uthman Khel: A powerful tribe, probably pathans of the Kodai branch of the Karlanri, which attached itself to the Yousafzai and Mandanr when the latter migrated from their seats on the North-West of the Sulaiman Range to the tract round Lund Khwar at the foot of the hills in the present Peshawar distrcit. Thence in the 16th century they occupied their current territory which is a mountainous tract between the Rud and Ambhar rivers and thence stretches eastwards between the Swat River and Peshawar District as far as the Ranizai and Sam Ranizai borders. A portion of the tribe originally belonging to the Sanizai, Bimbarzai and Peghzai septs still dwells in the country round Lund Khwar and has become separated from the rest of the tribe. The Utman Khel comprise many septs which are constantly at feuds with one another".
About the Yousafzais of today's Lund Khwar, Sir Olaf Caroe in his book entitled "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited, writes at "The Greek Historians 39"<:
........."and with few exceptions the Yusuf-
zais now the Mandanr section of them only hold the rest of
the Samah Valley north of the Landai River. It is very hard to
believe in the truth of this tradition. In those days the Samah 8
proper had no irrigation; it was a great dry tract, in many parts
sandy, scored by ravines such as the Bagiari, Kalpanri, and Lund
Khwar, with at best scattered cultivation from wells where the
water table allowed it. The Doaba and Hashtnagar on the other
hand are level lands beside the Kabul and Swat affluents, and it is
almost certain that even then they enjoyed irrigation by inunda-
tion. The Yusufzais by their own account ruled the roost: why
should they have allotted the finest land to the Gigianis who had
been disloyal to the tribal nexus, and to the Muhammadzais who
were not even of the Khakhay brotherhood?"
The Khattaks of Lund Khwar
About the Khattaks of today's Lund Khwar, Sir Olaf Caroe in his book entitled "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited, writes at "The Greek Historians 39"<:..........."Taken together, the Khataks and the Shitaks, who now have a
common boundary close to Bannu, cover a stretch of territory as
large as that held by any Afghan or Pathan tribe, whether Yusuf-
zai, Durrani or Ghalji. From the Khatak settlements around
Lundkhwar, close to the Malakand Pass, to the Shitak villages in
Upper Daur in the Tochi, the distance is over 200 miles. The wide
extent of their present territory, their large population, and the
association of both groups of tribes at one time or another with
the rich oases of Bannu and the Tochi, suggest sufficiently their
importance in this family of peoples. They did not spring from
nowhere in the night. They are Karlanris."
and at "220 The Pathans", writes:
............."The Khataks, loyal Mughal vassals under Akoray and
his immediate successors, not only overran a considerable tract of
Yusufzai country north of the Kabul River and opposite Akora,
but planted a colony under the hills, separating the Yusufzais and
the Mandanrs, in the area known as Baizai. That is the origin
of the Khatak villages of Lundkhwar, Jamalgarhi and Katlang on
the boundaries of Swat. In all the Mughal fighting against the
Yusufzais the Khataks took a prominent part. Echoes of this
rivalry can be heard in the poetry of Akoray's descendant, Khush-
hal Khan.
In the scales of history the result was incommensurate with the
effort put out. The might of Akbar had not prevailed in any
decisive fashion against any of the tribes except those who found
it to their interest, in return for consideration, to guard the King's
highway."