PESHAWAR

Once standing on the top of imposing Bala-Hisar Fort in Peshawar, one could see the historic Khyber Valley- gateway that has seen traders, conquers, nomads and travellers passing through it. But today, you can only see the jungle of high concrete structures, plazas and clouds of hanging over the cityscape. So much ‘development’ has taken place in the historic city.
Zaheer-ud-Din Babur crossed the Khyber Pass in the Sixteen Century on his way from Kabul, and ordered to strengthen the Fort of Peshawar known as Bala-Hisar (the high Fort). The Fort became a symbol of his victory on this side of the Khyber Pass. Sikhs and British during their rule reinforced Bala-Hisar for different reasons through.
The history of the fort must surely to that of the city, but the early days are marked in mystery. It is tempting, however, to see this as the site of fortification protected by a moat that was visited and described by the Chinese travellers like Hsuan Tsang and later Ruder Kipling. Presently Bala-Hisar fort houses headquarters of a prestigious Frontier Corps- the defenders of the mountains. Many kings have stayed in this Fort cum Royal residence in the past, contemplating their strategic moves to consolidate their gains.
The Mosque Mahabat Khan, Peshawar’s outstanding architecture legacy, in Jeweller’s Bazar was constructed by the Governor of Peshawar Mahabat Khan Mirza Lerharsib, in 1630 during the era of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan. The Mosque was desecrated and badly damaged by the Sikhs in early nineteen century and later when the fire broke out in 1898. The British renovated it for the first time and brought back some of its grandeur.
Presently it is being looked after by the Auqaf Department and seem in an urgent need of attention. Intricate naqqashi is fading and creaks have snacked in the courtyard as well as in the walls of the grand mosque.
For-tiered Cunningham clock tower erected at the turn of the century on the eve of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee other gems in the history of Peshawar that catch the eye of any passer by.
The famous Chowk Yadgar, is located in the amidst of wide and sprawling convergence point of different major roads and bazaars of the city, have witnessed agitation stemming from religious, political and international issues in the country. Commemorative square was originally named in the memory of British Colonel Hastings. In 1969, the square was dedicated to the heroes of 1965 Indo-Pakistan war.
Edward’s Collage was established in 1901 and named in the memory of famous administrative Sir Herbert Edward as missionary boarding school. Later, Haji Sahib of Turangzai laid down the foundation of Islamia collage in 1911. The collage has magnificent frontage facing Jamrud Road with its domes, kiosks and pinnacles rising above the green trees, which contrast sharply with red brick ornate building. The architectural taste is peculiarly of Mughal with a touch of colonial style. Three domed mosque adjacent to the collage is also of the artistic pleasure.
The British made Peshawar their frontier headquarters. They also added a new part to the historic city: typical colonial garrison with Gora Bazaar, church, single men barracks, bungalows and cantonment Railway Station. The blend of colonial and Mughal architecture, shady trees, flower beds along pathways and spacious
Houses in garrison in contrast to the multi storied residences in the city still stand out boldly.
Cosmopolitan character of Qissa Khawani Bazaar-Piccadilly of Peshawar is lined with its traditional kehwa khanas, Tikka, Chapli Kabab and dry fruit shops along with modern show rooms of leather ware and bright coloured garments. The stories of the Amirs of Bokhara and the Khans of Khiva and regional love of ‘Adam and our Khani have been substituted by satellite receivers continuously breaking news and telling amazing tales of fiction from all over the world. General Evitable, the Italian mercenary who was appointed governor of Peshawar by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, built the bazaar in the present shape in the early nineteenth century. Among tourist, it is still best known Bazaar of the city. Afghan refugees who came to Peshawar as a result of Soviet occupation have added yet another dimension in the character of the city in general this bazaar in particular where they can be seen doing business from exchanging money to selling Kehwa.
On this and on the itinerary of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuan-Tsang General Cunningham identified the site of Peukelas as near the modern twin towns of Charsadda and Prang. The Chinese pilgrims were drawn to Pushkulavati, as here was the famous stupa where the Lord Buddha was said to have made an alms offering of his eyes. Actually in their day the ancient capital had been superseded in political importance by the new town of Parashawara or Peshawar. There are no authentic records of the tribes seated about Peshawar in these early days. It is, however, established that they were of Indian origin. It has been conjectured with some show of probability that they were an off-shoot from the race of Yadu who were either expelled or voluntarily migrated from Gujrat and who were identified afterwards near Kandahar and in the hill country round Kabul.
Some authorities would actually find in the Gaduns who reside in the hills to the north-east of Swabi and in the Hazara District a last remnant of this ancient race. With the invasion of Alexander the mists, which obscure the early history of the countries near the Indus River in the northwest, begin to clear. According to Arrian, who wrote in Greek an account of Alexander's Asiatic expedition called the " Anabasis of Alexander," the armies of the Macedonian king reached the' Indus by two separate routes-one direct through the Khyber Pass and the other accompanied by Alexander himself through Kunar, Bajaur, Swat and Buner.
The first Greek invasion however left little trace on Peshawar. Alexander had hardly left India when the valley came under the sway of the Buddhist King Chandra Gupta (the Sandrokottos of the Greek historian) who reigned 321-297 B. C. In 323 B. C.Alexander the Great died at Babylon. About 20 years later Seleucus attempted to recover the-Indian-possessions f the Greek empire and passed the Indus with an army for this purpose. 
He was content however in the end to conclude a treaty with Buddhist king by the terms of which all the territories claimed by the Greeks cast of the Indus together with the Peshawar and Kabul Valleys west of that river were formally eeded to Chandragupta, who furnished Seleucus in return with 500 elephants. Chandragupta was succeeded first by his son Bindusara and then by his famous grandson Asoka. Asoka's fame rests chiefly on his position as the great patron of Buddhism. As such he has often been compared to Constantine the Great, the royal patron of Roman Christianity. 
In his reign the Buddhist faith was extended to Peshawar, Kabul and Kashmir. This is the period of the famous rock edicts -inscriptions cut into hard rocks or pillars of stone by command of the king himself and often recording his own words. The object of these inscriptions was ethical and religious rather than historical or political.
They were not, like the equally famous cuneiform inscriptions of the Persian King Darius, intended to convey to posterity a record of conquests or of the extent of a migty ebut to further the temporal and spiritual welfare of the subjects of the Buddhist king. One of these edicts was graven on rock near the village of Shahbazgarha in Yasafzai. Its characters may now be traced with difficulty after the lapse of more than twenty centuries. It remains, however, a curious relic of this older time and a reminder that human empires have their day.
The Peshawar Valley was later to see a revival of Brahmanism when Buddhist monks were massacred and driven out. The Greeks too again appeared under Menander, King of Bactria. Scythian and Indian masters followed, the latter finally retaining control of the valley till the 7th century of the Christian era. Fa Hian, a Chinese pilgrim, visited the Peshawar Valley in the fifth century A. D. and was followed some two centuries later by his countryman and co-religionist Hiuan-Tsang. During the visit of the former Buddhism was still the dominant religion of the inhabitants of the valley but at the time of the tatter's pilgrimage it was fast losing place. 
The Buddhist faith had therefore prevailed in the country round Peshawar for upwards of nine centuries. It can easily be imagined therefore that tile antiquities of this period in the Peshawar Valley are of peculiar interest and importance. For places of archaeological interest reference may be made to Chapter IV, and for objects of art to Appendix No. 3. Numerous coins of various periods-Grecian, Bactrian, Scythian, Hindu and Muslim-have been found at these sites and elsewhere in the district. Collections of these may be viewed at the Museum at Peshawar and at Lahore. There have been several well-known private collections also. Some of the finest Gandharan sculptures extant are to be seen in the Guides Mess at Mardan.
Before the close of the seventh century a new race-the Afghans or Pathans-appeared upon the scene. This people are first heard of as holding the hills of Ghor and Suliman about the middle of the seventh century A. D. at the time when Persia first succumbed to the force of Mohammadan arms. Against the Arab wave of conquest the Pathans appear not only to have held their own but also to have commenced about the same period a series of attacks upon their Indian neighbours of the countries bordering on the Indus.
Ferishta records a campaign of 70 pitched battles in five months when in the event the Pathans succeeded in wresting a portion of the plain country near the Indus from the Rajahs of Lahore. Joined later by the Gakkars who at this period held all the country from the Indus to the Jhelum the Pathans c. 700 A. D. compelled the Lahore rulers to cede to them all the hill country west of the Indus and south of the Kabul River on condition of their guarding that frontier of Hindustan against invasion.
Even after this date however the plain of Peshawar and apparently the Jalalabad plain still further west together with the hills to the north including modern Swat, Buner, etc., were occupied by tribes connected with India who appear to have been left un-molested. In the 10th century Peshawar came for-the first time under foreign yoke when Sabuktagin of Ghazni defeated Jaipal, the Hindu Prince of Lahore, near Laghman in Afghanistan and drove his armies across the Indus with great slaughter (978 A. D.). The conqueror took possession of all the country west of the Indus and left his Lieutenant Abu All as Governor of Peshawar with an army of 10,000 horses.In this campaign the Pathans sided with Sabuktagin and furnished soldiers to his army.
Sabuktagin was succeeded in the year 997 by his celebrated son Mahmud. The Hindu princes of Lahore had made repeated attempts to recover their trans-Indus territories, and in the reign of Mahmud, the plains of Peshawar were the scenes of many great battles. The first of these encounters took place in 1001 near Nowshera when the Hindus were again routed, Jaipal himself being taken prisoner. The Pathans prior to this battle had changed their allegiance and sided with Lahore. They were severely chastised therefore by Mahmud and as they had by now become converted to the Mohammadan faith, they were afterwards true to their allegiance and joined the Sultan in all his wars against the infidels. For his invasions of India in 1017 and 1023 Mahmud made Peshawar the rallying point of his forces of which Pathans now formed an integral part. The Pathan chiefs were treated with special favour in his camp and he encouraged the tribesmen to settle in the hill country west of Peshawar with a view to their forming a bulwark between his own country and that of his enemies of Hindustan. From this time and for a century and more Peshawar remained a province of Ghazni under Mahmud numerous successors.
Under the later princes of this line the place acquired considerable importance as a central stronghold of their dominions which then extended to Lahore whither the royal residence had also been transferred. The first settlement of any tribe of undoubted Afghan origin in the plains of the Peshawar District took place, as will be subsequently related, in the fifteenth century. Long before this date however sections of the Dilazak tribe, to whom some authorities attribute Pathan descent but whom the Pathans themselves declare to be of Indian origin, had settled round Peshawar. The Dilazak by their superior numbers overweighed and finally absorbed the indigenous population, which had held the valley prior to their advent. The latter are described as few in number-a quiet race chiefly pastoral and still unconverted. In the eleventh century the Dilazak--intermarried and much fused with the previous indigenous population-held all the plain of Peshawar south of the Kabul river and their settlements spread even to the modern Chach tract on the left bank of the Indus.
They paid tribute regularly at this period to the local Governors appointed from Ghazni. In the same century the Pathans of Ghor rose in revolt against their Ghaznavite over-lords and the empire founded by Mahmud was destroyed.Many extensive immigrations of Pathan tribesmen into the hill country west of Peshawar date from this period. The invasion of the Peshawar Valley by Pathans in force was however due to other causes. The Pathan traditional history of the occupation of the Peshawar Valley, perhaps little more than an epic, is as follows: - Two Pathan brothers Khakhai and Ghori had in the earlier times given their names to two of the great divisions of the nation then seated round Kandahar. The country in possession of the tribe was held jointly by both sections. As numbers increased partition of their territory was forced upon them and in the division, which ensued the Khakhais, being the weaker section, received an unequal share.
Even from this portion they were subsequently ejected by their stronger Ghori kinsmen, and accompanied by Utman Khel and Mohammadzai sections belonging to other divisions they left their ancient seats and about the middle of the. 13th century settled near Kabul. Here they increased in numbers and wealth and finally came to be grouped into three principal clans Yusufzais, Gigianis and Turkilanis.
In a grand Victorian hall, the Peshawar Museum houses one of the world’s best collection of Gandhara art, including stupas depicting the Buddha’s stupa collection presents a clear picture of life of Peshawar Valley during first four centuries A.D. when Peshawar was the capital of a vast empire. Handicrafts, tools and cloths of different tribes in the ethnological portion I the museum are also interesting and throw light on the cultural heritage of the region.
Life during the early days may be severed in old city. Historic houses having bay windows, jharoka and naqqashi work that may be reminiscent of Gandhara. Persian or Greek art are still servicing against all odds.
Sethi houses built during 1830-34, wood - work added in them in 1983, are good specimen of the past. Expert from International Union of Conservation have already carried out a survey for conservation of the houses and the result is still awaited . but the requirement is that Archaeology Department, city development agencies and real estate developers, all should work for preservation of legendary character of the city holding thousands of secrets.
Beyond history, heritage and culture, Peshawar faces all problems urbanization. City once famous for gardens and flowers is turning Grey. A case study of Peshawar has revelled that the city has lost 2700 acres of agriculture land during the two decades (1965-85). This in the addition to 400 of acres of vacant land that has been also eaten up by expending urban functions. In the same period, the land under parks and green space has shrunk from 163 to 75 acres.
With such thick layer of history compressed so tightly, Peshawar today is continuously growing and expanding. The need of the hour is that the concerned authorities should make plans for conserving its heritage otherwise we will lose our rich culture.