Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is home to the world-wide famous Gandhara civilization. The various valleys which are witnesses to this long-forgotten culture are Peshawar, Dir, Buner and Swat beside Taxila (in the Punjab) and Bamiyan and Hadda (in Afghanistan). The heritage has been prone to speedy disappearance due to a number of reasons which can be termed as man-made and environmental. An attempt has been made here to shed light on the nomenclature, history, archaeological cultural heritage, its discovery and exploration and present condition. It is also aimed to bring to the fore eminent threats to the cultural heritage of the region. In addition to that, an attempt will be made in this study to bring to light the present condition of these sites as observed by the present researcher wherever possible. This study also aimed at to provide a site gazetteer for ready reference of scholars and students interested in the archaeological study of the region.
Introduction
Different people trace back the present name of Shahbaz-garha1 to different sources. Some say that it is due to a saint, named Shahbaz-Qalandar mentioned in Babur's Memoirs as Shahbaz-Qalandar (Masson 1846: 297; Leyden and Erskine 1826: 252; Beveridge 1922: 377). While others say that it is due to Shahbaz Khan, grandfather of the famous Pashtun warrior poet, Khushal Khan Khatak (Errington 1984: 27). However, Alexander Cunningham traces back the name of the town to the pre-Islamic period and says "I accept therefore the statement of the people that the old name of the town was something like Sattâmi or Setrâm, or Sitarâm, which I propose to identify with the city of the famous Buddhist Prince Sudâna (Cunningham 1875: 9-10)."
In addition to above mentioned names, the ancient town of Shahbaz-garha has also been mentioned in Chinese Buddhist Pilgrims accounts who visited the region from 6th -7th centuries CE. Sung-Yun (520 CE) named the town as Fo-Sha-Fu/Boshafu or simply Fo-Sha (because the last syllable fu means 'city') while XuánZang (630 CE) called the city as Po-Lu-Sha (Palusha). Ahmad Hasan Dani is of the opinion that both these names (Fo-Sha-Fu and Po-Lou-Sha) are the corrupt forms of the local Sanskrit word, Varusha or Varushapura (Beal 1869: 200, 1884: cii, 111; Cunningham 1875: 15; Watters 1904: 217; Foucher 2005: 21-22; Dani...