- Pushkalavati
Pushkalavati is an ancient site situated in
Peshawar valley in the North-West Frontier Province ofPakistan . It is located on the banks ofSwat River , near its junction withKabul River , now it is known asCharsadda .Pushkalavati meaning "Lotus City" was the capital of ancient kingdomGandhara from the 6th century BC to 2nd century AD.The ruins of Pushkalavati consist of many stupas and sites of two old cities.
Bala Hisar
This is the oldest settlement of the Pushkalavati occupied from 6th century BC.
Ashoka built a stupa there which was described byXuan Zang when he visited in 630 AD, which is still not found. This site was first excavated in 1902 by Marshal and then byMortimer Wheeler in 1958.haikhan Dheri
The Bactrian Greeks built a new city at this site which lies one kilometre from
Bala Hissar on the other side of the branch ofRiver Jinde . This city was occupied byParthian ,Saka s andKushan s. In 2nd AD, river changed its course and city was flooded. Town moved to the site of modern village ofRajar .The city was partly excavated by
Ahmad Hasan Dani in 1960’s. There are still many mounds at MirZiarat , at Rajar andShahr-i-Napursan which are still unexcavated.Pushkalavati & Prayag
The city of Pushkalavati was situated at the confluence of Swat and Kabul rivers. Three different branches of Kabul river meet there. That specific place is still called Prang and considered sacred. The local people still bring their dead for burial. Aryan found similar geographical characteristics at the confluence of Ganges and Jumna and founded sacred city by the name of Pryayag near Benares, which is one of the ancient pilgrim centres of India.
Pushkalavati in the
Ramayana .In the concluding portion of the (Ramayana) Uttara or Supplemental Book, the descendants of
Rama and his brothers are described as the founders of the great cities and kingdoms which flourished in Western IndiaBharata the brother of
Rama had two sons, Taksha and Pushkala. The former founded Taksha-sila orTaxila , to the east of theIndus , and known to Alexander and the Greeks as Taxila. The latter founded Pushkala-vati orPushkalavati [ [http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Peshawar_-_History/id/1841703 Peshawar - History] ] [ [http://www.world66.com/asia/southasia/pakistan/peshawar/history Overview of Peshawar History] ] , to the west of the Indus, and known to Alexander and the Greeks as Peukelaotis. Thus the sons of Bharat are said to have founded kingdoms which flourished on either side of the Indus river .References
* [http://www.brad.ac.uk/archsci/depart/resgrp/southasia/charsadda/ Charsadda]
ee also
History of Peshawar ite Map
* [http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/maps/gandh.html Map of Gandhara archaeological sites, from the Huntington Collection, Ohio State University (large file)]
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