Chakdara (چکدرہ) is a city in the

Lower Dir District Lower Dir District (, ) is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Timergara is the district's headquarters and largest city. The Lower Dir district was formed in 1996, when Dir District was divided into Upper Dir and Lower ...

of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the second largest city in Dir Lower after Timergara. It serves as a gateway of Malakand Division. It is located in the center of Malakand Division at the entrance of the

, also near the entrance of the

Swat A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

District. The Swat Expressway's Chakdara interchange (Pul Chowki) touches this area. Chakdara is about 130 km far from

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, 40km from Mingora and 38 km from Timergara.

History

Early stupa 6 meters in diameter with fallen umbrella on side in Chakpat near Chakdara

Chakdara has been an important center for the last 3,500 years and is littered with remains of the Gandhara grave culture, Buddhist sites, and Hindu Shahi forts. The ancient route from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

via Nawa Pass and Katkala Pass/Zwalm Pul (Bridge). The Swat River also crosses Chakdara. The

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

built a fort here in 1586, occupied in 1895 by the British, who built the present fort in 1896 and were forced to defend it during the Siege of Malakand in 1897.

Archaeological sites

Buddhist sculpture of the first to seventh centuries from nearby sites and Hindu Shahi artefacts are now displayed at Chakdara Museum.

Damkot Hill

The most important site in Chakdara is Damkot Hill. The top of Damkot Hill has been excavated and houses with pottery and jewellery have been discovered. These items are now displayed in the Saidu Sharif Museum. At the foot of Damkot Hill at Salami, there is an early graveyard. Early settlers buried partially cremated bodies surrounded by everyday utensils. The graves were sealed by large stone slabs. A Buddhist stupa and monastery of the first century AD were excavated by Ahmad Hasan Dani in 1962–65. There are some Buddhist carvings at the foot of the hill. During the Hindu Shahi period a fort was built here which was destroyed in the 11th century. In the 19th century the British occupied this hill. Behind Damkot Hill at Chat pat is the site of a monastery of the late fourth century. The sculpture from this monastery is displayed in Chakdara Museum.

Andaan Dheri

The "Andandheri" or Andaan Dheri is a Buddhist archaeological site in Pakistan, about 4 miles north of Chakdara, excavated by Professor Ahmad Hasan Dani in 1966, for the purpose of establishing a chronology of Gandharan art and architecture. It has been known as the Uchh Stupa, being one mile south of Uchh village. Locally, it has been called Andanheri, meaning "round mound." Even after the site had been looted over the years, Dani's team was still able to "recover" 534 sculptures. Andaan Dheri, an important Buddhist site, is located 7 km north of Chakdara Bridge opposite to Gul Abad Degree College for Boys near the village of Uchh. According to the Buddhist pilgrim

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

this site was connected with a legend about Buddha. According to the legend, Buddha changed himself into a great serpent lying dead in the valley in order to save the people from famine. The starving people cut pieces from the body and fed themselves. According to another tradition,

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

is also thought to be the location of the mystical Lake Dhanakosha, birthplace of

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is consi ...

, founder of Tibetan Buddhism. The

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. ...

sect of Tibetan Buddhism identifies the lake with the Andaan Dheri stupa. A spring was said to flow from the base of the stupa to form the lake. Archaeologists have found the stupa but no spring or lake can be identified.

Other sites

from Andannd Dherai Stupa, there is the Hindu Shahi fort of Kamal Khan Chena (spring, ), which is now in ruins. From this fort a track leads to Nimogram Buddhist Monastery and Stupa. It has three main stupas, which identify three principles of Buddhism;

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

the teacher,

Dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

Sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

(the Buddhist order). Near Chakdara Bridge there are ruins of the Hindu Shahi Period and stupas at Haibatgram, Top Dara and Landakai.

Education

The University of Malakand is located in Chakdara, and other important educational institutions are here, including *Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Malakand *OPF Public SCHOOL (overseas Pakistani foundation) old name, Mashal school *Degree College Gulabad (for boys) *Higher Secondary School (for girls) * FC Public school chakdara * Madeena Medical Center Chakdara, near THQ hospital Chakdara. *Govt Higher Secondary School Chakdara (for boys) *Chakdara Fort, which is an academy for the Chitral Scouts. *Swat public school (chakdara campus) *Cadet college chakdara *And Other Important Is THQ Hospital *FEF Girls Degree College *Polytechnic colleges for Girls and Boys (separately) *Faran Public High school Chakdara

References

{{reflist

External links

Lonely Planet
* ttp://www.sarwartravels.com/dirmuseum.htm Chakdara Museum
The Story of the Malakand Field Force, by Winston Churchill
Lower Dir District Archaeological sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Populated places in Lower Dir District Gandhara