Hashtnagar (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: هشتنګر, more commonly known as اشنغر in

) is one of the two constituent parts of the Charsadda District in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

. The name Hashtnagar is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

अष्टनगरम् ''Aṣṭanagaram'', "eight towns", from Sanskrit ''aṣṭa'', "eight" and नगर ''nagara'', "settlement, locality, town". There was an unrelated town of the same name near Kabul in the 17th century. It was home to the Roshani Movement. The descriptive was later influenced by the Persian هشت ''hasht'', "eight". The etymology "Eight Towns", refers to the eight major settlements situated in this region. These are: * Chārsadda, Hashtnagar

Muhammadzai Mohammadzai ( ps, محمدزی), also spelled Moḥammadzay (meaning "descendants of Mohammad"), is a Pashtun sub-tribe or clan of the Barakzai which is part of the Durrani confederacy of tribes. They are primarily centered on Kandahar, Kabul ...

and

Kheshgi The Kheshgi, Khaishgi, Kheshagi, Khweshgi, or Kheshki is a prominent Sarbani Pashtun tribe and Imperial dynasty in South Asia. Administration The Kheshgi Tribe is divided into the following sub-tribes: * Batakzi * Umerzai * Hussainzai * Azizi ...

] *Prang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Prang (the 1812 list groups Prang with Chārsadda) *Rajjar, Chārsadda *Sherpao, Chārsadda *Tangi, Pakistan, Tangi, Chārsadda *Turangzai, Chārsadda *

Umarzai The Muhammadzai (also Mohammadzai, Mohammedzai, Mohmandzai, Mamanzai, etc.) is a Pashtun tribe residing in Charsadda, modern day Pakistan. The tribe should not be confused with the Muhammadzai of the Barakzai Durrani, who were for many years the ...

, Chārsadda * Utmanzai, Chārsadda *

Dargai Dargai ( ps, درگئی; ur, ) is one of the tehsils of Malakand District (the other being Batkhela) in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It located on the main highway from Peshawar to Swat, Dir and Chitral. The town of ...

, Chārsadda

History

Buddhist period

Hashtnagar is known for an early Buddhist statue. The name Hashtnagar is derived from the Sanskrit ''Aṣṭanagaram'', ''aṣṭa'' meaning "eight" and ''nagaram'' meaning "town".

Modern era

In 1812 the Asiatick Society (Calcutta, India) described the

Gujar Gujar may refer to: *Gurjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into variou ...

s of Afghanistan as brave, mainly pastoral, and numerous in Hashtnagar district. The Muhammadzai (Charsadda) and

were also mentioned as powerful tribes in the area.

Media

A documentary, exploring the political and cultural life of Hashtnagar, has been made by

Ammar Aziz Ammar Aziz is a Pakistani documentary filmmaker and poet. He's a recipient of the International Federation of Film Critics Award. His debut feature length film A Walnut Tree had its world premiere at IDFA and North American premiere at Hot Docs ...

which is the first ever film on the subject . It features the local artists and political activists and romanticizes the communist movement of the area.

Notable people

Bacha Khan Abdul Ghaffār Khān (; 6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988), also known as Bacha Khan () or Badshah Khan (), and honourably addressed as Fakhr-e-Afghan (), was a Pakistani Pashtun, independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar ...

* Major General Akbar Khan *

Abdul Wali Khan Khan Abdul Wali Khan ( ps, خان عبدالولي خان; 11 January 1917 – 26 January 2006) was a Pakistani secular democratic socialist and Pashtun leader, and served as president of Awami National Party. Son of the prominent Pashtun nat ...

Abdul Ghani Khan , image = Khan Abdul Ghani Khan 1940s.jpg , image_size = 250px , caption = Khan in the 1940s , birth_date = , birth_place = Hashtnagar, North-West Frontier Province, British India, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan , death_date = , deat ...

Dr. Khan Sahib Dr. Khan Sahib ( ps, ډاکټر خان صیب ) (born 1883, Utmanzai, Charsadda – 9 May 1958, Lahore), mistakenly named as Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (), was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and a Pakistani politician. He was the eld ...

* Lieutenant General Imran Ullah Khan *

Asfandyar Wali Khan Asfandyar Wali Khan (Urdu and Pashto: اسفندیار ولی خان) (born 19 February 1949) is a Pakistani Pashtun politician who is the president of the Awami National Party (ANP). His father, Abdul Wali Khan, was the party's first presiden ...

* Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao

References

External links

* * * * Charsadda District, Pakistan {{CharsaddaPK-geo-stub