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 languag ...

: 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 , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

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 Rōshānī movement ( ps, روښاني غورځنګ, "the enlightened movement") was a populist, nonsectarian Sufi movement that was founded in the mid-16th century and arose among Afghan tribes. The movement was founded by the Afghan or Pash ...

. 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 and Kheshgi">Muhammadzai_(Hashtnagar).html" ;"title="nowiki/>Muhammadzai (Hashtnagar)">Muhammadzai and Kheshgi] *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 ru ...

, Chārsadda * Utmanzai, Chārsadda * Dargai, 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 Gujars of Afghanistan as brave, mainly pastoral, and numerous in Hashtnagar district. The Muhammadzai (Charsadda) and Kheshgi 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 which is the first ever film on the subject . It features the local artists and political activists and romanticizes the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

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 Major General Mohammed Akbar Khan, DSO (1912–1993) was a decorated officer of the British Indian Army and later Pakistan Army. He commanded the Kashmiri rebels and Pashtun irregulars in the First Kashmir War under the pseudonym 'General Tari ...

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 * Dr. Khan Sahib * 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 presi ...

Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao ( Urdu: حيات محمد خان شيرپاؤ; 1 February 1937 – February 8, 1975), simply known as Hayat Sherpao, was a left-wing intellectual and socialist, serving as the 15th Governor of North West Frontie ...

References

External links

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