The Peshawar Rhapsody

zakkk,
It`s a great site specially the articles on Peshawar.I have seen the Mela Ram collection elsewhere and there was another collection out of Quetta
pertaining to the same period by another Hindu Photographer.I seem to have lost that site.Will check it again.Yes it`s about time Peshawar got its
due share having borne the brunt of the Afghans for decades.Thanks for the site.

the Plague in Peshawar --

Ghalib was definitely wrong about Talibans --

-- ``lohe jahaN pu harfe mukarrar naheeN hooN maiN`` --

folks -- i hope meray last post ney -- ``rung meiN bhang`` -- naheeN kur diya...

another Peshawar Rhapsody:

``PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan. 18 (AP) — Officials in a deeply conservative Pakistani province destroyed audio and video tapes and compact discs today as part of a campaign to wipe out material the authorities deem obscene.

In front of a crowd of more than 1,000 people, officials doused gasoline on the materials piled up in a bazaar in Peshawar. The police chief, Tanveer ul-Haq Sipra, then set the pile on fire.

``We are determined to fulfill our promises about Islamization and cleaning up society,`` said Maulana Haji Ihsan ul-Haq, general-secretary of the Muthida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum.``

Aasmaan se giraa -- khajoor meiN utka -- poor Peshawar...

Kabul kaa bhagaa -- Peshawar kaa -- abhagaa...

http://www.geocities.com/scn_pk/gallery.html

That`s the link for the pictures of Peshawar. Some good stuff there.

I would say Peshawar is not exactly a Pashtun city either. The city has become fairly schizo, after all the more modern suburbs of Hayatabad are dominated by Persian Speaking Middle Class refugees from Kabul. While the inner city still has a small hindko majority the remaining areas are dominated by Pasthuns. so the problem of having a cohesive City pride is still a long way off.

The Cable TV issue is an old one, the MMA coming to power has just brought the issue out again. I doubt Cable cutting is as wide spread as people make it out. Again surprisingly it was in the posh localities that it was particularly bad, that only because the local Mullah brigade happened to be on good terms there. Anyway Cable TV connections are a federal issue so the MMA goovernment can`t exactly ban something that`s not under it`s juridsaction(sp?)

I really hope Peshawar get`s some really money pumped into the local economy. The city has been ignored for to long, and considering it`s been a front line city twice over, it deserves help to put it back on track.

i read in some online paki newspapers that mma goons had gone into the offices of cable companywallas and destroyed their equipment. just wanted to know how many people were effected and if there was an outcry locally?

freethinker.
Thank you for quoting Theroux and clarifying leighton`s query and educating me personally.The influx of the afghan refugees has certainly effected the soul of Peshawar.The Hindko city has been changed into a Pashtu speaking city.

faisaluno.
Cable T.V, MMA ?? What is your question?

Zakkk.
Mohalla Sethian has been slowly losing its charm and the distinctive
carvings,all in the name of modernity.Not many typical sethi houses are left in the area,which is such a shame.

Ras.
Green Hotel is still there but it`s no more the same after the death of Lala
Ayub,the owner.You probably ate the Chapli kababs in Nothia at Karimoo`s.They were the best.But Green Hotel`s mutton tikka was good too.

How is Peshawari naan different from the ``norma`` naan ?l

I had worked on the construction of the Warsak Dam from 1956 until the end of 1960. Warsak is some seventeen miles from Peshawar. We used to go to the city on weekends to watch movies and sample the kebabs and other dainties in the Qissa Khwani bazaar and other select places recommended by friends. Incidentally, Qissa Khwani, a Persian composite word, translates to story telling. It seems it has a history of its own – this may be the place in the past where people might have gathered to tell or hear stories. The place in 1960s was more or less the same as described by Banjara. I remember, once we went to a restaurant there in the evening on a wintry day for dinner. The brick building of the restaurant was okay but it was dark and dank. The kebabs however were delicious. During the five years that I was there, the wealth generated by the Warsak project became visible in Peshawar. Some new businesses had cropped up and the old city had started acquiring a new and refreshing look particularly in the cantonment.
I had visited Landi Kotal and Torkham also a couple of times. The landscape, the Khyber Pass, and the people – all of them – made the history so real as if one could physically touch and feel it.

The last time that I visited Peshawar was in 1970. The impression that I gather from the accounts that I have read of the Afghan refugee camps, the effects of war in Afghanistan, and the unbridled raids of the foreign journalists, is that the old mystique of Peshawar is ruined. I might be wrong.

Yes, Paul Theroux wrote about his experiences of travelling in trains from Victoria Station, London, to the eastern extremities of Asia in his book “The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train through Asia”. He wrote in his book about Peshawar:

Peshawar is a pretty town. I would gladly move there, settle down on a verandah, and grow old watching sunsets in the Khyber Pass. ….You sleep soundly under a tent of mosquito net and are awakened by the fluting of birds for an English breakfast that begins with porridge and ends with a kidney. Afterwards a tonga to the museum.

About his ride in the train, he wrote:

And there is the Khyber Railway, a further pleasure. Built fifty years ago (the book was published in 1975) at great cost, it is an engineering marvel. It has thirty-four tunnels, ninety-two bridges and culverts, and climbs to 3,000 feet. The train is well guarded; on bluffs above the track, in little garrisons and pillboxes, the Khyber Rifles stand sentry duty, staring blankly at the plummeting blue black ravines on Afghanistan’s inhospitable edge.

…It seems an impossible journey for a train. The 132-Down teeters on the cliff sides, breathing heavily, and when there is nothing ahead but air and a vertical rock face the train swerves into the mountain. Plunging through a cave, it dislodges bats from the ceiling, which the tribes-men at the windows swat with their sticks. Then into the sunlight again, past the fort at Ali Masjid, balancing on a high peak, and an hour later, after twenty sharp reverses, moves on a gentler slope in the neighborhood of Jamrud. Above Jamrud is its bulky fort, with walls ten feet thick and its hornworks facing Afghanistan.

KhamKhwa, you might be right, but it`s the best available right now. the best bit is probably Amjad Hussain`s map of old Peshawar.

Another web site worth a look is the Sarhad COnservation of Nature. they have some excellent old pictures of Peshawar.

banjaara

do you still have cable t.v? are you concerned that mma is starting to act as predicted?

I remember some great chapli kebab and Green Hotel with some fine refreshment downstairs. Is it still around?

Ras

Zakk the Peshawar site is utterly disappointing with lots of grammatical mistakes and nothing of earth shattering importance.To tell you the truth,
atleast this article does not have any grammatical or spelling mistakes and the story flows smoothly.

Since very few are commenting on this thread so Banjara saheb has decided to increase the numbers;)

Pankaj #10
Peshawar WAS `Purushpura` before it was named as `Pushpapura`,
sometime in the 2nd century AD during the rule of Kanishka or his successor.Ashvaghosha,Vasumitra and Nagarjuna are the other great poets,philosophers and writers of the time at the court of Kanishka,who was also a great patron of a newly developed art form called Gandhara.
The name Peshawar was given by Akbar the great moghal king which is a
composition of two persian words. Pesh Aawar meaning One in the front.
I can not open the url provided by you being a ``Bad Gateway``.
Regards

leighton #2
I have not read Paul Theroux,hence, am in no position to confirm or deny
this.Maybe someone who has read him will be able to educate us. This train journey was,however, included in the ``Great Train Journies``series made by BBC for television and this particular segment was commentated by Mark Tully,the famous BBC man in Delhi.As for your minor quibble, the settlement was always there to be attacked by the
invaders even if Peshawar the city was yet to be born. :)

Thank you soldotna,leighton, ana_dobarah, faisaluno, temporal, Zakk,
Urstruly and Pankaj for your interest and appreciation.Zakk, the article covered a lot more of Peshawar but the restriction on the length of the article made me shorten the travelogue.

Banjara jee

I was wondering if the ancient name of Peshawar was ``Purushpur`` instead of ``Pushpapura`` mentioned in your article. Purushpur was the capital of Kushan kings who adopted Hinduism. One of the later kings, Kanishka was converted to Mahayana form of Buddhism after a great debate with Ashwaghosh, one of the finest Buddhist philosophers of ancient India. The Kushan rule saw the flourishing of Gandhara school of art. You may want to visit the following site

http://www.med.unc.edu/~nupam/kushan1.html

anybody interested in reading more about Peshawar should go to the web site
http://www.peshawar1.com

Sir

You are a quintessential Banjara !!!

Regards

Well written. Thank you Banjara.

Paksitan picture gallery with description of places - the reason why we love it so much:

http://www.pakistanpage.net/gallery/main/gallery.htm

Good old Peshawar, my home town. Only complaint about this article is , it is a bit romanticised, Peshawar does have a normal side as well and the writer has apprently not visited a few other historical places.

To eat out I`d recommend Khans Klub and North west Heritage or good old Chief Burger.

Some other historical places to visit in the city itself are Ghor Gathri and the Sethi Mohallah, but deserve to be in better shape but are well worth a look.

If you are staying a bit longer and want to watch a movie do drop by V Den in Fawad Plaza. Good old Rafique`s shop is the hang out for the average movie buff in Peshawar!

Those of you who don`t know much about the ``Frontier`` will be surprised to find that Peshawar till very recently was NOT a pashtun city. Till the late 1980`s it was dominated by hindko speaking Peshawaris.

Banjaara
Thanks for an interesting write-up on a part of the world few of us will get to visit. Was the train you took the same train Paul Theroux has also written about?
A minor quibble, if Peshawar is about 2000 years old, how come the invading Aryans and Greeks attacked it?
Regards.

Banjaara,
thank you for this detailed and enjoyable description of your `romantic escapade`. I`ve never been to Peshawar, haven`t been much of anywhere north of Islamabad, so this was a treat. And I`m looking forward to hearing about the train journey, with all those hairpin bends, tunnels and bridges, it sounds exciting!
regards,
ana :-)

after quite a while, an article of real merit. the challange is to retain soul of the place while integrating it into the global economy. on a related manner, below is a list of top ten historic sites in pak according to salman rashid of the news

The best of the ruins

Here are top ten historic spots for you to visit

By Salman Rashid
The News
28-07-2002


1. Rannikot Fort that lies 32 km west of Sann in Sindh is the most remarkable ancient monument in all of Pakistan. For one, with its area of almost fifty square kilomteres, it is the largest fortress in Pakistan if not in the entire world. Secondly, and this is the far greater point of interest, it is mentioned only once in history when we learn that one Talpur ruler took refuge here in April 1843 after the defeat on the battlefield of Dubbo.

Approaching it one cannot but be impressed by the similarity of its crenellated walls with the Great Wall of China. But while the Wall is a linear defense bulwark, Rannikot is a regular fort that encloses an area. Within its walls are two smaller fortresses: Miri that was very likely meant to be the headquarters and behind it and high above on a hill Shergarh -- the citadel of the last stand.
There can be no doubt that Rannikot is ancient, a fact attested by a number of features. Though theories abound, there is no definite finding as to the date of building of this remarkable edifice, nor regarding who its builders were.


Taking advantage of its mystery, the Talpur rulers of Sindh appropriated it to themselves claiming that they had built it in the early 19th century. All they had done, in fact, was renovate it.

Temple of the Sun in Taxila

2. The Temple of the Sun in the Sirkap ruins of Taxila is my all time favourite because it is from here we learn of one aspect of Raja Paurava (Porus to the Greeks). Although this temple was built during the reign of the Parthian king Gondophares in the first half of the 1st century AD, it preserved those brass plaques that were installed in Taxila on the orders of Raja Paurava.

We learn from the Greek philosopher Apollonius who visited Taxila in 44 AD that these plaques were commissioned by the Raja when he received news of the death of Alexander in Babylon. In order to acknowledge his friendship with Alexander, the Raja ordered that the battle scenes shown on these plaques should be noteworthy for their detail. And detail it was that showed Paurava in defeat in the face of the invading Europeans.

Now, Alexander was dead, his Greek garrison of Taxila had murdered its officers and fled. The Raja could have re-written history as he pleased. But that he chose to tell the truth is a measure of his greatness. The brass plates are lost; they have been lost for centuries and we would never have learned this bit of history if Apollonius of Tayana had not journeyed to Taxila and paused to admire the Temple of the Sun in the main street of town.

The village of Mong

3. There are no monuments in Mong (near Mandi Bahuddin). There are only open fields where, depending on the season, the corn or sugar cane stand tall. Here, one day in late May of the year 326 BC, a great and sanguinary battle took place. This was the epic struggle between Raja Paurava fighting for the land of his forefathers and Alexander fighting for glory and riches.

It had rained the night before. The ground was still soggy when the onset began just as the sun rose that morning. By mid-day Alexander`s brilliance as a tactician had outdone the Punjabis of whom twenty three thousand lay dead on the battlefield. In complete disarray the army withdrew. Only one tall and majestic figure on a war elephant held his ground. This was Raja Paurava who fought on despite the wound in his right shoulder.

When he eventually met with Alexander, the famous exchange between the two took place. Alexander, immensely pleased with the majesty of the Raja`s demeanour, made him a friend and returned him his kingdom. Though the histories tell of the impression that the almost eight foot tall Paurava made on Alexander, there are a few things they don`t tell.

For example, I imagine, that after the Raja`s response Alexander would have reached forward to clasp his blood stained hand. Perhaps the five foot seven inch Alexander had raised himself on tip-toes to embrace the giant Punjabi warrior. If such things happened, they were not recorded. Only I saw them in my mind`s eye when I was on the battlefield of Mong.

Tilla Jogian

4. Accessible from Jhelum city by way of Sanghoi, Tilla Jogian is arguably the most scenic historic monument in all Pakistan. Situated on a 1000 metre high hill, it towers way above the broken country on the west bank of the Jhelum River and is nicely covered with broad-leaf and pine trees.

But the point of interest is the ruined monastery that still adorns its flat, tree-shaded crest. Here are temples, smadhs, residential quarters and water tanks -- one of which is a splendid example of Moghul architecture. And here, high above the bustle and noise of the Punjabi country-side is a peace and quiet that makes it easier to attain one`s nirvana. Here one only hears the ringing calls of Indian Tree-Pies and Golden Orioles and the song of the wind as it sweeps through the thick vegetation.

Established in the 1st century BC by Guru Goraknath, the founder of the sect of Kanphatta (pierced ears) jogis, the monastery thrived for two thousand years. For two thousand years followers of different persuasions resorted here to become jogis. Most names are lost, but we know that Guru Nanak spent the prescribed forty days worshipping his Lord in the quiet seclusion of Tilla Jogian. And we know that the heart-broken Ranjha came here after Hir was forcibly wedded into the Khehras.

Pharwala Fort

5. Most Pakistanis have not even heard the name Pharwala. Few, other than the locals, have seen it. The latter because it lies not very far from Kahuta and therefore out of bounds for all of us `spies`. But for those who can visit it, it`s a wonderful place -- a sort of a Rohtas on a smaller scale. Within the crenellated fortification that snakes over the verdant hills, there is a small village and just below the walls a small tributary of the Soan.

Pharwala was the headquarter of the turbulent Gakkhars of the Potohar Plateau. Babur, who fought against them here in 1519 noted, that the fort was difficult to attack and win over. He noted that its walls though without `breast-work or battlement` rose no less than ten metres above the ground. The present crenellations on the walls, I deduce therefore, are a more recent addition.

The first attack of the Moghuls was beaten back, but the second succeeded. The defeated Gakkhars melted away into the wild gorges to the north. However, peace was subsequently made and the Gakkhars proved to be the most resolute and steadfast of allies. Much as Sher Shah Suri wanted to win them over, he failed for they remained loyal to Humayun -- whose father they had professed friendship. Pharwala is a symbol of their trustworthiness.

Rohtas

6. Rohtas is remarkable. It is remarkable for all the effort and finance that went into its making and that in the end not a battle was fought around its walls. The structure is extravagant and impressive. High, loop-holed walls, massive towers, enormous timber gates in lofty gate-houses topped with crenellations, rounded merlons below which run sets of machicolations with beaky hoods from which boiling oil or water could be poured on attackers below. Here are all the trappings of a fort made to defy the strongest army. Here was a fort that would have resisted the strongest escalade.

Sher Shah Suri ordered its building to hold the Gakkhars at bay. But when work began here the Gakkhars mounted attack after attack, harrying the builders and carrying away Pathan soldiers and their families to sell them into slavery. Things came to such a pass that Toder Mal Khatri, the superintendent of works, was hard put to procure stone masons and offered up to one gold ashrafi for each stone that was to be laid! It was an exorbitant undertaking for the Pathan king of Delhi, yet he did not withhold finances.

And when the end came after the death of Sher Shah and Humayun`s return, not a shot was fired. The Pathan garrison fled upon seeing the Mughals and Rohtas became just another monument of the Punjab landscape.

Dhonra Hingora

7. The ruins of Dhonra Hingora lie just outside the village of Tando Fazal (25 km southeast of Hyderabad). Here are two splendid mosques, now partly ruinous, in Central Asian style and a domed mausoleum. Here are the ruined walls of a large mansion, the foundations of hundreds if not thousands of residential and business houses. And here too are the broken arches of a bridge that once spanned a small rivulet running through the city.

Yet history does not have anything to tell of the rise and glory of this lost city. Only the district gazetteer of Hyderabad briefly notes that Hingorani (as it was once known) was ruled over by a family of powerful Syeds and that it met its end in about 1775 at the hands of the savage Madad Khan.

Though Syeds have traditionally been powerful in Sindh, we do not know when they would have ruled over Hingorani or Dhonra Hingora, but going by the surviving architecture, it is clear that this city thrived in the latter Middle Ages. What we know definitely is that it was the inept and jealous nature of the last Kalhora ruler, Ghulam Nabi, which brought down on Sindh that accursed Madad Khan from Afghanistan. He laid waste the country, looting and sacking dozens of her cities. Dhonra Hingora was one.

Nandna

8. The ruins of Nandna lie by the old, the real, Grand Trunk Road, known as the Rajapatha -- Royal Road in classical times. They are accessible by an uphill walk from the town of Baghanwala (Jhelum district), or by the easy walk from the rest house of Ara that one reaches by way of Choa Saidan Shah and Basharat (Chakwal district).

The ruined two-sided hulk of the temple recalls the relative peace between the 6th century AD and the 11th when the Kashmirian kings, who then held this country, built a series of temples along the Rajapatha -- the Royal Road. Nandna was once such. But its strategic location at the entrance to the Salt Range also called for a strong fortress to guard it. The remains of that fort are now completely smothered by the rank vegetation of the hill.

Abu Rehan Al Beruni spent some time here in the year 1017. It was here that he carried out his experiments with the astrolabe and gave us the circumference of the earth. Though similar computations had been done before, their inaccuracy ran into hundreds of kilometres. Al Beruni came to within seventy nine and a half miles of the actual measurement.

Interestingly, locals in their ignorance believe Al Beruni determined Nandna to be the centre of either the earth or the Universe.

Stitch in the crack

( Surely the most heroic and dramatic achievement of Victorian railway engineering in what is now Pakistan is the stitch of railway line that spans the great crack in the Chappar Rift. This elongated hill shaped like a Swiss Roll lies north of Sibi in Balochistan. Though the line from Sibi through the Bolan Gorge had been functional since 1886, this spectacular line opened in 1887 formed the alternate route to Quetta.
Unfortunately, the geology of the area made the line`s maintenance a difficult and trying proposition from the very start. Constant landslips were one irritant. The other was the way the clayey earth in one section of the line turned into morass every time it rained. Consequently, railway authorities had gang men stationed in the wild and desolate Rift to patrol the area before the once-a-week train was due.


On the night of July 10, 1942 a great storm of rain came down in the Rift. The next morning the gang men found a section of line festooned across a gap in the hillside. The main line through the Bolan, recently upgraded, being the shorter of the two connections, was working fine without any trouble. Railway authorities decided they had had too much of the Chappar Rift line. The line was uprooted, the bridges dismantled and the section forgotten by all but railway history buffs.

Kan Mehtarzai railway station

10. The longest narrow gauge railway in the subcontinent was the one that stretched northeast from Bolan to Zhob, over three hundred kilometres away. When they laid it they called it, one of the highest narrow gauge railway lines in the world, the Zhob Valley Railway (ZVR). Railway history is silent on why the line was laid and one would say it was a public service utility. But in the 1920s (when it was laid) there were other considerations as well -- mostly military.

Things, however, remained in a state of rapid flux and with the birth of Pakistan the notion of military use for a slow moving narrow gauge line died. But the line continued to run until 1985 as a passenger service and for a year longer to haul chrome from the mines at Muslimbagh.

The most remarkable and picturesque feature on this line is the architecture: the mud-plastered station buildings with their tower-like structures and sun rooms. My favourite is the Kan Mehtarzai railway station. At 2224 metres (7295 feet) above the sea, it was once the highest railway station in Pakistan. It was certainly the highest narrow gauge station in the entire subcontinent -- if also not in the world. Today it sits forlorn and lonely in its bleak, wind-swept setting.

Banjaara:

welcome to chowk...

...the small gauge train ride...yes i have done that one too...reminded me of a national geographic article...the author and photographers went from landikotal...peshawar, lahore, over wagah and attari into india and i think they ended in mughulpura...

...zoar-e-qal`m aur zyada!

...t

This brings back a lot of fond memories of Peshawer. Thank you for sharing this excellent travelogue.