Peshawar Valley

The Peshawar Valley (Pashto: د لوی پېښور وادي; Urdu: وادئ پشاور) is a broad valley situated in the central part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The valley is 7,176 km² (2,771 sq mi) in area, and is traversed by the Kabul River. It has a mean elevation of 345 metres (1,132 ft).^[1]

It is heavily populated. The five most populous cities in the valley are Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, and Nowshera.

Geography

The Peshawar Valley is connected to the north with Swat River Valley in southern offshoots of Hindu Kush while to the east it is bounded by Indus River which separates it from Pothohar Plateau. To the west of the valley lies the Khyber Pass in the Safed Koh Range which connects it to Kabul Valley in Afghanistan while Kohat Pass in Kohat Range connects it to the Kohat District in the south.^[1]

History

In 630 CE, Xuanzang visited the Peshawar Valley, and mentioned two stupas built by Ashoka, one of them around (20 li) 6.4 km northeast of (Pa-lu-sha) Sahri Bahlol, which he said was located on "Mount Tan-to-lo-ka," Takht-i-Bāhi hill.^[2]^[3]

Administrative division

The valley takes its name from the city of Peshawar, which is situated at the western part of the valley close to Warsak Dam.

These districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are completely located in the Peshawar Valley:

Charsadda District (population: 1,616,198)^[4]
Mardan District (population: 2,373,061)
Peshawar District (population: 4,269,079)

In addition, most of Nowshera District, most of Swabi District, and smaller portions of Khyber (including Jamrud), Mohmand, Malakand, and Frontier Region Peshawar are also located in the Peshawar Valley.

References

^ ^a ^b Samad, Rafi U. (2011). The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Algora Publishing. ISBN 9780875868585. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
^ Beal, Samuel, (ed. & trans.), (1884). Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Wester World, Volume 1, Author: Huen Tsang, p. 112: "Outside the eastern gate of the town of Po-lu-sha is a sangharama with about fifty priests, who all study the Great Vehicle. Here is a stupa built by Asoka-raja [...] To the north-east of Po-lu-sha city about 20 li or so we come to Mount Dantaloka. Above a ridge of that mountain is a stupa built by Asoka-raja."
^ Errington, Elizabeth, (1993). "In search of Pa-lu-sha, a city of the central Gandhara plain", in: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Volume 7, p. 63: "[R]egarding the Tan-to-lo-ka mountain visited by Xuanzang 'above twenty li' (4 miles/6.4 km) to the northeast of Pa-lu-sha [...], for if the latter is identified as Sahri Bahlol, it seems that the former must be equated with the Takht-i-Bāhi hill."
^ "DISTRICT AND TEHSIL LEVEL POPULATION SUMMARY WITH REGION BREAKUP: KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-04-23.

[:0-1] Samad, Rafi U. (2011). The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Algora Publishing. ISBN 9780875868585. Retrieved 24 March 2017.

[2] Beal, Samuel, (ed. & trans.), (1884). Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Wester World, Volume 1, Author: Huen Tsang, p. 112: "Outside the eastern gate of the town of Po-lu-sha is a sangharama with about fifty priests, who all study the Great Vehicle. Here is a stupa built by Asoka-raja [...] To the north-east of Po-lu-sha city about 20 li or so we come to Mount Dantaloka. Above a ridge of that mountain is a stupa built by Asoka-raja."

[3] Errington, Elizabeth, (1993). "In search of Pa-lu-sha, a city of the central Gandhara plain", in: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Volume 7, p. 63: "[R]egarding the Tan-to-lo-ka mountain visited by Xuanzang 'above twenty li' (4 miles/6.4 km) to the northeast of Pa-lu-sha [...], for if the latter is identified as Sahri Bahlol, it seems that the former must be equated with the Takht-i-Bāhi hill."

[census2017-4] "DISTRICT AND TEHSIL LEVEL POPULATION SUMMARY WITH REGION BREAKUP: KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-04-23.

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