PESHAWAR
Peshawar derives its name from a Sanskrit word "Pushpapura", meaning the city of flowers. Peshawar's flowers were mentioned even in Moghal Emperor Babur's memories.
Alexander's legions and the southern wing of his army were held up in here in 327 B.C. for forty days at a fort excavated recently, 28km north-east of Peshawar at Pushkalavati (lotus city) near Charsadda. The great Babur marched through historic Khyber Pass to conquer South Asia in 1526 and set up the Moghal Empire in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. The Khyber pass and the valley have resounded to the tramp of marching feet as successive armies hurtled down the cross-roads of history, pathway of commerce, migration and invasion, by Aryans, Scythians, Persians, Greeks, Bactrians, Kushans, Huns, Turks, Mongols and Moghals.
Peshawar is now, as always, very much a frontier town. The formalities of dress and manner give way here to a free and easy style, as men encounter men with a firm handclasp and a straight but friendly look. Hefty handsome men in baggy trousers and long, loose shirts, wearing bullet studded bandoliers across their chest or pistols at their sides as a normal part of their dress. There is just that little touch of excitement and drama in the air that makes for a frontier land. An occasional salvo of gunfire--no, not a tribal raid or a skirmish in the streets but a lively part of wedding celebrations.
Remember, we are in the land of Pathans--a completely male-dominated society. North and South of Peshawar spreads the vast tribal area where lives the biggest tribal society in the world, and well-known, though much misrepresented. Pathans are faithful Muslims. Their typical martial and religious characters have been moulded by their heros like Khushal Khan Khattak, the warrior-poet and Rehman Baba, a preacher and also a poet of Pushto language.
Today, they themselves guard the Pakistan-Afghanistan border along the great passes of Khyber, the Tochi, the Gomal and others on Pakistan's territory, but before independence they successfully defied mighty empires, like the British and the Moghals and others before them, keeping the border simmering with commotion, and the flame of freedom proudly burning.
Peshawar is the great Pathan city. . Hoary with age and the passage of twenty-five centuries, redolent with the smell of luscious fruit and roasted meat and tobacco smoke, placid and relaxed but pulsating with the rhythmic sound of craftsmen's hammers and horses' hooves, unhurried in its pedestrian pace and horse-carriage traffic, darkened with tall houses, narrow lanes and overhanging balconies, intimate, with its freely intermingling crowd of townsmen, tribesmen, traders and tourists--this is old Peshawar, the journey's end or at least a long halt, for those travelling up north or coming down from the Middle east or Central Asia, now as centuries before when caravans unloaded in the many caravan-serais now lying deserted outside the dismantled city walls or used as garages by the modern caravans of far-ranging buses.
THE OLD CITY:
Until the mid-fifties Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall and sixteen gates. Of the old city gates the most famous was the Kabuli Gate but only the name remains now. It leads out of the Khyber and on to Kabul. You come across two-and three-storied houses built mostly of unbaked bricks set in wooden frames to guard against earthquakes. Many old houses have beautifully carved heavy wooden doors and almost all have highly ornamental wooden balconies. There is a tall and broad structure whose lofty portals look down upon the street. This historic building houses the police offices and the site was occupied centuries ago by a Buddhist stupa, then by a Hindu temple and then by a Moghal serai. It was, in Sikh days, the seat of General Avitable, an Italian soldier of fortune in the service of Ranjit Singh.
Here perhaps visiting travellers or the relaxing townsmen were regaled with stories by professional story-tellers, in the evening, in the many tea-shops that still adorn the bazaar front with their large brass samovars and numerous hanging tea pots and tea-cups. As in most eastern bazaars, the shops of delicacies predominate, and here too you will find many colorful fruit-shops displaying the glorious harvest of Peshawar orchards. You will be waylaid by the enticing smell of Peshawar's unrivalled bread and justly celebrated 'Kababs' and 'Tikkas', meat sizzling on hot coals, in the many wayside cafes. Leather goods shops are the next most numerous selling that wonderful footwear, the Peshawari "chappals" or sandals, belts, holsters and bandoliers and a special variety of light but sturdy suitcases called "Yakhdaan".
Soon you reach the central square called Chowk Yadgar, the traditional site of political rallies, with a modern monument in abstract design in the center. The two routes from the old city meet here. Parking of cars can safely be done only at this place in the old city.
The only significant remaining Moghal mosque in Peshawar was built by
Mohabbat Khan in 1670 A.D. when he was twice the Governor of Peshawar under Moghal
Emperors Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb. The mosque was nearly destroyed by fire in 1898 and was
only saved by the unremitting efforts of the faithful. The extensive renovation of the
mosque was done by traditional craftsmen. The mosque is a fine specimen of Moghal
architecture or Emperor Shah Jehan's period. The interior of the prayer chamber has been
lavishly decorated with floral work and calligraphy.
PESHAWAR MUSEUM:
Peshawar Museum is housed in an imposed building of the British days. It was formerly the Victoria Memorial Hall built in 1905. The large hall, side galleries and the raised platform which were used for ball dance have been utilized for arranging in chronological order and labelled display of finest specimens of Gandhara sculptures, projecting the life of Buddha, ethnography, tribal life and the Muslim period.
The prime attraction in the region is the Khyber Pass situated in the Sulaiman Hills which form the western barrier of Pakistan. The hills dip down here, leaving a passage sometimes as broad as 1.5km and sometimes as narrow as 16 meters. The pass begins near Jamrud Fort 18km from Peshawar and extends beyond the border of Pakistan at Torkham 58km away. At Torkham PTDC has a motel-cum-Information Center which is closed at present due to unsettled conditions in Afghanistan.
There are two ways for visiting the legendary Khyber Pass. You may travel by road from Peshawar via Jamrud Fort, low stony hills capped with pickets manned by Khyber Rifles, Ali Masjid and the fort, insignia of the regiments that have served in the Khyber, remains of Sphola stupa of Buddhist period (2nd-5th centuries A.D.), Landikotal Bazaar and to the border post at Torkham. The other exciting way seeing Khyber Pass is to undertake a 42km and 3.5 hours journey to Landikotal at the nominal tourist ticket by the equally legendary Khyber Railway. Tribal people travel free as part of the contract agreed upon when they allowed the British to build the railway into their territory. It treads its way through 34 tunnels crossing 92 bridges and culverts and climbing 1,200 meters. The British built it in 1920 at the then enormous cost of Rs. two million. Two or three coaches are pulled and pushed by two 1920 model steam engines. AT one point, the track climbs 130 meters in less than a mile by means of famous Changai Spur, a section of track shaped like a 'W' with two reversing stations. At Landikotal railway station, taxi cabs are available for 8km road journey upto Torkham, the border check post. The train waits at Landikotal for 2 hours for return journey. Taxis are available here also for the return journey of 48km by road to Peshawar, if one is not inclined to travel again by train.
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