CHARSADDA
Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar
Administration
As well as being district headquarters, the town of Charsadda is also headquarters of Charsadda Tehsil an administrative subdivision of the district. The town itself is administratively subdivided into 4 Union councils
HISTORY
The history of Charsadda can be traced back to the 6th century BC. It was the capital of Gandhara from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century CE. The ancient name of Charsadda was Pushkalavati, which means "Lotus City". It was the administrative centre of the Gandhara kingdom. Many invaders have ruled over this region during different times of history. These include the Persians, Alexander the Great's Greeks, the Mauryas, the Greco-Bactrians, the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians, the Kushans, the Huns, the Turks and the Hindus.
Charsadda is contiguous to the town of Prang;(city of jaguars) and these two places were identified by Alexander Cunningham with the ancient Pushkalāvati, capital of the region at the time of Alexander's invasion, and transliterated as Peukelaotis by the Greek historians. Its chieftain (Astes), according to Arrian, was killed in defence of one of his strongholds after a prolonged siege by Hephaistion. Ptolemy fixes its site upon the eastern bank of the Swat. In the seventh century CE Hiuen Tsiang visited the city, which he describes as being 16⅔ miles north-east of Peshawar. A stupa, erected over the spot where Buddha made an alms-offering of his eyes, formed the great attraction for the Buddhist pilgrim and his co-religionists. The city, however, had even then been abandoned as a political capital in favour of Peshawar
It probably extended over a large area, and the entire neighbourhood is covered with vast ruins. Excavation was carried out in the neighbourhood of Charsadda for about two months...