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an ancient remains in Charsadda
an ancient remains in Charsadda
Location
It is an ancient mound situated near Charsadda some 29 km away from Peshawar. Due to its ideal location, it seems that the site had direct contact with trance Asiatic commerce (Wheeler: 1950: 50). Bala Hisar of Charsadda is located some 20 meters above the flood plain.
History
Interest in the Bala Hisar of Charsadda as an archaeological site has been going on for over 165 years. It was started in early 1830. In 1880 General Court, argued that the mound of Bala Hisar of Charsadda, was the location of ancient Nysa. While other believes that it was ancient Massaga (Court: 1836: 479). Alexander Cunningham believes that it was the site of ancient Pushkalavati or the lotus city.
The ancient capital of Gandhara also known as Peukela or Peukeleotis to the Greek (Cunningham: 1863: 89). Hiuen Tsang who visited Pushkalavati between 629 and 645 A.D, quotes that the size of Pushkalavati was greatly exceeded by that of Purshapura (AS!: 1902-03: 13). In 1903 the Discovery of an inscription by Marshall from Ghaz Dheri confirms this identification, a small monastic site some 1.6 km from Charsadda, part of the inscription reads "Pukhala Visae" or
"in the district of Puskala" (Marshall: 1904: 176). The promise of Charsadda or the Bala Hisar of Charsadda is not only related with the evidence of Greeks, but also in the presence or absence of their imperial predecessors. Arrian is also record the name of the ruler or governor of the city Assets who then aided in the attempt to defend the city (Wheeler: 1968: 97).
Interest in Bala Hisar of Charsadda is not merely restricted to the presence or absence of the Greeks or Persians but also to the very emergence of the cities in the region. Wheeler suggests that the assumed of cities in South Asia second urbanization were a colonial implant, first by the Achaeminian and then by Greeks (Wheeler: 1963: 172).
Excavation
The mound of Bala Hisar was excavated by the 4th company of Bengal Sappers and Miners before the arrival of the Garrick (Garrick: 1882: 101). Later on it was excavated by Sir John Marshall in 1903, Mortimer Wheeler in 1958, A. H. Dani in 1963-64 and then by the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar and the Bradford University, England.
However, as a result of Wheeler's work, one of the most typological sequences of ceramics and other artifacts in the northwest of the subcontinent was published, a sequence which has been widely used in the dating of other sites. According to Wheeler the occupation of Bala Hisar of Charsadda predates the 6th century B.C (Wheeler: 1996: 33).
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