The NWFP government has sanctioned Rs 11.104 million for the construction of Pushkalawati Museum at Charsadda district to preserve the antiquities of Gandhara period excavated from various ancient sites of the district, an official source told PPI.
The source said that the museum would be constructed at Ghani Dheri on the Rajjar-Takht Bai Road. When contacted, Director of Archaeology and Museum Dr Ihsan Ali said that Pushkalawati, presently known as Charsadda, remained the first capital of Gandhara in the 6th BC with the Achmenian-Iranian were ruling from here and it was one of their 20 provinces. "It is mentioned in the Behistian inscription of Persian King Darious," he said.
Dr Ali said Pushkalawati continued to be the capital during the time of Greeks when the Greek army under Alexander the Great invaded it in 327 BC when King Astes was its ruler.
"To some people the name Ashtanagar is also because of King Astes, while to others, the Hashtnagar, another popular name to the region, due to the 8th ancient towns of the early historic era that is Prang, Pushkalawati (Balahisar Charsadda), Rajjar, Utmanzai, Turangzai, Umerzai, Sherpao and Tangi where all the archaeological mounds still witness of the past glory," he said.
The Indo-Greek rulers through the 2nd BC, he said, and Sethoparthians afterwards continued to use Pushkalawati as their capital of Gandhara, the remains of which are found at Balahisar (ancient Pushkalawati) and Sheikhan Dheri, the twin mounds just one kilometer north of the modern town of Charsadda.
"The sites were first extensively excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Dr A.H.Danni and more recently by the Archaeology Department of the University of Peshawar and the NWFP Directorate of Archaeology and Museum," he said.
He said the materials excavated from these sites were lying with the federal and provincial departments of archaeology and museum and in the University of Peshawar.
Reports on these excavations, he said, were published from London and Peshawar.
Dr Ali added that the University of Peshawar had recently conducted an extensive survey of the region and brought to light 150 archaeological sites of the district by publishing these in journal 'Ancient Pakistan'.
EXHIBITION: "Most of these materials will be exhibited in the Pushkalawati Museum, while as an ancient capital of Gandhara it can also cater for the antiquities of Gandhara civilisation from other sites which was ruled from here for over six centuries.
He said that the region was rich both historically and ethnologically and if on one side the excavated and explored sites could fill the archaeological section, the rich ethnological heritage of the region could preserve the ethnological section," he said.
Dr Ali hailed the NWFP government for the approval of fund for the construction of Pushkalawati Museum and said that the decision would not only help preserve the historical antiquities of Gandhara and ancient Pushkalawati but would also provide an opportunity to those travelling too Swat, Dir and Bajaur from Peshawar on this shortest route.