mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
located east of the
Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The city of Haripur is situated at the front of these mountains; it borders
Tarbela Dam
Tarbela Dam (, ) is an earth-filled dam along the Indus River in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Located mainly in the Swabi district of the province, The dam is about from the city of Swabi, northwest of Islamabad, and east of Peshawar ...
to the south and the
Hasan Abdal
Hasan Abdal ( Punjabi, ur, ), is a city in the Attock District of Punjab Province in Pakistan, located 40 km northwest of the country's capital city, Islamabad. Hassan Abdal is the headquarters of Hasan Abdal Tehsil (sub-district).
As home ...
to the north.
Gandhar is famous for the tales of Raja Rasalu. Some of these tales are also reported by British Army officer Major Abbott (famous for Abbottabad) who reported that he has listened such stories from the locals during his stay in the area of village Nara as his earlier headquarter in the first thirty years of the 20th century. Famous book Tuzke Jahngiri, travelogues of Mughal emperor Jahngir, also mentions some of these tales associated with the Gandghar mountains.
One such tale is that Raja Risalu used to stay during hunting expeditions in one of the caves of Sirban Mountain in Abbottabad. One day the Raja was informed by his parrot that his wife is in secret relation with another Demon (Dev) and they secretly meet in Gandghar mountains. Upon this Raja Rasalu rushed to the mountains where he found his wife and the Demon together. The Demon, afraid of the Raja's wrath, ran away from the occasion and found refuge in one of the caves of the Gandghar. The Raja chased the Demon and closed the opening of the cave with a huge rock. Folk stories tell us that the Demon jailed inside these mountains cries once in a year or two and the entire mountain range echoes with his cries.