Maini (locally known as ''Menai'', ps, مینئ and ur, مینی) is the name of a village (now a town) and a union council as well as a lush green physiographic valley with natural streams and fertile agricultural land which resides in

Topi Tehsil Topi is a tehsil of district Swabi in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is administratively subdivided into twenty Union Councils,

Swabi District Swabi District ( ps, سوابۍ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in the Mardan Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It lies between the Indus and Kabul Rivers. Before becoming a district in 1988, it was a tehsil within t ...

of the province of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

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 ...

. It has a very detailed historic profile, from the early historic age till the Partition of Pakistan. Maini lies at latitude 34°07'07.23" north and longitude 72°36'32.38" east with an elevation of about 383 meters above the sea level. Total area of Maini valley is about 5 kilometres from east to west and 6 kilometres from north to south. The population of Maini is now exceeding 80,000 (not according to the Government census). It is considered one of the highly educated area of Topi Tehsil, where there are about twenty five Government primary schools, a Government high school for boys, a Government high school for girls, one Government degree college (Sahibzada Muhammad Khurshid Memorial College), one private girl’s college and more than two dozen of private primary and high schools. These institutions produced highly qualified personals for the country, who are serving the nation in different public sector departments and private sector as well. Most of the population Maini also helps the country in foreign exchange earnings; where they serve the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

and

European countries The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international reco ...

in this respect. On the other side initial health facilities are provided in the Government's Basic Health Unit while one can also find a dozen small private medical units. With these basic and dire needs, Maini also provides good opportunities for the sports facilities. There is an official sports ground, named as ''Cheeno'', in its development the Government is taking keen interest but a case has been filed in the court which made it disputed. Most of the population play

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

(football),

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and ''kabaddi'', while the local game ''mukhka''/''makha'' is also played only at the arrival of summer. Cheeno Sports Ground (seen from Muradu Dherai)

Geography

Maini is located 17 kilometers east of Swabi city, 5 kilometers north of

Topi ''Damaliscus lunatus jimela'' is a subspecies of topi, and is usually just called a topi. It is a highly social and fast type of antelope found in the savannas, semi-deserts, and floodplains of sub-Saharan Africa. Names The word ''tope'' or '' ...

city and 2 kilometers west of Gadoon Amazai Industrial Zone. The main Swabi-Topi road provides a connection near Kotha village which runs towards north and takes 5 kilometers to arrive at Maini village. This road is also an ancient track which then runs north of Maini, goes through Jhanda village and extends to

Buner District Buner District ( ps, بونیر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Before becoming a district in 1991, it was a tehsil within Swat District. History The Buner Valley lies bet ...

. On the three sides Maini is bounded by hills while the southern plain gap provides a flowing route to one hill-torrent (''wuch khwar''), one river (''kundal'' river) and a natural spring (''Cheena'') that are running through its heart and irrigate the southern fields. Map of District Swabi (showing Maini in yellow colour)

Map of District Swabi (showing Maini in yellow colour)

Maini resides in the southern foothills of 2225 meters high Mahābaṇ Range of mountains while Ajumair hill lies in its west and the barren Gadoon hills are lying in its east which blocks the water of

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 ...

. All these mountains are Piedmont zones and a tentative division between lesser Himalayas and the Hindu-Kush (Dani 2001: 13).

lies in its south (most accurately south-southeast), Kotha village lies in its proper south, Baja & Bamkhel lies in its southwest, it is bounded by Ajumair hill in the west, Boko & Jhanda lies in its north-northwest, Pabini lies in its north, Malakabad (old Malka-kadai) lies in its north-northeast, Beesak lies in its northeast, Gadoon-Amazai Industries lies in its east and the Gadoon Afghan Refugee Camp lies in its southeast.

Subdivisions

Maini village comprises numerous subdivisions locally called ''tapas'' or ''mohallahs''. Originally the tapas where formed at the time of Sheikh Mali baba between the year 1500–1550, at the time when the newly acquired lands were distributed among the families. These tapas were as follow: # Sheikh Mali Khel # Mani Khel # Said Ali Khel # Khadhar Khan Khel # Khadhar Khan Khel (Ghari) # Niki Khedad # UR Ibrahim # Habib Khel # Arab Zai # Juna Khel # Gulbahar 1 # Gulbahar 2 # Redawan (U.S.R) # Qadarmann Zalmi Chowk # Ismail Abad When the population had grown and people moved out of the center of the maini to the surrounding area, new mohallahs were formed for administrative purpose only. These newly formed mohallahs were usually a mixture of the people of the tapas. Some of the mohallah are Qāsim Abād, Patyā (Fāteha), Tulkū, Gulbahār-1 and 2, Shīngrai, Kutkānṛe, Gaṛhai, Poray (Faqir) Kalay, Jāṛe (Gulistān), Sūlai, Raidawan, Rahīma, Hāji Khel( Miagan), Kambaray, Shakrai, Soganday and Kass (Zarin Abad). General View of Maini from Rahima Dherai

General View of Maini from Rahima Dherai

Name

As for as the nomenclature of the name Maini is concerned, most of the local elders are of the view that it is a derivative from the name of a certain non-Muslim Queen

Mainamati Moinamoti (''Môynamoti'') is an isolated low, dimpled range of hills, dotted with more than 50 ancient Buddhist settlements dating between the 8th and 12th century CE. It was part of the ancient Tripura division of Bengal. It extends through the ...

(erroneously called ''Mainawati'' by the locals). History mentions Queen

as the wife of Manikachandra of

Candra The Chandra kingdom was a Buddhist kingdom, originating from the Indian subcontinent, which ruled the Samatata region of Bengal, as well as northern Arakan. Later it was a neighbor to the Pala Empire to the north. Rulers of Chandra kingdom were ...

dynasty who ruled during 10th/11th century A.D in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. Whereas, some of the modern writers are of the view that the term Maini may be taken from the name of a group of

passerine birds A passerine () is any bird of the Order (biology), order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other order ...

common

Myna The myna (; also spelled mynah) is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which are native to southern Asia, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Several species have been introduced to areas like ...

Mynah The myna (; also spelled mynah) is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which are native to southern Asia, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Several species have been introduced to areas like ...

. However, a thorough research is needed to search the term Maini in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

languages. Zafar Hayat Khan of the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar is taking keen interest and trying his best to solve the issue of the term ''Maini''.

Languages, people and religion

Pashto is the main language spoken in a specific dialect.

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Yusufzai The Yusufzai or Yousafzai ( ps, یوسفزی, ), also referred to as the Esapzai (, ) are one of the largest Pashtun tribes, tribes of ethnic Pashtuns. They are natively based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, to which they migrated to from Sulim ...

clan. Whereas the religious background of the whole population is

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Muslim. However, before the partition of

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1947,

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

community was living side by side with the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

community, who were known as the business class Hindus.

Climate

Maini features a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

, with very hot summers and cold winters. Winter starts in mid-November and ends in late-March, while summer months are from May to September. The mean maximum summer temperature surpasses during the hottest month, and the mean minimum temperature is . The mean minimum temperature during winter is , while the maximum is . Here the rainfall occurs in both winter and summer because it is a

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

region which comes under both the Malakand and Hazara zonal rainfall regions. Due to western disturbances, the winter rainfall shows a higher record between the months of February and April. Wind speeds vary during the year, from in December to in June. The relative humidity varies from 46% in June to 76% in August. The highest temperature of was recorded on June 1995, while the lowest occurred on January 1970.

Natural mounds

Deelor Dherai lies in the north of Maini which separates it from Pabini, whereas it blocks the Kundal River from entering the populated area of Gulbahar. One can approach this mound through Deelor/Kundal route, leads from Gulbahar-1 to Pabini village. Salo Dherai and Shado Dherai lies in the northwest of Maini which can be considered the northern portion of Ajumair hill. These natural mounds are a division between Jhanda and Maini and can be approached from Qasim Abad through the Jhanda road. Ajumair hill is the highest and largest amongst all the natural mounds which covers the whole western border of Maini. It naturally separates Maini from Baja and Bamkhel village and is accessible through Gulbahar-1, Garhai and Kutkanre through Dundhery and Jabay routes. A View of Muradu Dheri from Sulai

Banr Dherai another low mound is located inside Maini but in its southwestern territory. It separates the two Mohallahs of Maini, one Kutkanre being in its north and the other Soganday in its south. It is approachable through the Kutkanre–Baja route and through Soganday. General View of Banr Dheri and Parts of Ajumair

General View of Banr Dheri and Parts of Ajumair

Rahima Dherai also resides inside the populated area of the village which is located a little east to the Banr Dherai. One can access this low mound through Najeem Jare and through Mohallah Rahima. Sulai Dherai lies inside the thickly populated area of Maini which is now mostly covered by modern houses. It resides in the south-central part of the village which can be approached from Raidawan, Shalizara and Sulai Mohallahs. View of Ajumair Hill

Muradu Dherai is a low mound which is located beside the Cheeno sports ground on the bank of Kundal river which provides a scenic view to the sports lovers. It resides in the southeast of Maini which can be approached through Karpa route and the modern Pehur High Level Canal. Loye Salay, Boos-Dhery and Tor-Batai are other natural mounds which are located immediately in the eastern populated area and resides Poray (Faqir) Kalay Mohallah in its gulfs. Two of these block the water of Kundal river and separate the eastern agricultural lands of the village from the populated area. These can be approached through Karpa route, Poray Kaly and Tor-batai route. Ghundhery resides in the center of the village, looks like an ancient stupa, and is a low hill now covered by modern houses on all the sides. Khazana Dherai and Patya Dherai lies in the north-northeast of Maini which is natural division between Mohallah Patya and Chatya. Khazana Dherai can be considered a natural block to the Kundal River which does not let the water approach Chatya wand. These two mounds are accessible through Chatya route and Patya route.

History

As far as the ancient cultural profile of this part of the World is concerned, we do not know much about the Pre-Historic and Proto-Historic age. There may be several archaeological sites that can produce the traces of human habitation before the second millennium B.C but that will need thorough and methodical archaeological excavations. The earliest evidences we so far have is the arrival of Achaemenian (Persian Zoroaster), who are evident by their seglois.

Achamenid rule

The historical profile of this land can be traced back to the time of Achaemenians (Persians of 6th to 4th century B.C). The

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

in Swabi region is evident in the historical literature where the writer Qureshi (1967: 83) says, "The districts west of river Indus as far as the river Kabul were inhibited by the Astacenians and Assacenians who paid tribute to the Achaemenian king, Cyrus who ruled from 558 to 530 BC". Astacenians were the Ashtak, a confederacy of eight tribes in the Peshawar region and Assacenians were the Ashvakas (generally identified with modern Yusufzai, who still live in this valley).

Buddhism

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

extended its horizons up to the western borders of

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

and enfolded in its wings the regions between Kabul River and

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, ...

. The mounds of Maini produce Buddhist remains all around. Due to the presence of Buddhist remains, Maini may be termed as a critical part of Gandhara civilization.

Alexander invasion

Alexander, who had a rivalry with Achaemenians, during 327 BC, after crushing western parts of Gandhāra, entered the plains of Swabi to fight against the Ashvakas (Qureshi, 1967: 93) and to meet the second division of his army for crossing Indus River at Hund, ancient Udhbāndepur or Ohind. He may have entered Maini when chasing his Persian counterparts.

Mauryan Empire

The Rock

Edicts of Ashoka The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire who reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expres ...

Shahbazgarhi Shahbaz Garhi, or Shahbazgarhi, is a village and historic site located in Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is at an altitude of 293 metres (964 feet). It is about 12 km from Mardan city. It has mountains, green trees, ...

prove the presence of

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

in the nearby regions of river Indus. And the pious Ashoka sent his missions into this part of Gandhara for the propagation of his dhamma.

Indo-Greek period

The short-lived occupation of Mauryans lasted for a century which did not completely wipe out Greek influence. The occupation of Indo Greek kingdom in Maini is evident from their large number of coins, which provides the information that before their invasion this place was introduced to them. Buddhist and Hindu remains that are scattered throughout this valley are the finest examples of Buddhist livelihood in this region.

Kushan rule

The most powerful and renowned sovereigns of Kushans made Gandhara a veritable holy land of Buddhism through the sacred shrines and monasteries. The valley of Maini is filled with the archaeological sites erected during the

Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, i ...

which prove the widespread character of Kushan Art. One can find large number of coins of Scythians and great Kushans with the inclusion of small number of coins of

Hindu Shahis The Hindu Shahis (also known as Odi Shahis, Uḍi Śāhis, or Brahman Shahis, 822–1026 CE) were a dynasty that held sway over the Kabul Valley, Gandhara and western Punjab during the early medieval period in the Indian subcontinent. Details r ...

( Turk-Shahis) and Muslim dynasties in the nearby mounds which produces a ray of hope that they have ruled this valley.

Huns/Ephthalite invasion

In Pakistan, generally, the Kushans were followed by Ephthalite Hūṇas, who destroyed the Buddhist establishments. Whereas the monuments at Maini would have faced the same situation. When Hsüan-Tsang came to northwest frontier, he found the country in a ruinous depopulated state with most of the Buddhist establishments in a state of decay. Most of the archaeological sites of Maini were then left unpopulated.

Hindu Shahi rule

Kāñṛo Dherai, a mound filled with dressed stones, has the remains of Hindu-Shahis which has signs of burning and flaming on its stones. These burnt stones indicate that Ghaznavids have rooted out the Hindu-Shahis from here and burnt their possessions.

Arrival of Yusufzai

Later on, the

then occupied this region and till now the utmān (from the lineage of Mandanṛ), a sub-tribe of Yusufzai, use to live here. It is constantly obvious in the history and in the Pashto writings that a war broke between the Yusufzais and Mughals in the northern fields of Topi (Rasool, 1993: 12). While the northern fields of Ṭopi belong to Maini which means that the war was fought in Maini valley.

Islamic period

Sheikh Mali Baba (originally named as ""Siekh Ādam"" belonged to

Kshatriya Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

family, a renowned and wise man in the Pashto history also belonged to this valley who is responsible for the allotment of the lands among the Pakhtoon tribes, from Indus to Swat. Some local areas

hindki Hindki ( ps, هندکي) is a term originally used by Pashtuns to denote people or communities of Indian origin that they have been in contact with. More specifically this may include: *Indians in Afghanistan#History, historical Indian communities ...

peoples after converted to Islam now they are calling himself sheikh Mali khel, basically they are hindki peoples after convert to islam they descendants as Sheikh-Mali,they are still speaking

Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...

language, He was a pious man who wrote a book, Daftar, about Yousuzais and about the territory reforms of the Pakhtoon valley (Nawaz, 1987: 249-253). Haji Baba was a Syed saint originally from the

Upper Dir District Upper Dir District ( ps, بر دير ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The city of Dir is the district headquarters. Badogai Pass connects it to Utror. At the time of independ ...

, who settled in Maini, Swabi. His descendants are known as the Haji Khel Miagan, and are highly respected for their

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...

and pious lineage. In South Asia it is not an ethnic title but an occupational title generally attributed to Muslim trading families. The Shaikhs claimed to be descendants of Arabs, however almost all Shaikhs did not actually descend from Arabs.

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

who converted to Islam and took the title ''shaikh'' tended to be of the

varna, although use of the title was flexible. In the former

Frontier Regions The Frontier Regions (often abbreviated as FR) of Pakistan were a group of small administrative units in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), lying immediately to the east of the seven main tribal agencies and west of the settled distr ...

and

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, the title ''shaikh'' was given to recent converts and not those of Arab descent. The

Julaha The Dhanak (Julaha ) are a community of Pakistan and India, which adopted the profession of weaving. Etymology The term ''Julaha'' may derive from the Persian ''julah'' (ball of thread). Other explanation put forth by Julaha themselves include ...

weaver caste became Ansaris, who claimed to descend from Abu Ayub Al-Ansari. The butcher castes claimed to descend from the

Quraysh tribe The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...

. The

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the C ...

record keeper caste became Siddiques, who claimed to descend from Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq. A famous saying which attests to the flexibility of the title of ''shaikh'' stated: "Last year I was a Julaha (weaver); this year I am a sheikh; next year, if the crops are good, I shall be a Syed."

1857 War and the War of Independence

During 1857 War of Independence some of the Muslim saints entered Maini who were followed and killed by Sikhs and British army in the nearby fields. Two of the saints have their graves in Habīb-Khel Mosque while the others are lying in the eastern fields across the hill torrent. Brigadier-General Sir Neville B. Chamberlain, a British soldier from the Punjāb garrison, was appointed at Maini valley and Topi region to draw the radicals of Sepoy Mutiny from behind the hills lying in the southeasterly direction of Ambela near the right bank of river Indus (Vevill, 1977: 50).

Archaeological sites

A large number of

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and

archaeological sites are in Maini valley. The main village was founded on ancient remains and the main populated area is surrounded by several archaeological sites of various types. Famous archaeological sites of Maini are Bañṛ Dherai, Najeem Jāṛe graveyard, Murādu Dherai, Hāji Khel, Sūlai Dherai, Rahīma, Kāñṛo Dherai, Ajumair Hill, Ghundheray, Shādo Dherai, Ḍeelor (Lanḍay) Dherai, Khazāna Dherai, Patyā (Fāteha) Dherai, Tūlkū Dherai, Shakrai Dherai, Kas Dherai, Parts of Shālizara, Gaṛhai, Ḍhundheray and the parts of the fields between Shakrai and Kambaray. Maini valley has a strategic position due to its geographical setting. The famous Buddhist sites of Azīz Dheri and Rāni-Ghaṭ lies in its west beyond the Ajumair hill, the Suumpur stupa of Baja lies in its southwest, Gala fort and Sri-Koṭ are situated in the southeast, archaeological site of Banj hill lies in its east and Shah-kot Baba fort (on Mahābaṇ top) lies in its north.

References

*Zafar Hayat Khan. (2009). Archaeological Discoveries at Maini Valley, District Swabi, Northern Pakistan (A Preliminary Report). Gandhāran Studies, Vol.3: 171-188

Gallery

File:Celebration of Anti-Norcotics Day.jpg, Celebration of Anti-Norcotics Day File:Cheeno Sports Ground on the bank of Kundal.jpg, Cheeno Sports Ground on the bank of Kundal File:Football Team Players (Games played at Maini).jpg, Football Team Players (Games played at Maini) File:People enjoying swimming in the Pehur High Level Canal.jpg, People enjoying swimming in the Pehur High Level Canal File:Agricultural Activity at Maini.JPG, Agricultural Activity at Maini File:River Kundal at Maini.JPG, River Kundal at Maini File:Scenic Beauty of Maini.jpg, Scenic Beauty of Maini File:Govt High School Maini.jpg, Govt High School Maini File:Jabba (The Natural Spring or Stream at Maini).jpg, Jabba (The Natural Spring or Stream at Maini) File:Kabaddi (A local game played at the arrival of winter).jpg, Kabaddi (A local game played at the arrival of winter) File:Katawa (A local food, mainly served at occasions).jpg, Katawa (A local food, mainly served at occasions) {{commons category, Maini Populated places in Swabi District Union Councils of Swabi District