The Pothohar Plateau ( ur, ) is a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

in north-eastern

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 ...

, located between

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 Kashmi ...

and the

Jhelum River The Jhelum River (/dʒʰeːləm/) is a river in the northern Indian subcontinent. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, to the Pakistani-administered territory of Kashmir, and then ...

, forming the northern part of

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

Geography

Potohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the

, on the west by the

, on the north by the

Kala Chitta Range Kala Chitta Range (in Punjabi and ur, ''Kālā Chiṭṭā'') is a mountain range in the Attock District of Punjab, Pakistan. Kala- Chitta are Punjabi words meaning Kala the Black and Chitta means the white. The range thrusts eastward acros ...

and the

Margalla Hills The Margalla Hills () are a hill range within the Margalla Hills National Park on the northern edge of Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, just south of Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are part of the Himalayan foothills. Th ...

, and on the south by the

Salt Range The Salt Range ( pnb, ) is a mountain range in the north of Punjab province of Pakistan, deriving its name from its extensive deposits of rock salt. The range extends along the south of the Potohar Plateau and the north of the Jhelum River. Th ...

. The southern end of the plateau is bounded by the Thal desert. The 5000 square miles of the plateau range from an average height of 1200 to 1900 feet above the sea level. Sakesar in the Salt Range is the highest mountain of the region and

Tilla Jogian Tilla Jogian (Punjabi and ur, ) is an abandoned Hindu temple and monastic complex located on the summit of the ''Tilla Jogian'' mountain in the Salt Range of Pakistan's Punjab province. The complex was the most important centre for Hindu '' jo ...

is the second highest. The Sivapithecus indicus fossil skull of an extinct ape species was discovered in Potohar plateau.

Economy

The plateau covers about 7 percent of all the cultivated land of Pakistan and most of it is very fertile, but the region does not have any proper irrigation system, with the

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

being largely dependent on rainfall. The plateau is the location of major Pakistani oil fields, the first of which were discovered at

Khaur Khaur is a town and union council in Pindigheb Tehsil of Attock District in Punjab Province of Pakistan. Community The major tribes of town are Muradiya(مرادیا)٫Kahut, Chauhan, Zeldar, Awan, Budhwaal and Shipraal while main language i ...

in 1915 and Dhuliān in 1935; the Tut field was discovered in 1968, Missa Keswal was discovered in 1992 and exploration continued in the area in the 1990s. The oil fields are connected by pipeline to the

Attock Refinery The Attock Refinery Limited () is a Pakistani petroleum company which is a subsidiary of UK-domiciled Attock Oil Company. It is active in crude oil refining in the country.Chak Beli Khan near Rawalpindi in

. A major oil reserve has been discovered near Jhelum in Punjab, opening up a new area for exploitation of hydrocarbon potential (e.g., Meyal Field). With an estimated production of 5,500 barrels per day, the Ghauri X-1 oil well is expected to be the country’s largest oil-producing well and is likely to start contributing its output to the system by the end of June 2014. Due to low rain fall, extensive

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, oil and gas exploration, the area is becoming devoid of vegetation.

Important sites

Taxila

Taxila's archaeological sites lie near modern Taxila about northwest of the city of

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan ...

. The sites were first excavated by

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

, who worked at Taxila over a period of twenty years from 1913. Dharmarajika_stupa,Taxila

The vast archaeological site includes neolithic remains dating to 3360 BCE, and Early Harappan remains dating to 2900–2600 BCE at ''Sarai Kala''. Taxila, however, is most famous for ruins of several settlements, the earliest dating from around 1000 BCE. It is also known for its collection of Buddhist religious monuments, including the Dharmarajika stupa, the

Jaulian Jaulian ( ur, جولیاں; meaning ''Seat of Saints'') is a ruined Buddhist monastery dating from the 2nd century CE, located in Taxila, in Pakistan. Jaulian, along with the nearby monastery at Mohra Muradu, form part of the Ruins of Taxila&nb ...

monastery, and the

Mohra Muradu Mohra Muradu ( ur, ) is the place of an ancient Buddhist stupa and monastery near the ruins of Taxila, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The ancient monastery is located in a valley and has views of the surrounding mountains. The monks coul ...

monastery. The main ruins of Taxila include four major cities, each belonging to a distinct time period, at three different sites. The earliest settlement at Taxila is found in the Hathial section, which yielded pottery shards that date from as early as the late 2nd millennium BCE to the 6th century BCE. The Bhir Mound ruins at the site date from the 6th century BCE, and are adjacent to Hathial. The ruins of Sirkap date to the 2nd century BCE, and were built by the region's Greco-Bactrian kings who ruled in the region following Alexander the Great's invasion of the region in 326 BCE. The third and most recent settlement is that of Sirsukh, which was built by rulers of the

Kushan 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, ...

empire, who ruled from nearby Purushapura (modern

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Rohtas Fort

Rohtas Fort is a 16th-century

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

located near the city of

Jhelum Jhelum (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...

in the

province of Pakistan. The fort is one of the largest and most formidable in the

subcontinent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. Rohtas Fort was never taken by force, and it has remained remarkably intact. The fortress was built by Raja

Todar Mal Raja Todar Mal (1 January 1500 – 8 November 1589) was the Finance Minister (Mushriff-i-Diwan) of the Mughal empire during Emperor Akbar's reign. He was also the Vakil-us-Sultanat (Counsellor of the Empire) and Joint Wazir. He was one of the ...

on the orders of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

. The fort is known for its large defensive walls and several monumental gateways. Rohtas Fort was declared a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 1997, as an "exceptional example of the Muslim military architecture of Central and South Asia."

Katas Raj Temples

The

Katas Raj Temples The Shri Katas Raj Temples (Punjabi, ur, ) (Sanskrit: कटासराज) also known as Qila Katas (), is a complex of several Hindu temples connected to one another by walkways. The temple complex surrounds a pond named ''Katas'' which is r ...

also known as Qila Katas, is a complex of several

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 ...

temples connected to one another by walkways. The temple complex surrounds a pond named ''Katas'' which is regarded as sacred by Hindus. The temples' pond is said in the ''

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

'' to have been created from the teardrops of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

, after he wandered the Earth inconsolable after the death of his wife Sati. The pond occupies an area of two kanals and 15 marlas, with a maximum depth of 20 feet. The temples play a role in the Hindu epic poem, the ''

Mahābhārata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...

'', where the temples are traditionally believed to have been the site where the ''

Pandava The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

'' brothers spent a significant portion of their exile.

Rawat Fort

Rawat Fort is an early 16th century fort in the

Pothohar The Pothohar Plateau ( ur, ) is a plateau in north-eastern Pakistan, located between Indus River and the Jhelum River, forming the northern part of Punjab. Geography Potohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by the ...

plateau of

, near the city of

in the province of

. The fort was built to defend the Pothohar plateau from the forces of the

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

king

References

External links

* *
Potwar Plateau – Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium ServiceRegional Studies of the Potwar Plateau Area, Northern Pakistan

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Pakistan Archaeological sites in Punjab, Pakistan Geography of Pakistan Geography of Punjab, Pakistan Landforms of Pakistan Landforms of Punjab (Pakistan) Landforms of Azad Kashmir Plateaus of Pakistan Regions of Punjab, Pakistan