Charsadda District (, ) is a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
in the
Peshawar Division of the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...
province of
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. Prior to its establishment as a separate district in 1998, it was a
tehsil
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...
within the
Peshawar District
Peshawar District (, , ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district in the Peshawar Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter is the city of ...
. Mohamedzai
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...
make up the majority of the population of the district along with other minor tribes settled as well such as Uthmankhel, Mohmand, Kakakhel, Khattak. The district headquarter is the town of
Charsadda, which was once part of the
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
ex-metropolitan region.
Overview and history
The district lies between 34-03' and 34-38' north latitudes and 71-28' and 71-53' east longitudes. Charsadda is located in the west of the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...
and is bounded by the
Malakand District to the north,
Mardan district to the east,
Nowshera and
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
districts to the south and
Mohmand district
Mohmand District (, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an Federally Administered Tribal Areas#Administrative divisions, agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with merger ...
to the west. The district covers an area of 996 square kilometers.
Charsadda was once part of the kingdom of
Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
. However, around 516 BC Gandhara became part of the seventh
satrapy or province of the
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...
and paid tribute to
Darius the Great of Persia, until it was overthrown by
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
in the 4th century BC.
After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, the Indian Emperor
rose to power and brought Gandhara under his sway. According to a popular tradition, Emperor
Ashoka
Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...
built one of his stupas there. Actually, there were two stupas built by Ashoka, mentioned by the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim
Hieun Tsang, who visited it in 630 AD. Both were near the town of Po-Lu-Sha, one was outside the eastern gate of the town, and the other 20 li (10 km) northeast of it, on the mount Dantaloka.
To the east, a
Brahminical temple stood while to the north, a monastery was located. According to Buddhists, this monastery was the place where
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
preached the Law. The name Gandhara went out of usage after
Mahmud of Ghazni
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...
conquered the area and converted it to Islam in 1026.
Bactrian Greeks
This area was also ruled by the
Bactrian Greeks between 250–125 BC which was succeeded by the
Indo-Greek Kingdom
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.
The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" ...
who ruled until 10 AD.
Shabqadar
Shabqadar is a tehsil within the District Charsadda. It is north west of Peshawar. A fort was built here by the Sikhs called Sharkargarh. The town was burnt by the
Mohmands in 1897. It has since been rebuilt.
Bibi Syeda Dheri
Bibi Syeda Dheri is a site half a mile to the north of Umarzai village in Charsadda tehsil. At this location, a mound rises to a height of . It is believed to be the site of the stupa erected to commemorate the conversion by Buddha of goddess
Hariti who used to devour children of the locality. There is also a shrine of a lady saint Bibi Syeda.
Shar-i-Napursan
Shar-i-Napursan is an archaeological site in Charsadda tehsil near the village
Rajjar. Excavations have unearthed two distinct settlements of the Buddhist period and two of the Muslim period. Coins of
Menander
Menander (; ; c. 342/341 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek scriptwriter and the best-known representative of Athenian Ancient Greek comedy, New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His record at the Cit ...
,
Hermaeus
Hermaeus Soter (, ''Hermaîos ho Sōtḗr,'' meaning "Hermaeus the Saviour") was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid dynasty, who ruled the territory of Paropamisadae in the Hindu-Kush region, with his capital in Alexandria of the Caucasus ( ...
and
Kanishka
Kanishka I, also known as Kanishka the Great, was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign (–150 CE) the empire reached its zenith. He is famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadp ...
have been unearthed.
Palatu Dheri

Palatu Dheri is another archaeological site near Charsadda tehsil. A mile from Shar-i-Napursan is a mound which contains the remains of a stupa, which according to Hieun Tsiang, was built by one Deven. Some coins which connect them both to the first century AD have been unearthed. Other finds include the image of the goddess
Kalika-devi. Three inscribed jars, which were presented by some laymen to "the Community of the Four Quarters", are now in the
Peshawar Museum.
Charsadda
The city of
Charsadda originally known as
Pushkalavati
Pushkalavati, was the capital of the ancient region of Gāndhāra, situated in present day's Pakistan. Its ruins are located on the outskirts of the modern city of Charsadda, in Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 35-42 kilometres ...
is mentioned in the Hindu epic story the
Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
, where Bharata brings this new conquered city to one of his sons, Pushkala.
Bala Hisar of Charsadda
Bala Hisar was excavated twice by the head of the
Archaeological Survey of India,
Sir John Marshall, in 1902 and by Sir
Mortimer Wheeler in 1958. According to the South Asian Archaeology Research Group of
Bradford University, Wheeler suggested that Bala Hisar "was founded by the Persians in the sixth century BC as a colony guarding the eastern edge of their empire".
Demographics
As of the
2023 census, Charsadda district has 263,934 households and a population of 1,835,504. The district has a sex ratio of 107.49 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 53.94%: 66.55% for males and 40.36% for females. 542,879 (29.58% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 292,426 (15.93%) live in urban areas.
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
is the predominant language, spoken by 99.66% of the population.
Administration
The district is administratively subdivided into 3
Tehsils comprising a total of 58
Union Councils:
National Assembly Seats
The district is represented in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:
Provincial Assembly Seats
The district is represented in the
Provincial Assembly by five MPAs who represent the following constituencies:
Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly
/ref>
Towns and villages
* Sardheri
* Sukar
* Matta Mughal Khel
* Ambhader
* Daulat Pura
* Kangra
See also
* Bacha Khan
* Akbar Khan (Pakistani general)
References
Bibliography
*
{{Coord missing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa