Swat District (Urdu: ضلع سوات, Pashto: سوات ولسوالۍ, pronounced [ˈswaːt̪]) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Swat District is centered on the Valley of Swat, usually referred to simply as Swat, which is a natural geographic region surrounding the Swat River. The valley was a major centre of early Hinduism and Buddhism under the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, and was a major centre of Gandharan Buddhism, with pockets of Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 10th century, after which the area became largely Muslim.[4][5] Until 1969, Swat was part of the Yusafzai State of Swat, a self-governing princely state that was inherited by Pakistan following its independence from British rule. The region was seized by the Tehrik-i-Taliban in late-2007 until Pakistani control was re-established in mid-2009.[6][7]
The average elevation of Swat is 980 m (3,220 ft),[5] resulting in a considerably cooler and wetter climate compared to the rest of Pakistan. With lush forests, verdant alpine meadows, and snow-capped mountains, Swat is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations.[8][9]
Etymology
The district and valley take their name from the Swat River. The ultimate etymology of the river's name is unclear. The Swat River in the Rigveda is referred to as the Suvāstu - with a literal meaning "of fair dwellings,"[10][11][12] which has been opined to refer to the presence of Aryan settlements along the river's course.[13] Some have suggested the Sanskrit name may mean "clear blue water."[14] Another theory derives the word Swat from the Sanskrit word shveta (lit. 'white'), also used to describe the clear water of the Swat River.[15] To the ancient Greeks, the river was known as the Soastus.[16][17][18][15] The Chinese pilgrim Faxian referred to Swat as the Su-ho-to.[19]
Geography
Swat's total area is 5,337 square kilometres (2,061 sq mi). In terms of administrative divisions, Swat is surrounded by Chitral, Upper Dir and Lower Dir to the west, Gilgit-Baltistan to the north, and Kohistan, Buner and Shangla to the east and southeast, respectively. The former tehsil of Buner was granted the status of a separate district in 1991.[20]
Valley
The Valley of Swat is delineated by natural geographic boundaries, and is centered on the Swat River, whose headwaters arise in the 18,000-19,000 foot tall Hindu Kush. The valley is enclosed on all sides by mountains, and is intersected by glens and ravines.[21] Above mountains ridges to the west is the valley of the Panjkora River, to the north the Gilgit Valley, and Indus River gorges to the east. To the south, across a series of low mountains, lies the wide Peshawar valley.[22]
The northernmost area of Swat district are the high valleys and alpine meadows of Swat Kohistan, a region where numerous glaciers feed the Usho, and Gabral rivers (also known as the Utrar River), which form a confluence at Kalam, and thereafter forms the Swat river - which forms the spine of the Swat Valley and district. Swat then is characterized by thick forests along the narrow gorges of the Kalam Valley until the city of Madyan. From there, the river courses gently for 160 km through the wider Yousufzai Plains of the lower Swat Valley until Chakdara.
Climate
Climate in Swat is a function of altitude, with mountains in the Kohistan region snow-clad year round. Upper reaches of the district are subject to cold, snowy winters. Drier, warmer temperatures in the lower portions of the district in the Yousafzai Plains where summer temperatures can reach 105 °F (41 °C), although the lower plains experience occasional snow.[21] Both regions are subject to two monsoon seasons - one in winter and the other in summer. Swats lower reaches have vegetation characterized by dry bush and deciduous trees, while upper reaches of the district have thick pine forests.[22]
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History
Aryan
The earliest recorded history of the region, preserved through the oral tradition, was the settlement and societies of the Indo-Aryan peoples. According to some, the name for the Swat River that was recorded in the Rig Veda, Suvāstu, which may mean "fair dwellings," refers to the presence of Aryan settlements in the region.[13] The Gandhara grave culture that emerged c. 1400 BCE and lasted until 800 BCE,[23] and named for their distinct funerary practices, was found along the Middle Swat River course. Later movements of the Indo-Aryan tribes saw the emergence of ethnic Nuristani and Dardic populations.[24]
Greek
In 327 BCE, Alexander the Great fought his way to Odigram and Barikot and stormed their battlements; in Greek accounts, these towns are identified as Ora and Bazira. After the Alexandrian invasion of Swat, and adjacent regions of Buner, control of the wider Gandhara region was handed to Seleucus I Nicator.
Gandhara
In 305 BCE, the Mauryan Emperor conquered the wider region from the Greeks, and probably established control of Swat, until their control of the region ceased around 187 BCE.[25] It was during the rule of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka that Buddhism was introduced into Swat,[26] and some of the earliest stupas built in the region.
Following collapse of Mauryan rule, Swat came under control of the Greco-Bactrians, and briefly the Scythians of the Central Asian Steppe.[27]
The region of Gandhara (based in the Peshawar valley and the adjacent hilly regions of Swat, Buner, Dir, and Bajaur), broke away from Greco-Bactrian rule to establish their own independence as the Indo-Greek Kingdom.[28] Following the death of the most famous Indo-Greek king, Menander I around 140 BCE, the region was overrun by the Indo-Scythians, and then the Persian Parthian Empire around 50 CE. The arrival of the Parthians began the long tradition of Greco-Buddhist art, which was a syncretic form of art combining Buddhist imagery with heavy Hellenistic-Greek influences. This art form is credited with having the first representations of the Buddha in human form, rather than symbolically.[citation needed]
The Parthians were ousted from Swat by the Kushans, based in the Peshawar valley. Kushan rule began what is considered by many to be the golden age of Gandhara. Under the greatest Kushan king, Kanishka, Swat became an important region for the production of Buddhist art, and numerous Buddhists shrines were built in the area. As a patron of Mahayana Buddhism, new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien, who visited the valley around 403 CE, mentions 500 monasteries.[29]
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Hephthalite
Swat and the wider region of Gandhara were overrun by the Iranian Hephthalites around about 465 CE.[31] Under the rule of Mihirakula, Buddhism was suppressed as he himself became virulently anti-Buddhist after a perceived slight against him by a Buddhist monk.[32] Under his rule, Buddhist monks were reportedly killed, and Buddhist shrines attacked.[32] He himself appears to have been inclined towards the Shaivism sect of Hinduism.[32]
In around 520 CE, the Chinese monk Song Yun visited the area, and recorded that area had been in ruin and ruled by a leader that did not practice the laws of the Buddha.[33] The Tang-era Chinese monk Xuanzang recorded the decline of Buddhism in the region, and ascendance of Hinduism in the region. According to him, of the 1400 monasteries that had supposedly been there, most were in ruins or had been abandoned.[34]
Hindu Shahi
Following the collapse of Buddhism in Swat following the Hephthalite invasion, Swat was ruled by the Hindu Shahi dynasty beginning in the 8th century,[35] who made their capital at Udigram in lower Swat.[35] The Shahis built an extensive array of temples and other architectural buildings, of which ruins remain today. Under their rule, Hinduism ascended, and Sanskrit is believed to have been the lingua franca of the locals during this time.[36] By the time of the Muslim conquests (c. 1000 CE), the population in the region was predominantly Hindu,[37]:19 though Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 10th century, after which the area became largely Muslim.[4][5] Hindu Shahi rulers built fortresses to guard and tax the commerce through this area,[38] and ruins dating back to their rule can be seen on the hills at the southern entrance of Swat, at the Malakand Pass.[39]
Muslim rule
Around 1001 CE, the last Hindu Shahi king, Jayapala was decisively defeated at the Battle of Peshawar (1001) by Mahmud of Ghazni, thereby ending 2 centuries of Hindu rule over Gandhara. Sometime later, ethnic Swatis entered the area along with Sultans from Kunar (present-day Afghanistan).
Yousafzai State of Swat
The Yousafzai State of Swat was a kingdom established in 1849 by the Muslim saint Akhund Abdul Gaffur, more commonly known as Saidu Baba,[40][37] that was ruled by chiefs known as Akhunds. It was then recognized as a princely state in alliance with the British Indian Empire between 1926 and 1947, after which the Akhwand acceded to the newly independent state of Pakistan. Swat continued to exist as an autonomous region until it was dissolved in 1969,[41] and incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (formerly called NWFP).
Taliban rule
The region was seized by the Tehrik-i-Taliban in late-2007,[6] and its highly-popular tourist industry was subsequently decimated until Pakistani control was re-established in mid-2009 after a month-long campaign.[7] During their occupation, the Taliban attacked Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2009, who at the time was a young school-girl who wrote a blog for BBC Urdu detailing life under Taliban rule, and their curb on girls' education.
Kushan-era Buddhist stupas and statues in the Swat Valley were demolished by the Taliban,[42][dead link] and the Jehanabad Buddha's face was blown up using dynamite,[43][44] but was repaired by a group of Italian restorers in a nine-year-long process.[45] The Taliban and looters subsequently destroyed many of Pakistan's Buddhist artifacts,[46] and deliberately targeted Gandhara Buddhist relics for destruction.[47] Gandhara artifacts remaining from the demolitions were thereafter plundered by thieves and smugglers
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