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Early History
Swat is an archeological treasure and writing about all of that would require thousands of books. However I will share as much as possible. More will be added every week. Excuse the spelling and grammar will correct it from time to time. The History of Swat goes back a very long way. The first mention of Swat is in ma baharath book written around
2900 years ago. From ma bahrath book we can conclude the name swat was already given much earlier probably going back to 3500-4500 years ago.
The ma baharath tells the history of white Huns who used to live in southern Afghanistan and also it talks about the Aryans people coming
to what we call now Peshawar city and other regions near River Indus. 2
Swat has seen massive changes in terms of people, religions and kingdoms. The oldest religions are not known fully but Buddhism and Hindu
Statues have been found going back as far as 3000 years ago. Most buddist statues are all in the time of around 3rd century AD and some are even older. Some suggest it could be as old as 6 century BC which is 2600 years ago when Buddhism started to spread in this region.
2900 years ago Ma Baharath was recording the moments of a new people call Aryans who came from central Asia
to Peshawar city and river Indus region. 3
Around 6 century BC 2600 years ago. Buddhism become the main religion in this area. Buddhism was not spread by any empire
as some people are trying to invent history for some political reason. An empire is often refer to that is usually taken by the sword.
Buddhism in Swat did not spread by the sword. It was a moment that spread through the entire Asian world by peaceful preaching and teaching. These territories were originally under the race called
White Huns. No body really know what was the religion of the White Huns but we do know one thing they were in charge of all these areas which included Swat.
Ashokah, a chines buddist king tried to link Swat and other regions into a political moment but White Huns were living in the south part of
of Afghanistan in those days. They did not like Ashokha political idea so they destroyed all his army and texila the capital of Ashoka small kingdom was put to the sword by
White Huns. ASHOKA either died or moved to Peshawar city. All we know that he tried to turned the buddist religion that had spread peacefully in the region into a political moment but failed. Because
the White Huns did not like it. 4
The rest of the early history of Swat which also includes the coming of Alexander to SWAT VALLEY. One of his top army man came to Bazira what is now known as Barikot. Bazira was the ancient capital of Swat old kingdom.
The history of how Bazira fell to one of Alexander top army commander is written by the man who was recording the history of Alexander conquest. It shows how Bazira fell to Greek
forces now known Barikot. There is also a small army fort on a small mountain call Guandaiy in Barikot village. The entire Barikot (Bazira then) is filled with massive
Archeological treasure of houses and massive beautiful stones building of outstanding architect. 5
Bazira now Barikot was ruled by a woman at that time, the historian who was writing while watching Bazira fell before his eyes says that an agreement was made between the Alexander army men and the woman
who ruled Swat valley. The woman had a palace which is described with 100% accuracy where it stood. There that palace is still standing with just a few bottom stones but very beautiful.
Above her palace on the mountain guandie or guandiey is the the Alexander army palace/fort built by Alexander Army commander etc. 6
We do not know what happened after another fifty years because Alexander kingdom was divided into three different parts.
There is no other record in books apart from these two recording in such early times. One is Ma baharath and the other is from Alexander historians who recorded almost everything Alexander did including, Alexander been
nearly killed in Afghanistan when he was knocked down from his horse. 7
The White Huns become much more powerful a thousand year later and took control of Afghanistan which included Swat. There are human bones in these buildings from early periods of 3 and 4 century AD. Which shows there may have been
a massive genocide or an earth quick. Whatever the reason almost all the buildings in Swat valley from the period of 1600 years ago are full of human bones. Which suggest that White Huns who took control of these areas may have committed
a massive genocide. Because, the bones were not removed but are still there in their thousands. Also if you pick up bones from any ruins almost all of them are human bones. Which suggest some form of great catastrophe?
It is assumed that the White Huns did it. The valley was supposed to have been empty for centuries after this great unknown catastrophe. 8
The Swat Valley suffers from bade earth quacks and so it could have been an earth quick possibly but the bones are completely crushed so no one can tell if it was
a massacre or an earth quick?? After this period something very strange happened. The buildings were undisturbed and no one lived there or tried to rebuild anything so it shows something pretty bade had happened.
As the buildings remained and the valley full of dead human bones it sunk into the ground with all the archeological treasure of the past with it and it is locked in time for good. Massive number of visitors come to Barikot to see some ruins and also the Alexander army fort build on guandia in Barikot(Bazira) village 9
If you were to visit Swat valley you must go and see Barikot village and the unearthed part of the old buildings. The entire massive village and round about villages spreading as far as 10 kilometer are building on the top of a massive city underneath. Bazira (Barikot now) was the capital
of Swat in those days. Only in Barikot the unearthed part is for visitors to see the rest is too much to unearth because that means millions of people will have to be moved out which is not a good idea and is against the law.
Also under the earth this massive city remains for good but there is that small part been unearthed for visitors in Barikot village you can still call it Bazira on its original name but most local are not educated and does not much bother about history except Islam so they wont know if you say take me to Bazira. 10
There are too many buildings from earlier periods. SOME ARE WHITE SOME ARE DARK. The dark building shows they are of much early times. The white buildings that takes a new structure shows the Greek style. The pashtun people both in Afghanistan and Swat build their houses Greek style which is mainly copied from the buildings on the mountain buildings built by Alexander army.
The city that is under the earth or the many other towns that are under the earth are also from the buddist times. Those particular building have large number of buddist statues. It is very easy to confuse some buildings for others. If you visit Swat be careful not to mistake the many periods that went and came because, the buildings are mostly not so different
except some looks black color a bit, which shows it is pretty old.
From 2900 to 1500 years we have some known history in Swat which we can see from not only what is recorded in a few old books but also from building of each period. It takes a pretty experience person to tell what is what.
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The oldest building in the Swat valley has been found in Barkiot village. There are also buildings from other villages which goes back to very old times. But those houses are very few. When local builds things in some areas in Swat, there are two sections that has appeared in many areas. Once someone was digging a toilet but where his house is there are houses from about a thousand years old which are mainly Mahmood of Gazni time when the valley was still buddist and Hindus. The builders had to dig twice first the recently building that goes back a thousand year ago only then, he had to dig further in order to reach total ground. But something strange and unexpected happened. They unearthed a very old wall building with just stones with no cutting or architect etc. The diggers often knows the whole valley is full of ancient treasure so the diggers themselves often wants to dig a bit further to see what may be deep inside.
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The whole wall was unearthed but the wall was totally different to all different periods. Most people passed by it and noticed that it was indeed something totally different. Almost all the periods building from 2900 to 1600 years ago have different kinds of stones cutting and most of them have a very high level ache tic design. But, this wall was build from uncut stones and very deep. It was of total dark kind of color thus it was the oldest wall in Barikot(Bazira) the ancient capital of Swat. It was probably over 5000 years old or probably older. There are other such walls which are not recognized today but they are in the open and has no significance. These uneven uncut stones walls with no architect some of them are too old going back as far 6000 years ago.
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600 AD to 1000 AD Hinduism in Swat region was not the main religion because the area was still Budest. But now a new period begins. This period is a bit more interesting too because in the period of 400 AD to 700 AD Afghanistan including Swat was under the White Huns. Sadly the White Huns were a war race but they lived in mud houses and never built anything of any architect significance for people to see. The population of White Huns was not a big one but, they were very good at war fare. Even though Swat was under the White Huns an extra ordinary event comes to pass in Swat. The valley was not fully occupied at all. Because of the catastrophe that it had suffered. The buildings from previous times were now sinking into the ground but also a particular tree known in pashtu language Kuna took its root in many such ruins.
Other trees also grew upon these ancient ruins and it helped kept it under the earth. But In the period of 400 AD to 700 AD the valley was not fully occupied by human beings.
14 Example of Amazon forest cities that went down in history for a while and no one lived there so forest came up untill recently discovered. The few people who most likely were the White Huns themselves lived in mud houses and been too few had little affect on anything at all. Thus some of the oldest trees are still found even in Barikot village. Some of these trees goes back as far as 3000 years ago. Other such trees are found in deep mountain forest. Many such trees sadly has been cut down. Trees in some forest are as old as 4000 years. In a grave yard call Baba Ji in Barikot village has trees that are as old are three thousand years and more, and, under them are houses of the old Budhist world including the time of Alexander.
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From these trees growing upon such a massive city shows that Bazira of the ancient world went down to the bialy of the earth with a message for us to see and read today in its archeological ruins.
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Suddenly Swat valley and Bazira was once again seeing a new era from 700 AD to 1000 AD. The people who settled in Swat area in this period were mainly living in dense forest because over a couple of century too many trees had covered the valley completely. In this period as given above Buddhism and Hinduism started to spread again. In this period another catastrophe happened. The White Huns ceased to exists. Some says no they are the direct ancestors of pashthun race others have some other theories but the white Huns disappeared and as a result new people begun to settle in Swat of the Indian origins between 700 AD to 1000 AD. The WHITE HUNS disappearance is also linked to pashtun race but it is not an easy subject when one deals with the Pashtun history. The White Huns in Afghanistan were now no longer in charge because Islam came in around 700 AD. So the White Huns seems to disappear and millions of theories can be concluded from that. Thus Swat once again saw people settling in large numbers and over three hundred years once again the population had grown to between 10000 to 30000 people until AD 1000. 17
The dense forest era of Swat valley did not end so soon. I have added that under the title of Swat trees genocide please click on that to see the whole article. More will be added soon within a four days
Islamic period coming soon ................................
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