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Charsadda District, Pakistan

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Not to be confused with Charsadda District, Afghanistan.

Charsadda District
ضلع چارسدہ
چارسدې ولسوالۍ‎
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Top: Bottom: Bacha Khan Square in Charsadda
Bala Hisar mound
Charsadda District (red) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Charsadda District (red) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Country Pakistan
Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
DivisionPeshawar
HeadquartersCharsadda
Government
 • TypeDistrict Administration
 • Deputy CommissionerSaad Hussain
 • District Police OfficerN/A
 • District Health OfficerN/A
Area
 • Total
996 km2 (385 sq mi)
Population
 (2023)[1]
 • Total
1,835,504
 • Density1,800/km2 (4,800/sq mi)
 • Urban
292,396 (15.93%)
 • Rural
1,543,108
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)
Number of Tehsils3
Websitecharsadda.kp.gov.pk

Charsadda District (Pashto: چارسدې ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع چارسدہ) is a district in the Peshawar Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Prior to its establishment as a separate district in 1998, it was a tehsil within the Peshawar District.[2] Mohamedzai Pashtuns 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 ex-metropolitan region.

Overview and history

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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 and is bounded by the Malakand District to the north, Mardan district to the east, Nowshera and Peshawar districts to the south and Mohmand district to the west. The district covers an area of 996 square kilometers.

Charsadda was once part of the kingdom of Gandhara. However, around 516 BC Gandhara became part of the seventh satrapy or province of the Achaemenid Empire and paid tribute to Darius the Great of Persia, until it was overthrown by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.

After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya rose to power and brought Gandhara under his sway. According to a popular tradition, Emperor Ashoka built one of his stupas there.[citation needed] 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.[3]

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 preached the Law. The name Gandhara went out of usage after Mahmud of Ghazni conquered the area and converted it to Islam in 1026.[citation needed]

Bactrian Greeks

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This area was also ruled by the Bactrian Greeks between 250–125 BC which was succeeded by the Indo-Greek Kingdom who ruled until 10 AD.

Shabqadar

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Shabqadar is a tehsil within the District Charsadda. It is 17 miles (27 km) 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.[citation needed]

Bibi Syeda Dheri

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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 60 ft (18 m). 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.[citation needed]

Shar-i-Napursan

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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, Hermaeus and Kanishka have been unearthed.[4]

Palatu Dheri

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Piedestal of a Buddha statue, with Year 384 inscription, from Palatu Dheri.[5]

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.[citation needed]

Charsadda

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The city of Charsadda originally known as Pushkalavati is mentioned in the Hindu epic story the Ramayana, where Bharata brings this new conquered city to one of his sons, Pushkala.[6]

Bala Hisar of Charsadda

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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".[7]

Demographics

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Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1951 282,618—    
1961 364,088+2.57%
1972 513,193+3.17%
1981 630,811+2.32%
1998 1,022,364+2.88%
2017 1,610,960+2.42%
20231,835,504+2.20%
Sources:[8]

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.[1] Pashto is the predominant language, spoken by 99.66% of the population.[9]

Religion in Charsadda District
Religion 1941[10][a] 2017[11] 2023[12]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Islam 239,634 98.11% 1610087 99.95% 1,830,646 99.76%
Hinduism 2,533 1.04% 38 ~0% 41 ~0%
Sikhism 1,940 0.79% — — 14 ~0%
Christianity 127 0.05% 518 0.03% 4,392 0.24%
Others 12 0.01% 317 0.02% 43 ~0%
Total Population 244,246 100% 1610960 100% 1,835,136[b] 100%

Administration

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The district is administratively subdivided into 3 Tehsils comprising a total of 58 Union Councils:[13]

Tehsil Urdu Name Pashto Name No. of Union Councils
Charsadda تحصیل چارسدہ چارسدې تحصیل‎ 34
Tangi تحصیل تنگی تنګي تحصیل‎ 12
Shabqadar تحصیل شب قدر شب قدر تحصیل‎ 12

National Assembly Seats

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The district is represented in the National Assembly by two MNAs who represent the following constituencies:[14]

Constituency MNA Party
NA-24 (Charsadda-I) Malik Anwar Taj SIC
NA-25 (Charsadda-II) Mr. Fazal Muhammad Khan SIC

Provincial Assembly Seats

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The district is represented in the Provincial Assembly by five MPAs who represent the following constituencies:[15]

Member of Provincial Assembly Party Affiliation Constituency Year
Khalid Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-59 (Charsadda-I) 2018
Shakeel Bashir Khan Awami National Party PK-60 (Charsadda-II)
Sultan Mohammad Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-61 (Charsadda-III)
Fazle Shakoor Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-62 (Charsadda-IV)
Mohammad Arif Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-63 (Charsadda-V)

Towns and villages

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 1" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  2. ^ PCO 1998, p. 1.
  3. ^ Beal, Samuel, (ed. & trans.), (1884). Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Wester World, Volume 1, Author: Huen Tsang, p. 112: "Outside the eastern gate of the town of Po-lu-sha is a sangharama with about fifty priests, who all study the Great Vehicle. Here is a stupa built by Asoka-raja [...] To the north-east of Po-lu-sha city about 20 li or so we come to Mount Dantaloka. Above a ridge of that mountain is a stupa built by Asoka-raja."
  4. ^ Province (Pakistan), North-west Frontier (1931). N.-W.F. Province Gazetteers. p. 320.
  5. ^ Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art p.37
  6. ^ Shastri, Hari Prasad, (1952). "Uttara-kanda, Chapter 101: The slaying of the Gandharvas and the conquest of their Country", in: The Ramayana of Valmiki: "Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi entered those two opulent and magnificent cities, and there, Bharata established Taksha in Takshashila and Pushkala in Pushkalavata, in the country of the Gandharvas, in the ravishing region of Gandhara."
  7. ^ "Bradford University – The Bala Hisar of Charsadda". Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  8. ^ "Population by administrative units 1951–1998" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  9. ^ "7th Population and Housing Census - Detailed Results: Table 11" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  10. ^ "CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME X NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE". Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Pakistan Census 2017 District-Wise Tables: Charsadda". Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  12. ^ "Pakistan Census 2023" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  13. ^ Tehsils & Unions in the District of Charsada - Government of Pakistan Archived March 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan
  15. ^ Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly
  1. ^ Charsadda tehsil of erstwhile Peshawar district, which roughly corresponds to the present district. District and tehsil borders have shifted since 1941.
  2. ^ Different from official population figure since it excludes sensitive areas where religion was not asked

Bibliography

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  • 1998 District census report of Charsadda. Census publication. Vol. 68. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.

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