The Swat Valley is a mountainous valley located along the Swat River in northern Pakistan. Swat has an average elevation of , and resultantly a considerably cooler and wetter climate compared to the rest of Pakistan. With lush forests, verdant alpine meadows, and snow-capped mountains, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the country.
The early inhabitants of the valley were Indo-Aryans (also known as Daradas). The valley was a cradle of Swat culture in the second millennium BCE, and after the rise of Indo-Aryan Gandhāra civilization in the 6th century BCE, it became a major centre of early Buddhism, especially the Gandhāran Buddhism. Swat is identified with Oḍḍiyāna in the Buddhist texts; a Buddhist dynasty known as Oḍirājas, which claimed descent from the Śākya clan of Buddha, ruled the valley in the first century CE. The Oḍi Śāhi dynasty was defeated by the Ghaznavids in the 11th century in Gandhāra, but the pockets of Buddhism persisted in the Swat Valley until the 16th century, with Tibetan monks such as Orgyan pa and Buddhaguptanātha continuing to visit it. In the early 16th-century, coinciding with the Babur's conquest of Delhi Sultanate, Swat was conquered by the Yousafzais, which saw the Pashtunization of Swat and the neighbouring areas. The older Dardic communities of Swat, Torwalis and Gawris were displaced to northern Swat.
In the early 19th century, Swat emerged as an independent state under Miangul dynasty, which descended from Saidu Baba. The State of Swat became a princely state under British suzerainty as part of the British Raj in 1918. In 1947, following the Partition of Pakistan and India, Swat acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan. It continued as a self-governing princely state until it was officially annexed and merged into West Pakistan and later became a part of North-West Frontier Province (renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in 1969. The region was seized by the Tehrik-i-Taliban in late-2007 but Pakistani control was re-established in mid-2009.
Etymology The name "Swat" is derived from the Swat River. The Swat River is referred to as the Suvāstu in the Sanskrit texts of Ṛgveda and in Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini, with a literal meaning "of fair dwellings". Another theory derives the word Swat from the Sanskrit word shveta (), also used to describe the clear water of the Swat River. Some have suggested the Sanskrit name may mean "clear blue water." To the ancient Greeks, the river was known as the Soastus. The Chinese pilgrim Faxian referred to Swat as the Su-ho-to, while Xuanzang referred to it as Su-po-fa-su-to.
Geography Traditionally, Swat Valley is divided into two parts, Swat Kohistan, which is highly mountainous, and Swat Khas (Swat proper), which is itself divided into Koz Swat (lower Swat) and Bar Swat (upper Swat). Swat Kohistan commences from the origin of Swat River downstream until the village of Ain (also spelt Ayeen, آئین), or as per a slightly different division, until the village of Bahrain (بحرین). Upper Swat stretches from Ain/Bahrain until Landakay (لنڈاکے), while Lower Swat is situated between Landakay and Kalangai (کلنگئی), a few miles before the confluence Panjkora and Swat rivers. At the confluence of two rivers the average height of the valley is , but northward it rises upto in Swat Kohistan. The total length of the valley is while the average breadth is . Politically it is now divided among the districts of Upper Swat, Swat, Lower Dir and Malakand.
The Swat Valley is enclosed by mountains that form a natural geographic boundary for it. The Swat River, whose headwaters arise in the Hindu Kush mountain range runs through the length of the region. The main spine consists of many sub valleys such as Kalam, Bahrain, Matiltan, Utror, and Gabral. The highest peaks are Falak Sar, , and Mankial Sar, .
The Valley of Swat is delineated by natural geographic boundaries, and is centered on the Swat River. The valley is enclosed on all sides by mountains, and is intersected by glens and ravines. Above mountains ridges to the west is the Panjkora Valley, 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.
The northernmost areas of Swat district are the high valleys and alpine meadows of Swat Kohistan (Swat Mountains), 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 form the Swat River, which forms the spine of the Swat Valley. 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 Yousafzai 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. The upper areas of the region are relatively colder and often get snowfall in the winter. Drier, warmer temperatures in the lower portions in the Yousafzai Plains where summer temperatures can reach , although the lower plains experience occasional snow. Both regions are subject to two monsoon seasons - one in winter and the other in summer. Swat's lower reaches have vegetation characterized by dry bush and deciduous trees, while the upper areas mostly have thick pine forests.
History
Ancient The Gandhara grave culture that emerged c. 1400 BCE and lasted until 800 BCE,Olivieri, Luca M., Roberto Micheli, Massimo Vidale, and Muhammad Zahir, (2019). 'Late Bronze - Iron Age Swat Protohistoric Graves (Gandhara Grave Culture), Swat Valley, Pakistan (n-99)' , in Narasimhan, Vagheesh M., et al., "Supplementary Materials for the formation of human populations in South and Central Asia", Science 365 (6 September 2019), pp. 137-164. and named for their distinct funerary practices, was found along the Middle Swat River course. Swat, then known as Oddiyana, was a major centre of Gandhara civilization. The Gandhāra Kingdom, which emerged as an independent entity around 700 BCE, was recognized as a mahajanapada (Great Realm). Following the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley, the region was incorporated as the satrapy of Gandāra. 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, respectively. After the Alexandrian invasion of Swat, and adjacent regions of Buner, control of the wider Gandhara region was claimed by Seleucus I Nicator.
In 305 BCE, the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta conquered the wider region from the Greeks, and probably established control of Swat, until their control of the region ceased around 187 BCE. It was during the rule of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka that Buddhism was introduced into Swat, and some of the earliest stupas built in the region. Following collapse of Mauryan rule, Swat came under control of the Greco-Bactrians, then the Indo-Scythians from the Central Asian Steppe.
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 as the Indo-Greek Kingdom. 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.
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.
Medieval
Swat and the wider region of Gandhara were overrun by the Alchon Huns around about 465 CE. 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. Under his rule, Buddhist monks were reportedly killed, and Buddhist shrines attacked. He himself appears to have been inclined towards the Shaivism sect of Hinduism.
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. 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.
Following the collapse of Buddhism in Swat after the Alchon Hun invasion, Swat was ruled by the Hindu Shahi dynasty beginning in the 8th century, who made their capital at Udigram in lower Swat. The Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana, present-day Swat.
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.Sorrow and Joy Among Muslim Women The Pushtuns of Northern Pakistan By Amineh Ahmed Published by Cambridge University Press, 2006 Page 21. By the time of the Muslim conquests (), the population in the region was predominantly Hindu,Fredrik Barth, Features of Person and Society in Swat: Collected Essays on Pathans, illustrated edition, Routledge, 1981 though Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 10th century, after which the area became largely Muslim. Hindu Shahi rulers built fortresses to guard and tax the commerce through this area, and ruins dating back to their rule can be seen on the hills at the southern entrance of Swat, at the Malakand Pass.
Around 1001 CE, the last major Hindu Shahi king, Jayapala was decisively defeated at the Battle of Peshawar by Mahmud of Ghazni, thereby ending 2 centuries of Hindu rule over Gandhara. The Sultanate of Swat was the last Dardic state that existed in the Swat valley between 12th and 16th centuries. It was conquered by the Yousafzai Pashtuns from west during the reign of Sultan Awes Jahangiri in 1519, resulting into the Pashtunization of Swat.
Modern The princely state of Swat was a kingdom established in the late 19th century by the descendants of the Muslim saint Akhund Abdul Gaffur, more commonly known as Saidu Baba,S.G. Page 398 and 399, T and C of N.W.F.P by Ibbetson page 11 etc 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, and incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (formerly called NWFP).
The region was seized by the Pakistani Taliban in late-2007, and its highly-popular tourist industry was subsequently decimated until Pakistani control was re-established in mid-2009 after a month-long military campaign launched by the Pakistan Army. During their occupation, the group attacked Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012, who at the time was a young school-girl who wrote a blog for BBC Urdu detailing life under Tehreek-i-Taliban rule, and their curb on girls' education.