Pushkalavati
پشکلاوتي | |
Top : The remains of the original mound, Bala Hisar Bottom: Swat river and Bala Hisar mound just beyond (center of the photograph). | |
| Alternative name | Pushkalavati |
|---|---|
| Location | Outskirts of Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 34°10′05″N 71°44′10″E / 34.168°N 71.736°E |
| Type | Ancient capital city |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 1400 BCE |
| Periods | Gandhara |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1902 |
| Archaeologists | Sir John Marshall Sir Mortimer Wheeler |
| Management | https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.533479/page/n11/mode/1up "Pushkalavati: The Lotus City"], Archaeological Guide Series No. 1, Peshawar Univ |
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 northeast of Peshawar, at the banks of Jindi River, near the junction of Swat River with Kabul River. The earliest archaeological remains in Bala Hisar mound are from 1400 to 800 BCE. Pushkalavati (in Bala Hisar mound) may have been incorporated as an Achaemenid regional settlement around 520 BCE, and it remained an important city (in Shaikhan Dheri mound) through to the beginning of 3rd century CE.
The ruins of Pushkalavati consist of two sites, separated by the small Shambor river. To the south is Bala Hisar, which consists of two separate mounds, one eastern and one western. To the north is Shaikhan Dheri, wedged between the Shambor and Jindi rivers.