(The massacre of 141 people including 132 students of the Army Public School by Taliban drew world’s attention to Peshawar, the fourth largest city of Pakistan. Mandesa’s Blue Planet attempts to explore the past and the present of the city in news for tragic reasons).
Renowned as one of the longest living cities of South Asia – once famous
for its shady boulevards and heavenly sunsets against the towering Tatara
mountains in the background, Peshawar is rightfully called a ‘Frontier
City’. Its strategic location on the crossroads of Central Asia and South
Asia made it one of the most culturally vibrant and lively cities of the
region. The city, which is also the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
(formerly North-West Frontier Province), is situated on the eastern end of the
historic Khyber pass, close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. It is a
Pakistani city with a distinct Afghan flavour.
Peshawar, a living city for nearly 3000 years ranks with Rome and Athens
in its longevity. There is perhaps not another city in South Asia that
has a longer continuous living history, not even Delhi or Lahore. But the
city is not the same as before.
A noted conservationist says “the problem is the city’s cultural and
historical foundations have been replaced with hatred and discrimination based
on gender, caste, creed and religious schools of thought – which is a
sure shot recipe for ruining any culture”. “The cultural desert and materialist
Mecca that Peshawar has lately transformed into, shuts out the precious past
and any prospect of reviving tourism in future” says noted journalist Adil
Zareef.
“After the mass exodus of old residents from the walled city to the
suburbs in the early 1980s, invasion by migrants and tribal drug lords with
loads of black money has jacked up property prices and replaced traditional
Pakhtun hospitality and courtesy in exchange for gun culture, violence and
vandalism. It now defines the acquired ‘post-Jihad Peshawar Culture” moans
Zareef.
Peshawar derives its name from the Sanskrit word Purushapura. Its
recorded history goes back as far as at least 539 B.C. The Kushana king,
Kanishka, moved his capital from nearby Pushkalavati in the 2nd Century
CE. During Kanishka’s reign, Buddhist missionaries arrived and convinced
the Emperor to embrace their religion. Soon, Peshawar became a great centre of
Buddhist learning and patron of Gandhara school of art and culture.
Kanishka, who became an ardent follower of Buddhism, built what may have
been the tallest building in the world at the time – the Kanishka Stupa,
outside the old city of Peshawar. The glory of this stupa has been described in
detail by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian (Fahien), who visited Peshawar in
the 5th century CE. The stupa was eventually destroyed by
lightning.
The Pashtuns began a conversion to Islam, following the early annexation
of their territory by the Arab Empire from Khorasan. Pashtun emperor, Sher Shah
Suri, turned Peshawar’s renaissance into a boon when he ran his ambitious
Delhi-Kabul Shahi Road through the Khyber Pass and Peshawar in the 16th century.
In 1818, Peshawar was captured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, following which
the city experienced a relative decline.
After the defeat of the Sikh Empire in the Second Anglo-Sikh War in
1849, Peshawar was incorporated into British India. The British laid out
a vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city and made it the
frontier headquarters. They also connected Peshawar with rest of India by
Railway line. The legendary Frontier Mail, rechristened Golden Temple Mail in
1996, ran from Peshawar to Bombay (now Mumbai), through which it is believed
that Prithviraj Kapoor travelled from his home town to become a film actor.
The British also constructed the Cunningham Clock Tower, popularly known
as Ghanta Ghar, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
They also contributed to the establishment of Western style education by setting
up Edwardes College and Islamia College in 1901 and 1913 respectively.
Peshawar grew to become the cultural centre of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Its culture has been evolved over the years and has principally been influenced
by Gandhara , Pakhtun and Hindko cultures. Since, Pakhtun’s were largely rural
and Hindko’s are mostly urbanites, Peshawar itself consisted of predominantly
Hindko speaking population until recently.
1947, brought the end of tolerance. What was once a cosmopolitan,
multi-ethnic city, Peshawar witnessed mass exodus upon partition of India and
Pakistan. Affluent Hindu and Sikh families with properties in the
cantonment and walled city fled overnight to make way for a new breed of
property grabbers.
Can you imagine Bollywood’s close connection with this historic
city? Their ancestral homes are on the verge of collapse or being axed by
property sharks. Dilip Kumar’s home is in a dilapidated condition, while
Shah Rukh Khan’s ancestral house in Mohallah Khudadad still stands.
Prithviraj Kapoor’s imposing haveli ‘Kapoor Mahal’ is likely to be pulled down
to make for a modern building. Anil Kapoor’s ancestral home is also intact.
The city’s cultural fabric got enriched when Afghan singers and poets
migrated to Peshawar following the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
But along with singers and poets, also came the hardliner clerics preaching
conservatism. When the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Islamic Coaltion came to
power in 2002, it banned public performance of music and prohibited playing of
recorded music in public transport .
The music of Peshawar did not die. It simply went underground.
Popular Rock stars like Rahim Shah, Sajid and Zeeshan emerged out of
unlikeliest of places making their riffs and ragas heard, slowly and surely.
The music needs to rise again to subdue the sound of blazing guns
and return peace to Peshawar.
ED : Mandesa31
(Courtesy : Adil Zareef : Friday Times, Culture
Peshawar, Khyber Gateway & UNESCO)
