UDEGRAM, THE ANCIENT CITY OF ORE
The Three Thousands year’s Old ,Historical
town of Udegram, Swat
RUINS OF OLD UDEGRAM
GANDHARA GRAVE CULTURE
1. INTRODUCTION
It was one of the hottest days of april, 2019;
when we visited raja Gira Castle located on hilly slopes of Udegram. Udegram is
small town located on downhill of Raja Gira castle, on the west of this town
Swat river flows which confluence in its downstream with the Panjkora
River in the Malakand District near totakan.
a.
It is said that some one thousand years back, the present town of Udegram
become battlefield between Mahmud of Ghaznavid army and the last Buddhist king
Raja Gira. Raja Gira fought courageously
but got defeated by large army of Mahmud. This defeat also end 1300 years of
Buddhism monarchy in the valley.
b.
Sir Marc Aurel Stein, KCIE, FRAS, FBA
(Hungarian: Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born
British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and
archaeological discoveries in Central Asia.
The site of
mountain Raja Gira, the ruins of which were recorded by Sir Aurel Stein
(1930-38), is situated on a large stretch of partly man-made terracing on the northern
slope of the mountain. Standing about one hundred meters below the so-called ‘Castle’,
it overlooks the present-day village of Udegram in the Swat Valley where,
according to Sir Aurel Stein (1930) and Gluseppe Tucci the ancient city of Ora,
conquered by Alexander the Great in 327 B.C., together with the near Bazira
(Bir-kot, Ghwandai) must be located
(‘Preliminary Note on the Islamic Settlement
of Udegram’, Swat by Alessandara Bangera)
c.
Italian
archaeologists have discovered a cemetery that reveals complex funeral rites
dating back more than 3,000 years Udegram.
2. UDEGRAM,
THE ANCIENT CITY OF ‘ORA’
About 22 centuries later, in 1928, the remarkable Aurel Stein,
Hungarian-British linguist, historian and archaeologist, came to Udegram hot on
Alexander’s trail. Stein observed that the natives pronounced the name more
like Uregram, the ‘r’ in the first syllable being palatal. The Greeks, who were
aware that the suffix ‘gram’ meant village or town in Sanskrit, therefore
assumed the name to be simply Ure. And despite the well-known Greek penchant
for mispronouncing names of foreign places, they remained more or less faithful
to the original, calling the town Ora.
(Reference:- Article of Salman Rashid article,
‘Town with Seven lives’)
3. PRE-BUDDHIST ERA IN UDEGRAM (1 AD TO 1000 BC)
GANDHARA GRAVE CULTURE
The Gandhara grave culture, also called Swat
culture, emerged c. 1600 BC, and flourished c.1500 BC to 500 BC
in Gandhara, which lies in modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. It has been regarded as a token of the Indo-Aryan
migrations, but has also been explained by local cultural continuity.
Italian archaeologists have discovered a cemetery that reveals complex
funeral rites dating back more than 3,000 years Udegram, Swat valleyThe Italian mission began digging
in the 1950s at Udegram,
Archaeologists were aware of a pre-Buddhist grave site in Udegram, but
only recently discovered the collection of almost 30 graves, tightly clustered
and partially overlapping.
Luca Maria Olivieri, head of the Italian mission writes in his report
that
a. Some graves had a stone wall, others were protected by walls and
enclosures in beaten clay," "The cemetery... seems to have been used
between the end of the second millennium BCE and the first half of the first
millennium BCE,"
b.
The tombs point to the culture that predates
the Buddhist Gandhara civilization that took hold in northwest Pakistan and
eastern Afghanistan from the first millennium BCE to the sixth century AD.
c.
Also found the
presence of a few iron fragments, which might be amongst the most ancient
traces of this metal in the subcontinent.
d.
Bodies were
first laid to rest in open graves, fenced in by wooden railings. Then the
graves were re-opened and the bones partially burnt before the graves were
sealed and a burial
mound built. Men were buried with high quality flasks, bowls
and cooking pots, and women with semi-precious beads, bronze hairpins, and
spindles.
4. COPHEN CAMPAIN BY ALEXANDER, THE GREAT (327 BC)
THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN OF THE ALEXANDER
The Cophen Campaign was conducted
by Alexander the Great between May 327 BC and
March 326 BC. It was conducted in Swat in
what is now the Punjabregion in Pakistan. Alexander's
goal was to secure his line of communications so that he could conduct a
campaign in India proper. To achieve this, he needed to capture a number of
fortresses controlled by the local tribes.
Alexander personally took command of the shield-bearing guards,
foot-companions, archers, Agrianians, and horse-javelin-men and led them
against the clans – the Aspasioi of Kunar valleys,
the Guraeans of the Guraeus (Panjkora) valley, and the Assakenoi of the Swatand Buner valleys.[citation
needed]
Alexander faced resistance from Hastin (or Astes), chief of the
Ilastinayana (called the Astakenoi or Astanenoi) tribe, whose capital was
Pushkalavati or Peukelaotis.He later defeated Asvayanas and Asvakayanas and
captured their 40,000 men and 230,000 oxen. Asvakayanas of Massaga fought
him under the command of their queen, Cleophis, with an army of 30,000
cavalry, 38,000 infantry, 30 elephants, and 7,000 mercenaries. Other regions
that fought Alexander were Abhisara, Aornos, Bazira, and Ora or Dyrta.
A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi, in the course of which
Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the
Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced
Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry, and 30 elephants. They
had fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to the invader in many of
their strongholds such as the cities of Ora, Bazira, and Massaga. The fort
of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which
Alexander himself was wounded seriously in the ankle. When the Chieftain of
Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme command of the army went to his old
mother, Cleophis, who also stood determined to defend her motherland to
the last extremity. The example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of the
military also brought the entire population of women of the locality into the
fighting. Alexander was only able to reduce Massaga by resorting to political
strategem and actions of betrayal. According to Curtius: "Not only
did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he
reduce its buildings to rubbles". A similar slaughter then followed
at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi.
In the aftermath of general slaughter and arson committed
by Alexander at Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to a high
fortress called Aornos (not definitely identified but somewhere
between Shangla, in Swat, and the Kohistan region, both in northern
Pakistan). Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the
strategic hill-fort. The Siege of Aornos was Alexander's last siege, "the
climax to Alexander's career as the greatest besieger in history",
according to Robin Lane Fox. The siege took place in April 326 BC. It presented the last threat to Alexander's supply line, which
stretched, dangerously vulnerable, over the Hindu Kush back to Balkh,
though Arrian credits Alexander's heroic desire to outdo his
kinsman Heracles, who allegedly had proved unable to take the place
Pir-Sar, which the Greeks called Aornis. The site lies north of Attock in
what is now the Punjab, Pakistan, on a strongly reinforced mountain
spur above the narrow gorges in a bend of the upper Indus. Neighboring
tribesmen who surrendered to Alexander offered to lead him to the best point of
access.
At the vulnerable north side leading to the fort, Alexander and his
catapults were stopped by a deep ravine. To bring the siege engines within
reach, an earthwork mound was constructed to bridge the ravine. A low hill
connected to the nearest tip of Pir-Sar was soon within reach and taken.
Alexander's troops were at first repelled by boulders rolled down from above.
Three days of drumbeats marked the defenders' celebration of the initial
repulse, followed by a surprise retreat. Hauling himself up the last rockface
on a rope, Alexander cleared the summit, slaying some fugitives – inflated
by Arrian to a massacre – and erected altars to Athena Nike, Athena
of Victory, traces of which were identified by Stein. Sisikottos, or Saśigupta,
who had helped Alexander in this campaign, was made the governor of Aornos.[citation
need
The Battle of the Hydaspes River was
fought by Alexander in July 326 BC against
king Porus (possibly, Paurava) on the Hydaspes River
(Jhelum River) in the Punjab, near Bhera.
5. 327 BC TO 5TH CENTUREY CE
(GREEKS,
MAURYAN, THE BACTERIAN GREEKS, SCYTHIANS, PARTHIANS AND KUSHANS PERIOD)
Stein noted two groups of ancient ruins, one on level ground between the
farms and the hills to the east of a clump of houses and the other on the crest
of a sylvan hill above the plain. Half a century later, archaeologists put the
spade and scalpel to these ruins to reveal a well-ordered city that lived,
decayed and rejuvenated seven times in the 800 years between Alexander’s
invasion and the 5th century CE.
The earliest level of occupation gave up a shard of pottery with Greek
lettering datable to the 4th century BCE. With the passage of the Greeks after
the death of Alexander, the town bears Mauryan influence and thereafter,
numismatic evidence shows, begins the great parade of foreign influence. The
Bactrian Greeks, who controlled Afghanistan and much of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and
Punjab around the end of the 3rd century BCE, were successively followed by
the Scythians, Parthians and Kushans. As Kushan power waned in the 4th
century, Udegram became part of the Persian Sassanian Empire as evinced by the
discovery of coins from the time of Hormuzd II, who reigned between 302 and 309
CE.
6. ATTACK OF WHITE
HUNS ON UDEGRAM AND CONSTRUCTION OF RAJA GIRA FORT ( 5TH
CENTURY)
The following century saw the collapse of this part of ancient Udegram.
And in the last quarter of the 5th century, the blood-thirsty White Huns poured
in, their sole agenda being arson and murder. The Sassanian city that fell to
the Huns is marked by the ruins in the flat area now known as Udegram bazaar.
Here was an orderly and well laid out township with streets paved with
flagstones and houses constructed of locally quarried, finely dressed stone.
The town was divided into blocks, each with discrete zones for houses and
commercial establishments. It was prosperous and thriving until Hunnic
barbarity laid it low.
Chastened and fearful of future incursions, the Buddhist population moved
to the safety of the hill immediately to the east of the ruined city. Here,
some 600 metres above the ruins of old Udegram, they rebuilt a new town.
Compact, well-planned and meticulously constructed of dressed schist plastered
with clay, this was a town built to be populated and cherished over
generations. The view from the windows of new Udegram was breathtaking. To the
west ran a line of ridges, blue in the mist and once draped thickly with pine
trees. In the north reared snow-covered peaks and just below the hill beyond
the farmland of Udegram spread the wide, pebbled floodplain of the Swat River.
7. SHAGAI AND ASAN KOTA FORTS
On adjacent mountains of Raja girA small
castle were constructed at Shagai and Asan Kota to tackle any attacks of enemies
from any corner.
8. DEFEAT OF RAJA GIRA BY MEHMOOD GHAZNVI ARMY (1048 CE)
END OF
BUDDHIST EMPIRE
BEGINNING OF
ISLAM
In the five centuries of peace that followed the passage of the Huns and
the coming of the Turks, Udegram remained prosperous. During this period, the
town was rebuilt again and again seven times as buildings decayed to give way
to newer ones. But its strong fortification of broad walls and hefty
semicircular bastions proved inadequate when the Turks arrived led by Mahmud of
Ghazni.
Lore recalls Munja Devi, the daughter of Raja Gira after whom the hilltop
castle is known today. Falling in love with the general leading the Turkish
forces, she is said to have betrayed her father to deliver the castle into the
enemy’s hands. But in truth the battle for the castle of Raja Gira was hard
fought and many a Turk died below its ramparts before the gates were finally
thrown open. The fortified town was apparently spared as the discovery of
artefacts from its ruins tells us that Turkish settlers occupied it for some
time.
Buddhism fell and Islam rose among the Pakhtuns of Swat. Nestling below
the massive walls of Raja Gira’s castle is the roofless ruin of what may well
have been the first mosque in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. An inscription in stone found
in the mosque records it was built by Amir Anush Teghin, an obscure Turkish
functionary, in the year 440 of the Hijri calendar (1048-49 CE). This was
during the reign of Abdur Rashid, Mahmud’s son, pointing to a continuous
occupation of the castle area for more than three decades.
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| Ghaznvid Mosque |
