The romance of history with the real Pakistan.

In response to my column, 'The Romance of Geography with the Real Pakistan', published on February 11, 2021, I received a lot of feedback by Pakistani and overseas readers, surprised at the hidden secrets of our geography. This piece would deal with the historic outlook of the land that is Pakistan.

Pakistan occupies historically one of the most significant pieces of land. The Indus Valley Civilisation, along the Indus River and delta, is one of the oldest - larger than the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations. At its peak with some five million people, human ingenuity in the Indus Valley invented newer handicrafts and metallurgy besides building well-planned cities/towns with public baths, drainage and water supply systems.

In prehistoric times, our land had one of the largest and pervasive Buddhist kingdoms. Pushkalavati ruins near Charsadda, the stupas of Swat, Mardan, Takht-Bahi and Swabi; monasteries and universities of the Gandhara Civilisation at Sirkap near Taxila, for example... attest to this richness.

Pushkalavati (1400 BC) - at the confluence of Rivers Kabul and Swat - was the capital of the Gandhara Civilisation much later than the more famous Harappa, Moenjo Daro and other cities on the Indus. It was founded by Pushkala, the nephew of Rama, son of Bharat, and is mentioned in the Ramayana, one of the two ancient Hindu epics. Pushkalavati was the crown jewel of the sprawling Bactrian Empire in Afghanistan/Central Asia that stretched up to and beyond modern day Taxila, from 2500 BC to 1000 CE.

Swat had Buddhist universities just like the one in Neelum Valley (Azad Kashmir) and the entire area was famous worldwide for the learning of Buddhism. 'Sharda Peeth' or University of Sharda (6-12th centuries CE) in Neelum Valley taught mysticism, religion, philosophy, contemporary literature, alongside astronomy and logic. It became a seat of learning for later day Hindu scholars.

How many of us know that our Buddha is actually the fasting Buddha, contrary to his South East Asian incarnation later, where Buddha is smiling and healthy? And that the Buddha statues of Bamiyan (Afghanistan) have a Pakistani connection?

Ashoka the Great's Maurya Empire (268 to 232 BC), covered almost the entire Indian Sub-continent stretching from present-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh. Taxila was one of its two provincial capitals. It is the Buddhist Ashoka's famous 'chakra' that today adorns the Indian flag. And his edicts on stone pillars advocated...