Swat     The Swat region has been inhabited for more than two thousand years and was known in ancient times as Udyana. The location of Swat made it an important stopping point for many invaders including Alexander the Great and Mahmud of Ghazni. The second century BCE saw Swat forming part of the Buddhist civilisation of Gandhara. Swat was a center of Hinayana Buddhism and of the Mahayana school that developed from it. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien, who visited the valley around 403 CE, mentions 500 monasteries. After him, Sun Yun (519 CE), Hsuan-tsang (630 CE), and Wu-kung (752 CE) visited Swat as well and praised the richness of the region, its favourable climate, the abundance of forest, flowers and fruit-trees and the respect in which Buddhism was held. The Kushan dynasty ruled for four centuries until it was over run by the White Huns in 5th century CE and the glory of the Gandhara era came to an end. Hsuan-tsang recorded the decline of Buddhism. According to him, of the 1400 monasteries that had supposedly been there, most were in ruins or had been abandoned. The monks still quoted from the scriptures but no longer understood them. There were grapes in abundance but cultivation of the fields was sparse. From the 8th century CE onwards, the Arabs started to exert pressure from the west in the Persian-Afghan region where the Hindu Shahi Dynasty still ruled. In 1001 CE, the Afghan ruler Mahmud of Ghazni began a series of invasions into India, conquering Swat amongst other areas and the Muslim period of Swat. Swat is 70 miles (112 Kms) northeast of Peshawar. The modern area of Swat was ruled sporadically by religious leaders taking the title of Akhund. The Islamic State of Swat was established in 1849 under Sayyid Akbar Shah with Sharia remaining in force but the state was in abeyance from 1863 to 1914. The British recognized the state as a princely state in 1926. At partition in 1947, the ruler acceded the state to Pakistan whilst retaining considerable autonomy. The ruler of Swat was accorded a 15-gun hereditary salute in 1966 but this was soon followed by the abolition of the state in 1969. The royal status of the former ruler was abolished in 1972, but the former ruling family are still accorded a high degree of respect by the people of Swat. This princely state has an area of 8,250 km², capital: Saidu Sharif and languages: Pashto and Khowar (colloquial). The people of Swat are mainly Pashtuns, Kohistanis and Gujars. Some have very distinct features and claim to be descendants of the army of Alexander the Great.                     1849    Swat "secular" state founded.     1863 - 28 Apr 1914    State in abeyance.            03 May 1926    Recognized as a fully-fledged princely state.                   1947    Under Pakistani suzerainty.            28 Jul 1969    State extinguished.   The Hephthalites......................................c. 410 - c. 550 The Pratiharas........................................c. 550 - 988 Bokhara..................................................988 - 999 The Ghaznavid Empire.....................................999 - 1148 The Ghurid Empire.......................................1148 - 1213 Khwarazm................................................1213 - 1220 The Mongols.............................................1221 - 1332 Unknown Rulers The Timurids............................................1379 - c. 1472 Pakhli...............................................c. 1472 - 1703 Yusufzai tribe of Pukhtun Afghans settle in Swat Valley early 16th cent. Fully autonomous after the breakup of Pakhli Sardar in the beginning of the 18th century. Unknown Rulers SITANA (title: Badshah from later 1840's) Sayyed Zaman Shah (Lord of Sitana, a village in Amb)............early 19th cent. Sayyed Zaman Shah, left his home in Takhta Band (Buner) to travel to Delhi, where he was granted lands by the Mughal Emperor, married the daughter of an Afghan Sardar in Chach. He died at Pakli in Hazara district. Pir Baba Sayyed Ali......................................1820 - 1846 Pir Baba became a local leader in Swat, primarily opposed to Sikh hegemony in the region. vacant - Swat polity organized in this era (1840's). SITANA or SAFI PATHAN (title: Amir-e Shariyat) Sayyed Akbar Shah S/o Sayyid Zaman Shah.................1849 - 01 May 1857 Sayyed Mubarak Shah Sahib........................01 May 1857 - 1863 Sayyed Mubarak Shah was a pretender from 1858 to 1863, not recognized by the tribes. Interregnum.............................................1863 - 28 Apr 1914 Religious leadership emerges after 1845, and predominates entirely after 1857, when internecine tribal feuding effects the de facto dissolution of Swat as a state. Abdul Ghafur [Khatana Gujar], Akhund of Swat, born 1795/6 in Upper Swat, son of Abdul Wahid of the Safi tribe. He died 1877. He had two son, Miangul Abdul Hanan 1852-1887 and Miangul Abdul Khaliq 1858-1893. ALKHUND (title: Sheikh ul-Islam) Abdul Ghafur S/o Abdul Wahid.......................1845 - 1877 Miyangul Abdul Hanan S/o Abdul Ghafur..............1877 - 1887 with... Miyangul Abdul Khaliq S/o Abdul Ghafur.............1877 - 1892 Miyangul Said Badshah..............................1892 - 1903 with... Miyangul Mir Badshah...............................1892 - 1907 and... Miangul Gulshahzada Abd al-Wadud...................1892 - 1917 and... Miangul Shirin Sahib Abdul Manan...................1892 - 1917 SITANA or SAFI PATHAN (title: Badshah) Sayyed Abd al-Jabbar Khan........................28 Apr 1914 - Sep 1917 Son of Sayyed Mehmood Shah. ALKHUND (title Amir-e Shariyat; from Nov 1918, Badshah; from 3 May 1926, Wali) Gulshahzada and Shirin were both Sheikhs ul-Islam from 1892, and Walis from 1917. The shift in organization that took place from 1914/5 with the creation of Abd al-Jabbar as Badshah, and the subsequent takeover of full and formal secular authority from him by Gulshahzada (and it's subsequent recognition by the British in 1926). Miangul Gulshahzada Abd al-Wadud (Continued)........Sep 1917 - 12 Dec 1949 with... Abdicated on 12 Dec 1949 and died on 01 Oct 1971. Miangul Shirin Sahib Abdul Manan (Continued)............1917 - 1918 Miangul Jahanzeb Abd al-Haqq ....................12 Dec 1949 - 28 Jul 1969 Son of Miangul Gulshahzada Abd al-Wadud. He married in March 1925, his cousin, daughter of Miangul Shirin. Miangul Jahanzeb died on 14 Sep 1987. He son Miangul Aurangzeb Akhundzada became Wali Sahib of Swat in 1987. Swat is under Taliban influence since 2001.     Pakistan's province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Countries / Territories   Chiefa Coins