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Hund I Swabi I Alexander's Crossing of Indus River I The Village Dominates the Subcontinent’s Past
Music: Binu Kumar, Kerala, India
@SoundSFX (Under License)
Hund, also known as Udabhandapura, is one of the greatest archaeological sites of Pakistan. Situated on the right bank of the Indus River, 15 kilometers from Swabi and 5 kilometers from the M1 Swabi Interchange, it is the place where the ancient trade route crossed the Indus River. It is the site of Alexander the Great's crossing of the Indus. It was the last capital of Gandhara under the Hindu Shahi rulers until the beginning of 11th century AD. It is the place where Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, also known as Jalal ad-Din Khwarazmshah, the last ruler of the Persian Khwarezmian Empire, jumped into the Indus River to save his life when chased by Genghis Khan. It was the place where Mughal Emperor Akbar constructed a fort in 1586 AD that still stands, albeit dilapidated.
There are Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim ruins at Hund, the most visible being the 16th-century walls of Akbar's Fort, which completely surround the modern village. The fort is square, with a gate through the center of each wall. The road enters the village through the north gate and exits by the south gate to the river. A cobbled road descends to the Indus, marking the crossing place.
Arrian, the second century AD military historian, records in Anabasis that Alexander and his conquering army of 50,000 men and all their animals crossed the Indus at Hund on a bridge of boats specially built for them by Alexander's commander, Hephaestion, in 326 BC. When he arrived at the river, Alexander made animal sacrifices and held athletic games and a horse show. The omens proved favourable, so the army crossed. More sacrifices of thanksgiving were made on the other side, where King Ambhi of Taxila was waiting to surrender to Alexander. And so Alexander entered India. A Corinthian column, an example of Greek and Roman architecture, was recently added to the Hund museum to symbolize the presence of Alexander the Great.
When Buddhism arrived in Gandhara in the second century BC, Hund became a Buddhist centre of pilgrimage because it was associated with the place where, in a previous incarnation, the Buddha turned himself into a huge fish and fed the people on his own flesh during 12 years of famine. According to Xuan Zang who visited it in 630 AD, it was 'a city of 20 li [four kilometres, or 2.5 miles] in circuit and having the Indus on its south side: its inhabitants were flourishing, and in it were collected valuable rarities from various regions'.
In the seventh century Buddhism slowly died out in Gandhara. In 870, the Turkish Hindu Shahi kings were driven out of Kabul by the Saffarid ruler, Yaqub-e-Lais. They set up their new capital at Wahind (as Hund was then known), at this time the Hindu Shahi Kingdom stretched from the Kabul Valley to Kashmir and from Swat to Multan.
Hund flourished from 870 to 1001, when it was the capital of Gandhara under the Hindu Shahi Kings. The benevolent Hindu Shahi Kingdom was completely destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni, who had vowed to drive them out of Gandhara, and between 1000 AD and 1026 AD, led at least 12 campaigns against them. In 1000 he defeated the Hindu Shahi King Jaipala, who a year later committed suicide by climbing on a funeral pyre at Hund. His successor, Anandpala, moved his capital to Nandana in the Salt Range. This was to no avail, as he and the other Hindu princes of northern India were roundly defeated by Mahmud in 1008 in a battle near Hazro, on the other side of the Indus from Hund, and by 1026 all of them were finally overcome by Mahmud.
Today Hund is a humble, run-down village. It is, however, beautifully situated on the bank of the Indus. Along the river bank there are millions of pottery shards from the old days.
(Courtesy: Ghoomo Phirro)
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