| 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 began.
The modern area of Swat was ruled sporadically by religious
leaders taking the title of Akhund, also spelt Akhoond or
Akond. This rank was particular made famous to Westerners
by a poem by Edward Lear The Akond of Swat. The poem suggests
a far away place, at least according to a Victorian poet.
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 1915. The British recognised the
state as a princely state in 1926. Following the Partition
of India 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. The present mayor of Swat district
is the grandson of the last ruler, Miangul Jehanzeb.
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