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SWAT

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 184 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SWAT , a See also:

tract on the See also:Peshawar border of the See also:North-See also:West Frontier See also:Province of See also:India, consisting of the valley of the Swat See also:river above its confluence with the Panjkora. This valley is some 70 M. See also:long, varying from ro m. to a few See also:hundred yards in breadth; it is intersected by ravines and glens, which bring down the drainage of the ranges on either See also:side. Only that portion of the valley which lies beyond the Peshawar frontier hills, and which is reached by the Malakand, the Shahkot and other passes from the See also:south, is Swat. To the See also:east are the See also:independent See also:hill tracts of See also:Kohistan and See also:Buner, all bordering the See also:Indus, and to the west are See also:Dir and See also:Bajour. The Swat river rises among See also:snow mountains in the Kohistan, not far from the source of the See also:Gilgit river. After flowing due south for nearly 70 m., it turns to the west and is joined by the Panjkora. It then passes through the See also:Mohmand See also:country, and on entering Peshawar See also:district spreads out to the south-east in many channels which ultimately fall into the See also:Kabul river. See also:Total length about 400 M. In See also:British territory its See also:waters have been utilised by a See also:series of canals to irrigate an See also:area of about 16o,000 acres; and the See also:system is now being extended by means of a See also:tunnel through the Malakand range, which will tap the river much higher up. Swat was better known to the ancients, and to the warriors of See also:Baber's See also:time, than it was to us until the frontier risings of 1805—97 gave British surveyors the opportunity of visiting the country. The See also:ancient name of the river was Suastos,andthat of the Panjkora was Ghoura, under which names they figure in the See also:history of See also:Alexander's See also:campaign. The site of the See also:city Massaga, the See also:capital of the Assakeni, is supposed to be near the See also:modern Manglaur.

But since the See also:

adoption of the Khyber as the See also:main high road from Kabul to India the Swat routes had passed into oblivion. Only the See also:lower portion of the Swat valley, where the river intervenes between Malakand and the passes leading to Dir from the Panjkora, is of military significance. The upper valley is closely gripped between See also:mountain spurs stretching southwards from the See also:Hindu Koh, rising to 15,000 ft. on one side and 19,000 ft. on the other, leaving but a narrow space between their rugged summits and the See also:banks of the river. The valley, narrow though it is, and traversed by the worst conceivable type of hill tracks, contains many villages or hamlets, and is See also:pretty thickly populated. The district has come into prominence of See also:recent years, on See also:account of its lying on the See also:direct road to See also:Chitral. The Swatis are a See also:clan of See also:Yusafzai Pathans numbering 40,000 fighting men but are of weakly and thin physique, due to the See also:malaria with which the valley is saturated. They are divided into three main clans, the Baizais, Ranizais and Khwazozais. They had not much name for valour, but they opposed a stout resistance to See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Low's advance over the Malakand Pass in 1895 to the See also:relief of Chitral; and again in 1897, under the See also:influence of fanaticism, they showed desperate bravery in the attack on the Malakand Fort and Chakdara. They are all Suni Mahommedans, and have earned the reputatior. of being the most bigoted of all the Afghan tribes. For many years they were under the religious dominance of the Akhund of Swat, Abdul Ghafur, who, See also:born in 1794, obtained ascendancy by means of his ascetic practices, ruled practically undisputed in Swat for the last 30 years of his See also:life, and died in 1877. The Akhund, after his experience of the British strength in the Umbeyla Campaign of 1863, always exerted his influence in favour of See also:peace with the British See also:government, though in his earlier days he was sometimes troublesome. He was succeeded by his son Mian Gul, who never possessed the same influence as his See also:father.

End of Article: SWAT

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SWATOW (also Shan`tow)

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