Folk Tales and Traditions in Swat

Swat has a rich and luscious history regarding art, literature and architecture. Due to modern technology and education, some wonderful traditions and customs of this magical valley are slowly passing away and the hi-tech generation of today is unfortunately oblivious of the important role it played in the unity and solidarity of the community in the bygone days. It is said that “ old is gold” and this adage aptly applies to the glorious traditions and values which were strictly and sincerely followed and adhered to. Today, the outreaching electronic media print media and communication media has intruded in to the spirit of our centuries old culture and has started hallowing it like a termite. The embarrassing and offensive programmes on TV networks and CDs have stolen the innocence and simplicity of the children. For the children of those days, a newborn in the family was a mystery to be solved and about which they asked different questions from the elders i.e. how he entered the household and family? From where did he appear? Where was he found etc? But today even a five year old can amply satisfy you about the reproduction process and complexities. Thanks to the intrusion of the ever-present media, which has educated and penetrated the innocent mind of our young generation.

In the good old days, as they are called by the aged, the emotions and sentiments of brotherhood and sympathy ruled over all the communities but today the nature and standards of the society has changed. In the past, people of respectable lineage were revered and respected for their notable families, knowledge and relation with the people but today wealth and material resources are the parameters on which people are weighed. The norms and values are drastically changing, those who were once ready to sacrifice even their lives for each other have now turned mere spectators to watch their fellow human beings in distress and trouble.

Several message and lesson pregnant stories and tales were narrated by the parents to their young ones during night sitting around the fireplaces as no TV or other temptation was available in the glorious old days. In some villages, there were some people like Chaucer’s storytellers in The Canterbury Tales who were expert and articulate in story telling and everyone sought their company in the long and dark chilly nights of winter to enjoy their thought provoking and delightful tales. Most of these tales and fables were based on myths where giants, troll, elves, fairies, witches, bogeymen, kings, prince and princesses were struggling to triumph and rule. Some of these tales and fables were based on real life and the characters were actual and typical human beings vulnerable to any natural or man made calamity.

Several others were based on religious or chivalric characters that fought and struggled for social, religious and moral codes. Some others were replete with humour and comedy, which only entertained and made people forget the worries of life for a few moments. Moreover, the parents and elders of the family also taught and memorized to their young ones the basic teachings and lessons of Islam. These traditions have almost crumbled to the ground and only in some far-off villages where the tentacles of modern technology have not reached yet, these centuries old customs and traditions are still alive and surviving.

Some of these tales have penetrated our culture from other famous entities and civilizations through books that were read in the local seminaries in the past or through verbal tradition. Arabian Nights have an explicit effect on the tales in Swat valley and the local narrators have created even new version. Mullah Nasiruddin who is famous all over the world for his funny and humorous stories has also evident impression on the tales that are in the glamorous valley of Swat. Some tales and fables are purely indigenous to different localities in the valley. The Killing of Old Men is the most famous and often quoted.

In several other primitive cultures especially nomadic people the killing of old and infirm of the community is widely known and accepted. In the famous Eskimo culture, the old and aged one of the community are often abandoned as they can no longer sustain themselves nor contribute to the community and are a burden on the community. Some famous proverbs and idioms have also been related with old age and its repercussions i.e. Age is a poverty, Age is sickness from which everyone must die, Youth rises, age falls etc. But still in most cultures old age is honored and revered and different proverbs associated with old age and the wisdom that accompanies has been coined i.e. An old man can see backward better than a young man forward, with old men take counsel, an old man can be outrun but not out counseled etc.

The tradition of orally narrating these fabulous tales and fables in the captivating Swat valley is dwindling gradually and our young generations are getting estranged from these precious customs and traditions.

Let us rekindle the flame of these valuable old traditions in our new generation and preserve our priceless treasure of oral narration, which has in a way educated and entertained the past generations of our beautiful valley.

Tourist Attractions

Marghazar          

Marghazar 16 km away from Saidu Sharif is famous for its “Sufed Mahal” the white marble palace of the former Wali (Ruler) of Swat.

Malam Jabba           

Malam Jabba (also Maalam Jabba, Urdu: مالم جبہ) is a Hill Station in the Karakoram mountain range nearly 40 km from Saidu Sharif in Swat Valley, Peshawar, Pakistan. It is 314 km from Islamabad and 51 km from Saidu Sharif Airport.Malam Jabba is home to the largest ski resort in Pakistan.The Malam Jabba Ski Resort, owned by the Pakistani Tourism Development Corporation, had a ski slope of about 800m with the highest point of the slope 2804 m (9200 ft) above sea level. Malam Jabba Ski Resort was the joint effort of the Pakistan government with its Austrian counterpart. The resort was equipped with modern facilities including roller/ice-skating rinks, chair lifts, skiing platforms, telephones and snow clearing equipment.

Swat Museum  

Swat Museum is on the east side of the street, halfway between Mingora and Saidu. Japanese aid has given a facelift to its seven galleries which now contain an excellent collection of Gandhara sculptures taken from some of the Buddhist sites in Swat, rearranged and labelled to illustrate the Buddha's life story. Terracotta figurines and utensils, beads, precious stones, coins, weapons and various metal objects illustrate daily life in Gandhara. The ethnographic section displays the finest examples of local embroidery, carved wood and tribal jewellery.



Maindam

Miandam is a small summer resort ten kilometres (six miles) up a steep side valley and 56 kilometers (35 miles) from Saidu Sharif, making it an hour's drive. The metaled road passes small villages stacked up the hillside, the roofs of one row of houses forming the street for the row of houses above. Tiny terraced fields march up the hillside right to the top. Miandam is a good place for walkers. Paths follow the stream, past houses with behives set into the walls and good-luck charms whitewashed around the doors. In the graveyards are carved wooden grave posts with floral designs, like those used by Buddhists 1,000 years ago.

Madyan

By the time you reach this small town at 1320 m and about 60 km from Mingora, the mountains have closed in and the valley is almost snug. Here one senses why Swat is so popular among the tourists. There are a lot of embroidered shawls in the Bazars of Madyan.At 1,321 metres (4,335 feet) above sea level,but it is a larger town and has many hotels in all price ranges and some good tourist shopping. Antique and modern shawls, traditional embroidery, tribal jewellery, carved wood and antique or reproduced coins are sold along the main street. This is the last Swati village, offering interesting two-and three-day walks up to the mountain villages... ask in the bazaar in Muambar Khan's shop for a guide. North of Madyan is Swat Kohistan where walking is not recommended without an armed guard. The central mosque at Madyan has carved wooden pillars with elegant scroll capitals, and its mud-plastered west wall is covered with relief designs in floral motifs

Behrain                   

A quarter of an hour past Madyan, the road squeezes through Bahrain. Tourists stop to shop or have a look around for beautiful carved wood chairs and tables and other handicrafts. Behrainis are a mix of Pashtuns and Kohistanis.Bahrain is ten kilometres north of Madyan and only slightly higher, at about 1,400 metres (4,500 feet). It is another popular riverside tourist resort, with bazaars worth exploring for their handicrafts. Some of the houses have carved wooden doors, pillars and balconies. These show a remarkable variety of decorative motifs, including floral scrolls and bands of ornamental diaper patterns almost identical to those seen on Buddhist shrines and quite different from the usual Muslim designs.

Kalam                   

2070 m high and 100 km from Mingora, it was the centre of an independent state in the 19th century. It was later taken by Chitral then given to Swat after partition.Kalam, 29 kilometres (18 miles) from Bahrain and about 2,000 metres (6,800 feet) above sea level, the valley opens out, providing rooms for a small but fertile plateau above the river. In Kalam the Ushu and Utrot rivers join to form the Swat river. Here, the metalled road ends and shingle road leads to the Ushu and Utrot valleys. From Matiltan one gets a breath-taking view of the snow-capped Mount Falaksir 5918 metres (19,415 ft.), and another un-named peak 6096 metres (20,000 ft.) high.

Usho        

Usho 3 km from Kalam Valley and 117 km from Saidu Sharif

 Utror                

Utror 16 km from Kalam Valley and 120 km from Saidu Sharif.Utror       valley is situated between 35° 20′ to 35° 48′ N latitudes and 72° 12′ and 72° 32′ E longitudes. The population of Utror is 6888 and the area of the valley is about 47400 hectares. Utror valley is surrounded by Gabral and Bhan valleys on the east, upper Dir district on the west, Kalam valley on the south and Gabral valley on the north. It is 15 km from Kalam, the centre of Swat Kohistan. The altitude of the valley at Utror proper is 2300 meters and reaches to 2900 meters at Kandol Lake.

Ghabral      

Gabral valley lies between 35° 20′ to 35° 48′ N latitudes and 72° 12′ and 72° 32′ E longitudes over an area of about 38733 hectares. The population of Gabral is 3238. The valley is surrounded by Chitral District in the north, Utror valley in the south and south west, upper Dir district in the west and Bhan and Mahodand valleys in the east. It is 5 km distant from Utror proper and 20 km from Kalam. The altitude of the valley ranges from 2580 metres at Baila to 5160 metres at Karkaray Lake top.In Utror and Gabral, 44 medicinal plants are collected during the months of May, June, July and August. Only 14 of them are traded to National and International markets while the rest are used locally. A survey by Pakistan Forest Institute concludes that 75 crude herbal drugs are extensively exported and more than 200 are locally traded in Pakistan. Indigenous people, who have no training in sustainable harvesting, post-harvesting care and storing of medicinal plants, collect 85 percent of these crude herbs from the wild.

Mahudand 

Mahodand valley, which lies in the North of Kalam, is famous not only among nature lovers, and escapists but also the exotic trout fish hunters. The valley can be accessed through an un-metalled road from Kalam in a four by four (4x4) vehicle. The road is bumpy and tricky but the surrounding landscapes engrosses you so severely that you wish for more and expect to discover new panoramas. The small hamlets that are scattered in the mountains and the bellowing smoke that spirals into the sky from the houses are some, which lives in the memory forever. Swat River, which is born here, is shackled by the tall mountains, which has turned its water into a roaring monster trying to release itself from its fetters, but there are some places where the river is calm and silent without showing any sign of rebellion.

Pari(Khapiro) lake

Pari Lake is one of the lakes in Swat region which is located at a very high altitude in the foot of the tallest peak in the range with a considerable depth. The name Pari or Khapiro is given to the lake due to the widespread belief that the lake is the abode of fairies where they live and bathe in the cool, pure and clear water of the lake. It is located to North-east of Utror valley and can be accessed only by trekking. Trekking to the lake needs endurance and love for nature as the trail is exasperating as well as dangerous therefore, utmost care should be taken while trekking on the narrow bends and turns leading to the lake. The lake is accessible from both Izmis and Kundal lakes. Two ascending tracks lead to this lake from Kundal and Izmis lakes taking almost five hours to reach this roof top of Swat. The trail is very steep from both sides but the surrounding beauty and eye-cooling green pastures and exotic flowers not only boost the trekker’s stamina but compel him to explore further.

Kundol Lake     

The pastoral valley of Swat has abundance of precious resorts of nature where one can find solace and respite from the never-ending struggle of life. Kundal or Kandolo Lake is one such place here upon which the Maestro of nature has spent extra time and effort to paint. Kundal Lake is situated in the north of Utror valley. One can easily access it from Kalam via Utror from where a link road ends in a green valley called Ladu in the foothills of the lake. You can either hike to Ladu from Utror or take a four-wheeler to ease and minimize your journey. It consumes almost two hours to reach the beautiful valley of Ladu. For the adventurous kind, a walk in the romantic valley will unravel several new mysteries. The people who take temporary residency over here during summer plow the open land and harvest potatoes and turnips, which are famous all over the country for its exotic taste. There is also a small hut in Ladu where you can take tea and get something for eating. From Ladu it takes almost four hours to reach the lake. Some locals can guide you and even take your luggage if properly paid. The mountains around this small valley are covered with tall cedar and pine trees and meandered by different streams and torrents. The people are friendly and provide you guidance if required.

Bashigram Lake

Bashigram Lake is situated to the east of Bashigram valley near Madyan. The road to this valley is partly metaled and can be plied by a four by four or any ordinary vehicle. It takes almost forty to fifty minutes to reach this picturesque valley inhibited by simple and hospitable folk. From here, trekking of four to five hours, depending on professionalism and enthusiasm of the trekkers lands you in the realm of a serene and enchanting lake of Bashigram.

Spin Khwar (White Stream) Lake

Spin Khwar is a beautiful lake hidden in the lap of mountains towards the north of Kundal Lake and east of Utror valley. The name Spin Khwar has a clear significance as a small white stream in the east flows down to the lake from the surrounding mountains and is a major source of water for the lake. The lake is accessible through two tracks, one from Kundal and the other from Ladu valley. The track from Ladu is comparatively easy to walk and less tiring while the track from Kundal is not only difficult but alarmingly dangerous although it is short and links Kundal and Spin Khwar. Its steepness and dangerous bends needs an experienced trekker and unending physical strength. The grazers in the area have built small huts and a mosque where one can stay but a personal tent is more recommendable as these huts are in a poor condition due to lack of maintenance.

Daral Lake

Daral lake is situated to the northeast of Sidgai Lake and can be accessed through Saidgai after two three hours rigorous trekking. The trail to Daral is full of fun and amusement because it runs over sky touching heights of the mountains provides spectacular sights and panoramas for the beauty hungry eyes of nature lovers. A close look towards the south will reveal the long and winding sellouts of river Swat in the horizon.After walking and trekking for about two and a half hours on bare and naked mountains, the trail start descending towards the East where Daral Lake is located.

Photos

The History of Swat

 Pre-Islamic periods
 
The history of Swat valley up to the beginning of the present century is not very well known. The Bronze and Iron Ages finds show no continuous development but a shifting supremacy of various invading and local tribes. This may be due to the unsettled nature of the dominant groups of peoples caused by frequent invasions, upheavals and mass migrations. This instability can be attributed to Swat’s geographical situation. Although it is relatively remote, it lies on one of the old transit roads between Central Asia – Sub Continent and Central Asia – China via Gilgit and does not lie on any major transit roads. It is not only close to the main passes between Central Asia and the sub-continent but some of the main routes pass through it i.e. via Bajawar and via Chitral.
It is an extremely fertile valley. As such it invited the attraction of almost all invaders, resulting in a multiplicity of influences on the socio-political culture of the region. This instability can also be the cause of the fact that historical references to Swat are found only for discrete periods in history. From the end of the 6th century BC, the area between Jalalabad, on the Kabul River, and the Indus formed part of the Achemenid Empire as the twentieth satrapy with the name Gandhara. Gandhara Art flourished in Udyana, though Gandhara and Udyana were two separate geographical units. In 327 BC, Alexander the Great conquered lower Swat after successful sieges of Ora (now Udegram) and Bazira (now Barikot) and subdued the Assakenoi people living there. In 305 BC, Alexander’s successor, Seleukos Nikator, ceded Gandhara to Chandragupta founder of the Mauryan dynasty who had already acquired it in 321 BC. Still later, the Bactrian Greeks, the Sakas and the Parthians held sway over Gandhara. Alexander’s conquest marks the first wave of Hellenistic influence in what is now Northwest Pakistan. The Greek power and influence introduced new ethnic and cultural elements in the region during this era. During the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Kushan dynasty began to gain dominance. In early 3rd century BC, Buddhism was introduced into Gandhara during the reign of Asoka . During 1st century AD, Gandhara became the second holy land of Buddhism and experienced an unique economic and cultural flowering, with a flourishing trade with Rome and China. This brought a variety of influences to create what is now identified as Gandhara culture. This is evident from many ruins, rock paintings and archaeological finds as well as from reports of Chinese and Tibetan pilgrims. At an early stage, 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 AD, mentions 500 monasteries. After him, Sun Yun (519 AD), Hsuan-tsang (630 AD), Wu-kung (752 AD) praise the richness of the region, its favorable climate, the abundance of forest, flowers and fruit-trees and the respect in which Buddhism is held. The Kushan dynasty ruled for four centuries till it was over run by the White Huns in 5th century AD and the glory of the Gandhara era came to an end.
Beside the constant invaders, who preferred to carry off the movable wealth, the origins of this economic and cultural regression are not precisely known. It seems that earthquakes and floods also took an heavy toll. Hsuan-tsang recorded this decline and mentioned the downfall 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.
 
Islamic Period
 
After the decline of Buddhism the history of Swat disappears into obscurity, emerging only rarely in the accounts of historians. From the 8th century AD onwards, the Arabs exerted pressure from the west in the Persian-Afghan region. In 1001, Mahmud of Ghazni (in Afghanistan) began a series of invasions of India and, in the course, his generals conquered Swat and defeated its Hindu ruler Raja Girra.
With the passage of time people from different Afghan tribes came and settled here. They established their rule and ruled Swat for centuries. The passing of Changiz Khan and Timurlane in the 13th and 14th century AD is acknowledged. Scholars suppose that the valley remained uncultivated, quite uninhabited but traveled all over by groups of nomad shepherds during some centuries . The valley was later occupied by the Dilazak who were also forced out, as the Swatis to the Hazara mountains, east of the Indus, by the Yusufzais after a bitter twelve year struggle. Initially, the Yusufzais were guaranteed rights over the lands occupied by them, but paid tribute to Babur, the Mughal emperor of India. They however gained complete independence under Babur’s successor, Humayun.
Thus, from the beginning of 16th century AD, the valley is occupied by a Pukhtun tribe coming from Kandahar and Kabul, the Yusufzais who are still there today. Swat was given to Akozai, a sub tribe of the Yousafzai. The Akozai distributed Swat among its various sub-branches under 
 the plan devised by Shaikh Malli.
 
The Wesh
 
Yusufzai Swat was organized as a stateless society based on segmentary groups. The hallmark of their socio-political organization, as devised by the saint Shaikh Malli, was wesh, the distribution of territory based on filiation in segmentary groups and was known as Daftar-e-Shaikh Malli. The wesh system of periodic distribution or redistribution of land conceptualized the individual’s place in the Yusufzai descent charter by shares (brakha) in the land based on membership in the lineage segment, since no two pieces of land are qualitatively equal, so rather than vest property rights to specific fields permanently in any one lineage segment. In this way, a completely equitable division of the fruits of conquest was assured. Permanent equality was ensured by a regular distribution of rotation of ownership over say every seven or a maximum of ten years.

Land as a common tribal property was a vital diacritical boundary that kept the individual within his segmentary descent group and one of which Shaikh Malli attempted to maintain through his land system. Yusufzai ownership of land simultaneously established the exclusion of the non-Yusufzai to right in land. At a stroke superordinate and subordinate positions were created and maintained. Economic status was thus confirmed through genealogical charters. Wesh was a conceptualization of a pastoral-nomadic egalitarian social philosophy which asserts the rights of every member of the tribe to equal shares in the joint possessions by defining positions within homologous segmentary groups. In Swat, however, it served to create economic and ethnic divisiveness between Yusufzai and non-Yusufzai Pathans.
Wesh created powerful feudal landlords surrounded by hierarchically ranked and supporting occupational groups and vassals, theoretically equal in ideological belief in an egalitarian religious system, but exhibiting many castes the like qualities of social hierarchy. Local social organizations revolved around the khan. It must be noted that the Khanship was not hereditary but the people had to make a person their Khan and as such to replace him by another. So the Khanship was at the discretion of the people and his estate forming semi-independent islands of authority. There was a distinct growth of a feudal class based on possession of land and the inherent right to that land by virtue of conquest, sanctified by the land distribution system.
The Yusufzai era can be described as a post-slavery stage in social history, where there was widespread use of service tenants instead of salary. Life in Swat for the Yusufzai’s khans, as seen early last century was that of a leisure country class, with most of the labor being done by the faqirs.
A historical scrutiny of the practice of the system of wesh, however, tends to show that it approximated more to an "ideal" rather than "actual" form of Pukhtun socio-economic organization. The historical reality and frequency of wesh in Swat is presumed and supported with somewhat scanty ethnographic material. For example, it is not clear how long the cycle of allotment took to revolve; or whether there was a revenue and administration secretariat that recorded allotments according to shares and period of allotment; or who supervised and implemented the blue-print of reallotments; or what institutions dealt with errant or defaulting khans refusing to move out after his allotted time had expired.
For five hundred years the Yusufzais Pathans of Swat led nomadic lives. They did not remain at one place long enough to found new towns or extend existing ones. Even men of sufficient means preferred to live in dilapidated houses made of mud rather than construct better abodes since they would have to move out after seven or ten years. This unsettled mode of life was a great setback to the development of agriculture, trade and crafts. There are some references to the Yusufzai’s turning the beautiful valley of Swat into a desert through neglect. Given that land was not permanently owned, it is conceivable that it was subjected to unsustainable levels of utilization.
Swat never came under alien rule at least after its occupation by the Yusafzais. The Yusafzais, however, failed to form an organized government, headed by some one of them. They lived in their old tribal fashion

.
  Establishment of Swat State
 
Given that Swat was a stateless and stratified society, overall moral leadership came to be exercised by religious leaders. The most prominent among them has been Abdul Ghaffur, who earned the epithet of Akhund of Swat. His participation in the successful resistance to the British inroads further increased his religious and political influence . From 1845 till his death in 1877 , he tried to unite/ bring together/ develop alliances between/ the rival Yusufzai clans, with alternating degrees of success and failure .
When the British occupied Peshawar in 1849, the Swatis became anxious of their independence and attempted to form a government of their own in order to preserve their independence. They made Sayed Akber Shah, the name proposed by Abdul Ghaffurr alias Saidu Baba, their king. Sayyed Akber Shah made Ghaligay his capital. Sayyed Akber Shah died in 1857. With the death of Sayyed Akber Shah the State came to an end. After the death of Sayed Akber, Saidu Baba tried, twice, to get recognized his eldest son, and the ruler of Swat but could not succeed.
Around the turn of the 20th century, Yusufzai dominance in Swat was increasingly threatened by external forces. There was an increasing pressure from the British colonizers. After the construction of the Malakand Pass road, linking the valley of Swat with the plain of Mardan, they increased their pressure with the formation in 1896 of the Malakand Agency on the southern borders of Swat. Locally there was the threat from Dir State in the West. The ruler of neighboring state, Dir occupied the territory on the Right Bank River Swat and started collection of usher. The occupation and exaction made the people of Shamizai, Sebujni and Nikpi Khel united. They made a common cause under a religious personality, Sandakai Mullah. At the expulsion of the Dir forces the tribal elders invited the grand sons of Saidu Baba, Miangul Abdul Wadud & his brother Shirin Jan, to become their rulers. They, however, did not accept for their own reasons. So the people invited Sayyed Abdul Jabbar Shah from Sitana and made him their king in April 1915. Sayyed Abdul Jabbar Shah ruled for two and half years. He was asked by the tribal Jirga to leave Swat in September 1917, due to politico- religious causes.
Under the circumstances, the late Akhund’s grandson, Miangul Abdul Wadud, exploited the religious apprehensions and sensitivities and, claiming the political legacy of the Akhund succeeded in September 1917 in being elected the Badshah of Swat by the great jirga (assembly) of some of the Yusufzai clans. He was recognized by British government as ruler of Swat State, or wali, in 1926. Miangul Abdul Wadud, established his capital at his hereditary seat Saidu Sharif, 2 km south of Mingora.
On somewhat consolidating his position the Wali of Swat embarked upon to abolish the wesh system. So in 1925, after eight years of his installation, the process of the permanent settlement was taken in hand and, though not fair on the whole, fresh losts were drawn, and Permanent Settlement was effected. The land reform process took five years to complete and the wali took advantage of the process to reward his supporters and punish his opponents to some extent. In 1949, Miangul Abdul Wadud abdicated in favor of his son, Miangul Jahan Zeb.

About Swat

Swat is known as the Switzerland of Pakistan. The river Swat is a clear water river starting from the Ushu rage of mountains to the spread of the valley of Swat. It is on of the most green valleys of the Northern Pakistan and is well connected to the rest of Pakistan. There are regular flights from Islamabad to Swat and back. One can also get here either from Peshawar (160 KMs) or Islamabad.(250 KMs) The valley of Swat is located in the middle of foothills of Hindukush mountain range. The main town of the valley is Mingora and Saidu Sharief.

Swat is a place for leisure Lover , Hikers , and archeologist. There are many comfortable hotels where one can stay a while to relax. In Kalam upper Swat there are some very pleasant walks since weather is pretty pleasant one can easily walk over the hills for hours and enjoy the unspoiled nature. The Swat is garden of Ashoka and was a prosperous land in the Buddhist times (2nd BC to 5 AD) There are at least over 100 archeological sites in the valley less then 10% of the are excavated. One can explore some of those sites in a half day tour of Swat.