Overview
Buddhist pilgrimage tour is one of the important tour, it not only contain the history of Buddhism but also share the prosperity of Buddhism in Pakistan in ancient times. Pakistan was once a region containing different religious territories. In those religious territories one region was a large Buddhist region, in which a great population lived and practiced Buddhism.
Today the regions are North Western Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan which were once the Buddhist regions. Swat Valley, is well known for Buddhist antiquities, the Swat Valley was once known as Oddiyana in the medieval time, this region was important for the development of Vajrayana Buddhism. In Sanskrit Oddiyana means the “royal garden”. Many archaeological sites concerning Buddhism are located in Swat. The Buddhist sage Padmasambhava is said to have been born in a villiage near the present-day town of Chakdara in lower Dir district, which was a part of Oddiyana.
The Kingdom of Gandhara was prosperous during Kushan’s reign from 1st century AD to 5th, in Kushan’s reign the making of Buddhist artifact started. Gandhara is also mentioned in the Sanskrit with its meaning being “land of fragrance”, which indicates the inclusion of Gandhara in Vedic literature.
However, Gandhara was one of the biggest Buddhist region in the subcontinent. The Buddhist culture survived here till 800 AD, after that the Pashtun invaded the region from Southern Afghanistan and infused Islamic culture in this region.
