Type: Archaeological Site - Cave
Province: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
District: Mardan
Period: Historic
Relative Chronology: 1st - 5th Century CE
Description: It is the largest cave monuments in the Mardan District located on the crest of the Paja mountain, towers 2067 m over the Sadam valley to the north-east of Katlang. Its etymology is based on the popular legend that one of the tunnels with the cave leads ultimately to Kashmir. The cave is exceedingly lofty and spacious with two turns in its long corridor. The first section is illuminated by day light which streams in through the entrance. On either side of this corridor lies heaps of ruins along the walls which would appear to be the remains of dwellings on cloister, used by the priests or monks. It would seem that probably a huge image of the Buddha must have occupied this site. There is a dim vast hall beyond and a side cave from which a broken flight of steps leads to another small chamber adjoining the central hall and from which a narrow tunnel can be entered on hands and knees and to which is ascribed the legend of its name. The monastic buildings inside the cave are difficult of access in so much as the cave is not hewn out by the human hand, but the cave presents a magnificent natural cathedral and must certainly have appealed to somewhat grotesque mind of the Buddhist monks. The structure of the wall, alcoves and windows are exactly similar to those at Takht-i-Bahi and undoubtedly of the Greco-Buddhist period. The only inscription found here bears nine different symbols of the Scythian alphabet found on the Indo-Sassanian coins and may be attributed to the time of the little Yuchi in 5th and 6th century CE.
Latitude: 34.433333333
Longitude: 72.233333333
Ownership: Private
Legal Status: Protected by The Antiquity Act 1975 (As amended in 1992)
Title of Publication: Early Settlements, Irrigation & Trade Routes in Peshawar Plain, Pakistan
Published In: Frontier Archaeology, Vol I
Year of Publication: 2003
Bibliography/Reference: Ali, Ihsan
