Valley of Peshawar

The Valley of Peshawar (Pashto: د لوی پېښور وادي; Urdu: وادئ پشاور), or Peshawar Basin, historically known as the Gandhara Valley, is a broad area situated in the central part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

The valley is 7,176 km2 (2,771 sq mi) in area, and is traversed by the Kabul River.

The five most populous cities in the valley are Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, and Nowshera.

These districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are completely located in the Valley of Peshawar: In addition, most of Nowshera District, most of Swabi District, and smaller portions of Khyber (including Jamrud), Mohmand, Malakand, and Frontier Region Peshawar are also located in the Valley of Peshawar.

In 630 CE, Xuanzang visited the Valley of Peshawar, and mentioned two stupas built by Ashoka, one of them around (20 li) 6.4 km northeast of (Pa-lu-sha) Sahri Bahlol, which he said was located on "Mount Tan-to-lo-ka," Takht-i-Bāhi hill.