Peshawar 

"City of the Story Tellers"

Peshawar , city (1998 pop. 988,005), capital of the Pakhtonkhwa Province, Pakistan

The city is a commercial center and the traditional terminus of caravans from Afghanistan. Peshawar ('Pe-kha-war' in Pushto) is situated at the gateway to the famous Khyber Pass in the Pakhtonkhwa Province of Pakistan.Founded over 2,000 years ago by the Kushan Kimgs of Gandhara, Peshawar has had almost as many names as rulers. Moghal emperor Akbar, formally gave the city the name Peshawar which means "The Place at the Frontier". Earlier it had been known as the "City of Flowers" and the "City of Grains". One of the main attractions of Peshawar is Qissa Khwani Bazaar.
Here perhaps visiting travellers or the relaxing townesmen were regaled with stories by professional story-tellers, in the evening, in the many tea-shops. Hence the name Qissa Khwani (story telling). The tea-shops still adorn the bazaar front with their large brass samovars and numerous hanging teapots and tea-cups, though the legendary story-tellers are nowhere to be seen. 

Handicrafts such as engraved and embossed jars, bowls, ewers, plates and jewelry etc., can be found at other famous bazaars of Peshawar which include: The Khyber Bazaar, Bird Bazaar, Fruit Bazaar, Basket Bazaar, Andershehr Bazaar, Jewelry Bazaar, Meena Bazaar for women and Mochilara (Shoemakers' Bazaar.)
In fact, the variety of craft in which Peshawar excells even today is amazing and this is a part of the city's character often eclipsed by it's martial tradition. Remember that it was in this valley of Peshawar that there flourished that remarkable school of Gandhara Sculpture (roughly from from the first century B.C. to the fifth century A.D.), which is one of the glories of Pakistan's heritage.

The prime attraction in this region is the Khyber Pass situated in the Sulaiman Hills which form the Western barrier of Pakistan. The hills dip down here, leaving a passage sometimes as broad as one mile and sometimes as narrow as fifty-two feet. The pass begins near Jamrud Fort, eleven miles from Peshawar and extends beyoiund the border of Pakistan at Torkham, thirty six miles away. Until the mid-fifties Peshawar was enclosed witin a city wall and sixteen gates. Of the old city gates the most famous was the Kabuli Gate but only the name remains now. It leads out of the Khyber and on to Kabul.

Through the centuries Peshawar has been the melting pot of civilizations. The footprints of the Mongol invaders, the Chinese pilgrims and the Tajik traders are still visible. It is the land where Buddhism took birth, where Sikhs once ruled and the British Raj battled the brave Pathan tribes.

A road and rail center near the famed Khyber Pass, Peshawar is an important military and communications center and the major depot for trade with Afghanistan. Local handicrafts and farm produce from the surrounding fertile agricultural valley are sold in the many bazaars of the city. Industries include food processing, and the manufacture of steel, cigarettes, firearms, textiles, pharmaceuticals, furniture, and paper and board. The city, once called Purushapura, was the capital of the ancient Greco-Buddhist center of Gandhara. The Kushan leader Kanishka (2d cent. A.D.) made it his capital. For centuries, it was the target of successive Afghan, Persian, and Mongol invaders. It was named Peshawar [frontier town] by the Mughal emperor Akbar. A favorite residence (18th cent.) of the Afghan Durrani rulers, it was taken by the Sikhs (early 19th cent.), from whom the British captured it in 1848. It became an important outpost of British India and was a base for British military operations against Pathan tribes. During the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979–89) it was the center of relief operations for Afghan refugees and the command center of the coalition of guerrilla groups intent on expelling the Soviet forces from Afghanistan. Peshawar has a museum containing Buddhist relics and Gandhara sculpture, a 2d-century Buddhist stupa bearing an inscription by Kanishka, and a university (1950) with several affiliated colleges.