Ancient Pakistan @Ancientindus1

Wan Bhachran stepwell (Baoli) a stunning 16th-century step-wells constructed during the reign of Emperor Sher Shah Suri to provide water for soldiers and travelers caravans.

[Orientalist Painting] Edwin Lord Weeks, An Open-Air Restaurant, Lahore, Pakistan oil on canvas C.1889

[Artifact] Relief of young Prince Siddhartha (Buddha) going to school in a cart, Gandhara, Ancient Pakistan.

[Painting] 6th Punjab Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force (now 1 Frontier Force, Pakistan Army). Coloured lithograph by Richard Simkin, 1886.

Did You Know Mohenjo-daro Has Been on Pakistani Currency Since 50 years (1976).

[Artifact] Bronze Age hunter with bow and arrow a horned figure on a copper tablet from Pakistan, Indus Valley Civilization, 2500–2000 BCE.

[Ask] Why Zia Ul Haq is demonized and presented in bad light whenever the History of Pakistan is written?

[Classical Period] Three figures of power. 1st century Pakistan artifact. Carved in schist from Butkara I, Swat. This is the Gandhara kingdom at its peak. Notice the realistic drapery that's Greek influence. The spiritual theme is Buddhist. The location is ancient Pakistan. This is hard evidence of a globalized culture that existed here 2000 years ago.

A Gandhara Bodhisattva head. 2nd-3rd century CE. Stolen from Pakistan. Priced : 21,000 Euros.!! This is our heritage being sold online. This grey schist sculpture was looted from ancient Gandhara, a civilization that flourished in Pakistan. While our artifacts are trafficked in international markets, we're left with empty museums and looted archaeological sites. This isn't an antique trade. It's the legacy of colonial plunder continuing today. How is a piece of our national history for sale in Europe? Who looted it? Who's selling it? Our neighbors claim our civilization as their own because we stay silent. This corruption and incompetence must end. Wake up before nothing is left. @archaepunjab Link to the website sandsoftimedc.com/products/as220…

1965 War. Rear view of an Indian Centurion tank captured by Pakistani forces. This belonged to India's "elite" 1st Armored Division - the elephant insignia is visible. Their botched assault toward Sialkot failed. Pakistan stopped them. It's a war trophy. Proof of a failed invasion by Republic of india.

1940 : A schoolboy named Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Long before the presidency. Before the party. Before the war and the constitution. Just a student. This is the man who would later reshape Pakistan's entire political landscape. Every leader has a beginning. This is his.

[Colonial Era] The 1920s Land Reforms & The Modern Feudal Power Structure After crushing the 1857 rebellion, the British were paranoid. Their main goal was to create a loyal class of powerful locals who would never rebel again. Their tool was Punjab Alienation of Land Act of 1900 and similar laws. The law was simple on the surface to protect "agricultural tribes" mostly Muslims and Sikhs in Punjab from money-lenders (often Hindu). But the real effect was massive.. It made land ownership the ultimate source of power and status. It legally locked land and political power within specific "loyal" tribes and families. It created a class of ultra-powerful zamindars who owed everything to the British. These families became the local law. They controlled the police, the courts, and the jobs. When elections eventually came, who do you think people were told to vote for? The Muslim League didn't overthrow this system to get Pakistan independent. They made a deal with it. To win votes, they needed the support of these very powerful feudal lords at the end and a need of time. After 1947, these same families simply swapped the British flag for the independent Pakistani flag and kept their power. So when you see a political family today that has been in power for 70+ years, you're not just looking at corruption. You're looking at the direct legacy of a British colonial era system designed to keep power in the hands of a few.

[Classical Period] Map /Layout of Sirkip City, Ancient Punjab, Pakistan A planned Hellenistic city built by the Indo-Greek kingdom around 2nd century BC. Grid-pattern streets. Defensive walls. Central marketplace. This was urban planning. The main street alone stretched 1 kilometer with precise perpendicular side streets. Advanced water management systems. Specific quarters for commerce, religion, and housing. Conquered and expanded by the Kushans. Sirkap represents the layer-cake of Pakistani history - Greek, Central Asian, and local traditions fused into one urban center. This is the blueprint of ancient Pakistani urban civilization. #Sirkap #AncientPakistan #UrbanPlanning #IndoGreek #KushanEmpire #Taxila #Archaeology #Punjab #AncientCities #PakistaniHistory #Hellenistic #CityLayout #AncientArchitecture

[Classical Period] Kushan Empire artifact from Pakistan, A seated woman, 200-400 AD. This isn't Greek. This isn't Hind. This is Kushan a emipre of zorastrians and Buddhists a distinct culture that ruled ancient Pakistan. The fusion of local tradition with the influences that flowed down the Silk Road. #KushanEmpire #AncientPakistan #Archaeology #Gandhara #SilkRoad #KushanArt #PakistaniHistory #Artifact

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[Map's] The Indus River Basin in Pakistan – The Heart of Ancient Civilizations: Mehrgarh, IVC, Gandhara, and Many Others #IndusRiver #IndusValleyCivilization #Mehrgarh #Gandhara #AncientPakistan #PakistanHistory #Archaeology #Geography #Civilization #RiverBasin #SouthAsianHistory

[1888 Colonial Era] The Black Mountain Expedition on Pakistan's Northwest Frontier. Colonel Aslam Khan and his officers of the Khyber Rifles. Local forces led by Pakistani commanders securing the frontier. #FrontierCorps #NorthwestFrontier #KhyberRifles #PakistanHistory #BritishIndianArmy #MilitaryHistory #ColonialEra #Frontier

[Early modern period 1526–1858] 19th Century Pakistani Dhal (Shield) A Masterpiece from Sialkot, Punjab. A magnificent 19th century Damascus steel shield, or ‘dhal’, from the Punjab region. Composed of mechanical Damascus steel, it is excellently preserved, retaining nearly all of its original decoration. Amidst whorls of watered steel (their specific visual effect known as the ‘birds-eye’ pattern for the larger circles that appear on the metal’s surface), four star-shaped bosses are decorated in gold koftgari. Each is adorned with a quatrefoil arrangement of four-petalled flowerheads with another at the centre, the ‘rays’ of each boss further decorated with foliage and the gaps between them pierced at equidistant points along the circumference. The border shines as brightly as the centre, for it is first carved into a jagged edge which has been decorated throughout with gilt scrolling vine tendrils and an inverted band of gold triangles which occupy the gap between each protrusion. Above this arrangement is another ring of stylised foliage dotted with carefully drawn flowerheads in bloom. The reverse of the shield shows this object’s age, but it retains its four iron loops for suspension and a red silk velvet cushion bordered with dark yellow thread. This koftgari is comparable to work that came from Sialkot, Pakistan such as can be seen in a cigar holder that was purchased at the 1867 Universal Exhibition held in Paris and which now resides in the Victoria and Albert Museum. #PakistaniHistory #AncientPakistan #Sialkot #Pakistan #DamascusSteel #MedievalArms #Armor #Dhal #Shield #Koftgari #Punjab #Metalwork #History #DecolonizeHistory #PakistaniArt #militaryhistory