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Bannu

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For the district, see Bannu District.

Bannu
City
A street in Bannu
A street in Bannu
CountryPakistan Pakistan
ProvinceKhyber Pakhtunkhwa
DivisionBannu
DistrictBannu,Lakki Marwat
HeadquartersBannu
Area
 • Total1,227 km2 (474 sq mi)
Population
 (2014)
 • Total1,073,000
 • Density552/km2 (1,430/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)

Bannu (Template:Lang-ur; Pashto: بنو [ˈbanu]; local Pashto dialect: Bana or Banigul, Avestan Varəna), is the principal city of the Bannu District in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Bannu was once a British military base used for action against Afghan border tribes.[2]

Inhabitants of Bannu are known as Banuchi,[3] and speak a specific dialect of Pashto.

File:Bannu01.jpg
A white-colour Artistic Sculpture at Durrani Children Park in Bannu

History

The Avesta and Vendidad mention Varəna, the old name of Bannu has one of the sixteen most beautiful and perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda.[4]

Bannu is noted by the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini as the "historical country of Varnu" mentioned in the Mahāmāyūrī.[citation needed]

In 602 CE, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang travelled to Varnu.[citation needed]

Bannu is Hellenized to Aornos and mentioned in the passages of Alexander the Great.[citation needed]

Sheri Khan Tarakai refers to the ruins of an ancient settlement that was occupied near present-day Bannu from the late fifth until the early third millennium, BC.[5]

Founding of Bannu Town

The town was founded in 1848 by Herbert Benjamin Edwardes, a Lieutenant in the 1st Bengal European Fusiliers Regiment of the East India Company's private army. He ordered the construction of the fort – named Dhulipgarh (Dalipgarh) in honour of the Maharajah of Lahore – at the same time.[6]

At the time of its founding the town was named Dhulipnagar (Dalipnagar). Its name was later changed to Edwardesabad in 1869. In 1903, it received its current name, Bannu.[7]

British Raj era

Bannu formed the base of operations for all punitive expeditions undertaken by troops of the British empire to the Tochi Valley and the Waziristan frontier. A military road led from the town of Bannu toward Dera Ismail Khan.[2] This road was built by military engineers under the supervision of a Bannu engineer, Ram N. Mullick. Mullick, graduated from Banaras Engineering College[8] had served in Iraq and Lahore before the independence of Pakistan in 1947 as an expert in heavy earth-moving equipment.

The Imperial British Gazetteer described Bannu as:

[The population in 1901 was] 14,291, including cantonment and civil lines (4,349). It was founded in 1848 by Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, who selected the site for political reasons. The fort, erected at the same time, bore the name of Dhulipgarh (Dalipgarh), in honour of the Maharaja of Lahore; and the bazar was also known as Dhulipnagar (Dalipnagar). A town gradually grew up around the bazar, and many Hindko speaking Hindu traders moved there from Bazar Ahmad Khan, which had formed the commercial center of the Bannu valley prior to annexation. The Church Missionary Society supports a small church and a high school founded in 1865. The cantonment centers in the fort of Dhulipgarh. Its garrison consists of a mountain battery, a regiment of native cavalry, and two regiments of infantry. The municipality was constituted in 1867.


The municipal receipts and expenditure during the ten years ending 1903–1904 averaged Rs. 46,000. In 1903–1904 the income was Rs. 47,000 chiefly derived from octroi; and the expenditure was Rs. 55,000. The receipts and expenditure of cantonment funds during the ten years ending 1902–3 averaged Rs. 4,200 and Rs. 3,700. The profuse irrigation and insufficient drainage of the surrounding fields render Bannu an unhealthy station. The town has a considerable trade, including fish guts and butts. Also, embracing the whole traffic in local produce of the Bannu valley. The nearest railway station is at Kohat on the Khushalgarh-Thal branch of the North-Western Railway, 79 miles distant by road. A weekly fair collects an average number of 8,000 buyers and sellers. The chief articles of trade are cloth, live-stock, wool, cotton, tobacco and grain. Bannu possesses a dispensary and two high schools, a public library and a town hall known as the Nicholson Memorial.[9]

References

  1. ^ Claus, Peter J.; Diamond, Sarah; Ann Mills, Margaret (2003). South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Taylor & Francis. p. 447. ISBN 9780415939195.
  2. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bannu" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 355.
  3. ^ Bannu; or our Afghan Frontier. S.S. Thorbourne, 1883. Trűbner & Co., London, pp. 3, 5.
  4. ^ http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/AryanHome.pdf Michael Witzel, "The Home of the Aryans"]
  5. ^ Petrie, C.A., Thomas, K.D. & Morris, J.C. 2010. Chronology of Sheri Khan Tarakai, in Petrie, C.A. (ed.).Sheri Khan Tarakai and early village life in the borderlands of north-west Pakistan, Bannu Archaeological Project Monographs – Volume 1, Oxbow Books, Oxford: 343–352.
  6. ^ "Bannu Town – Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 6, p. 02". Dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Bannu | Pakistan". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  8. ^ http://www.itbhuglobal.org/dev-chronicle/archives/2008/04/early_pioneers.php
  9. ^ "Bannu Town – Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 6, p. 02". Dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
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