Chitral Winning Celebration | Shandur Polo Festival 2022

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Chitral (Khowar: چھترار, romanized: ćhitrār, lit. 'field'; Urdu: چترال, romanized: ćitrāl) situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of the Chitral princely state that encompassed the region until its direct incorporation into West Pakistan on 14 August 1947. It has a population of 49,780 people in the 2017 census.
Early history
The Kho Chitralis came to Chitral as part of the Indo-Aryan migration into South Asia. They settled in northern parts of Chitral near the Torkhow and Mulkhow Region.
Ancient era
The existence of the Gandharan Grave Culture in Chitral, found in various grave sites scattered over its valleys indicates its proximity to the Gandharan culture alongside giving insightful knowledge of its inhabitants between the Indus Valley civilization era and the following Persian rule. Chitral is also associated with the Iron Age tribes known as Daradas. The Darada country stretched from Chitral in the west to the Kisanganga valley in the north of Kashmir. The Daradas are said to have gone to war against Arjun according to the Hindu Epic Mahabharata. Chitral is also attributed to be the seat of the ancient realm of Kamboja, which contains mentioned in Hindu epics.
The area which now forms Chitral was reportedly conquered by the Persian Achaemenids and was a part of one of their easternmost satraps. Chitrali culture and vocabulary is heavily influenced by Persian and are said to show a mix of both Avestan and Sanskrit. In the third century CE, Kanishka, the Buddhist ruler of the Kushan empire, occupied Chitral. Under the Kushans, many Buddhist monuments were built around the area, mainly Buddhist stupas and monasteries. The Kushans also patronized Buddhist art, some of the finest examples of the image of Buddha were produced in the region under the Kushan rule.
Rock inscriptions found near the village of Barenis indicate that the area was once part of the Hindu Shahi under its fourth King.
Kator era
From 1571 to 1947 Chitral was the dominion of the Kator Dynasty. The British and Sikh garrison suffered a siege by the Chitralis, possibly aided by Afghan forces, in 1895. The garrison was relieved after six weeks, and the British installed the young Shuja ul-Mulk as Mehtar. He ruled for the next 41 years.
Accession to Pakistan
In 1947 following the division of the British colony of India, princely states were offered the choice to either remain independent or to choose one of the two new dominions. The Mehtar of Chitral who was a friend of Quaid E Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah acceded to Pakistan and thus Chitral became one of the princely states of Pakistan. In 1969 it was fully integrated into Pakistan as the administrative district of Chitral.

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