Hashtnagar is one of the two parts of Charsadda District

Charsadda District

Charsadda is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan that contains the town of Charsadda. The town was part of the Peshawar ex-metropolitan region...

 in khyber pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. This area of Charsadda

Charsadda

Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°8'43N 71°43'51E with an altitude of 276 metres and lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar....

 was for a long time known as Hashtnagar, the reformed name for the Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 word hasht meaning eight, and the Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 root word "nagar" meaning town, thus meaning "Eight Towns", referring to the eight towns situated in this region. These are:

• Charsadda
  Charsadda
  Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°8'43N 71°43'51E with an altitude of 276 metres and lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar....
  
  
• Prang
  Prang
  Prang may refer to:*: an airplane crash*Ernie Prang , a character in the Harry Potter stories*Prang, an art supply brand of Dixon Ticonderoga*Prang , a type of South-East Asian temple spire...
  
   (the 1812 list groups Prang with Charsadda, and counts instead Now Sheherah)
• Rajjar
  Rajjar
  Rajjar is a town and union council in Charsadda District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It is located at 34°10'13N 71°45'18E and has an altitude of 285 metres ....
  
  
• Sherpao
  Sherpao
  Sherpao is a small town located in Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°15'46N, 71° 41' 51EThere are elevan mohallahs in there akakhail mousakhail babukhail salimanzia choke ,mandozai,mian kalee, ali shah qallah, kolalabad,baigzai,yousafkhel, ada...
  
  
• Tangi
  Tangi, Pakistan
  Tangi is a town and union council of Charsadda District in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is one of eight towns in Hashtnagar and is located at 34°18'0N 71°39'14E with an altitude of 327 metres lying to the north-west of the district capital - Charsadda....
  
  
• Turangzai
  Turangzai
  Turangzai is one of the eight villages of Hashtnagar area in Charsadda District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is located at a distance of 32 km from Peshawar and lies to east of it at 34°12'53N 71°44'46E bordering Umarzai, Utmanzai and Tarnab on either sides.....
  
  
• Umarzai
  Umarzai
  Umarzai or Omarzai is a relatively small Pashtun tribe in Pakistan. A large group used to live in Jaranwala, Pakistan and Nakuru, Kenya but now most reside in Chacch . A few still reside in Jaranwala, but all the members from Nakuru have now left. The Umarzais are the richest tribe in Chacch...
  
  
• Utmanzai
  Utmanzai
  Utmanzai is a town in Charsadda District in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°22'24N 71°45'33E with an altitude of 390 metres and lies to the north of Charsadda city. Utmanzai is famous for being the birth place of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan....
  
  

Class struggle

Hashtnagar is known for its militant socialist struggle of peasants led by the Mazdoor Kisan Party which has resulted in various positive developments of the area.

Buddhist period

Hashtnagar is known for an early Buddhist statue. The Original name of Hashtnagar was "Ashtanagaram", "Ashta" means Eight in Sanskrit and "Nagaram" meaning "Town".

Modern era

In 1812 the Asiatick Society (Calcutta, India) described the Gujars of Afghanistan as brave, mainly pastoral, and numerous in Hashtnagar district. The Mahmudzai were also mentioned as a powerful tribe in the area.

Media

A documentary, exploring the political and cultural life of Hashtnagar, has been made by Ammar Aziz  which is the first ever film on the subject . It features the local artists and political activists and romanticizes the communist movement of the area.

Notable people

• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
  Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
  Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was an Afghan, Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India...
  
  
• Abdul Wali Khan
• Abdul Ghani Khan
• Abdul Ali Khan
• Dr. Khan Sahib
• Ihsan ul Wadud Khan
• Major Zafar Azam Khan
• Asfandyar Wali Khan
  Asfandyar Wali Khan
  Asfandyar Wali Khan is a democratic socialist and the current the President of the Awami National Party in Pakistan.His father, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, was the party's first President...
  
  
• Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan Sherpao
• Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao
  Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao
  Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao was the 15th Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan and one of the co-founders of the Pakistan Peoples Party. He also served in various capacities as a federal minister, including Minister of Interior, and as a provincial minister of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa...
  
  
• Maulana Mohib Gul

Afzal Shah Khamoosh