Mardan District (, ) is a district in Mardan Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The district is named after Mardan city, which is also the headquarters of the district. The district is famous for its agriculture industry, Peerah(پیڑا) the famous sooghaat of mardan and for its archaeological sites of Takht-i-Bhai, Jamal Garhi and Sawal Dher. History The literal meaning of Mardan is the land of brave men.The district lies from 34° 05' to 34° 32' north latitudes and 71" 48' to 72° 25' east longitudes. It is bounded on the north by Buner and Malakand districts, on the east by Swabi and Buner districts, on the south by Nowshera district and on the west by Charsadda and Malakand districts. The total area of the district is 1632 square kilometres. Ancient history Mardan District is a part of the Peshawar valley the whole area was once part of the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, the remains of which are scattered throughout the district. The armies of Alexander the Great reached the Indus Valley by two separate routes, one through the Khyber Pass and the other led by Alexander himself through Kunar, Bajaur, Swat, and Buner in 326 BCE. After Alexander's death, the valley came under the rule of Chandragupta, who ruled the valley from 297 to 321 BCE. During the reign of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka (the grandson of Chandragupta) Buddhism became the religion of the Peshawar Valley. The valley saw the revival of Hinduism after the Greeks took over in the time of King Mehanda. The Scythians and Indians followed and retained control of the valley till the 7th century CE. Arrival of Afghans By the 11th century, the Afghans had appeared in the valley. At that time the Peshawar valley was under control of the rulers at Lahore. The pukhtuns joined the Gakkhars who held the country between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers and compelled the Lahore rulers to cede to them the hill country west of the Indus and south of the Kabul River. Ghaznavid Era In the 10th century the area came under the control of Sultan Sabuktigin who defeated Raja Jaipal, the Hindu ruler of Lahore. Sabuktgin's son Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni made this area the rallying point for his numerous raids into the interior of India. In the 12th century the Ghaurid empire of the Turkic origin overthrew the Ghaznavis and the era