The place in the Nilab from where the river changes its course is a relatively open space where there are red rocks, these rocks have different carvings.
Bagh Nilab, where the Indus river and the Haru river meet. The river continues its journey in the middle of the Kalachata Mountains, angled west at 70 degrees.
Travel from Attock to Bisal and you can enjoy the beautiful views of this village. Scattered relics testify that because of its strategic importance, the area has been a gateway for invaders from the north.
From here Khwarezm Shah, Genghis Khan, Babur, Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir crossed the Indus River. It is said that the water of Sindh here is so transparent that that is why it is called Nilab.
The place in the Nilab from where the river changes its course is a relatively open space where there are red rocks, these rocks have different carvings.
The structure of the rocks suggests that these rocks have flown here not from nearby mountains but into the river. Where did they come from and how did they get here?
The answer is found in Chilas, where there are a large number of rocks with an estimated 30,<> carvings. The place where these rocks are present is the Hindu Kush mountain range on one side and the Karakoram mountain range on the other.
Since ancient times, the Silk Road has been a means of communication between different civilizations, from where travelers, traders, religious tourists and skilled people used to come.
Now it is not clear whether this carving is the creation of travelers passing by or whether there was a tribe living here who used to make such images. These images are estimated to be between the 8th century BC and the 8th century AD.
In Diamer and Chilas, these motifs were first introduced to the world by a Hungarian tourist Carl Egan in 1884, but when the Karakoram Highway passed through here, during the construction work, a large number of rocks appeared, which had pictures of different animals and different carvings.
After this, when the exploration of more such rocks in the area was started between 1983 and 1989, it was found that such rocks are also present in the areas of Gilgit-Baltistan including Shatiyal, Thor, Hadur, Thalpan, Nupura and Chhagdu.
The writings on these rocks are similar to the Brahmi, Sugdian, Ancient Persian, Chinese, Tibetan, and even Hebrew languages.
There are also images of Buddhas and stupas on some rocks in the area believed to be between the 5th and 8th centuries.
However, the rocks that are located on the banks of the Indus river in the Nilab do not contain such images. Although the structure of the rocks is similar, it also indicates that these rocks may have existed in the same place. However, their designs indicate different periods.
But the biggest question is how did these heavy rocks come from Chilas to The Garden of Nilab.
Did any flood bring these rocks here?
From the place where these rocks are located, the river suddenly cuts a turn at an angle of 70. It is as if the water coming from a flood has thrown these rocks out.
The water turned, but these rocks could not turn due to their heavy size and today they are still here even after many centuries.
Interestingly, in winter, the flow of water in the Indus river decreases to a great extent because the discharge of water from the Tarbela Dam above is also reduced, so these rocks can easily be seen about 100-200 steps out of the river, but when the snow melts in summer, the flow of the river also increases, after which these rocks go in the middle of the water. they go.
In the River Jhelum, there is a population at Mangla, where there are also rocks on which similar shapes are made.
In the local language, the painters are called carvings and stones, that is, a place where there is embroidery on the stones.
But these stones, which are numbered in number, are located at a very high altitude from the river, from which it can be inferred that they did not flow into the river, but thousands of years ago there was a tribe here who did this embroidery on the stones.
There are also carvings on rocks in Barikot tehsil of Swat, but there is no similarity between them and the structure and carving of the rocks present in The Garden of Nilab, which shows different periods and different civilizations of these rocks.
However, the structure of the rocks on the banks of the Indus River in Chilas and the carvings are similar to those in the Garden Nilab. As if it can be speculated that a severe flood or snowstorm brought these rocks to the Garden of Nilab, about 400 kilometers below Chilas.
The Gazetteer of Attock District, published in 1930,46, states that "the story of this flood is remembered in the form of songs in the area, a song from Pashto is translated as follows:
People, these are the works of Allah.
The Indus river dried up in about three days
Boats and other water rides are gone
Young and old will cross Sindh on equal footing
This situation lasted for six months and people's hearts were all afraid.
Suddenly news came from the northern areas that Sindh has been closed in the northern areas. One day there was a flood in the afternoon, it was the day of judgment, the people of Khabal and Stana drowned. No one was left in Barai, a quarter of Tarbela was washed away.
Whatever life was in the islands could not be saved. The land of rose flowers 'Bajwara' merged with the water of the Indus River. Some villages of Chhach were destroyed. Yasin and Asghar were completely destroyed. The Kabul River was pushed backwards. Four thousand lives were lost when the flood hit the mountains of Attock. The flood waves reached Charsadda. ‘
Then in 1928, there was a disaster like 1841 in the Indus River, when the 'Shyok Glacier' burst and the River Indus rose by 25 to 30 feet.
Now it is not known whether these rocks reached the Garden of Nilab from the above floods or even before that these rocks existed here.
Raja Noor Mohammad Nizami, a researcher working on the history of the area, said that I first saw these rocks in 1989.
The photographs on these rocks are from prehistory and are made by expert artisans of their time who may have made them with a sharp pointed tool.
These pictures show the imagination and routine of the people of their time, such pictures are also present in other places of Attock district, Imran Khan Khattar, a local writer of Bagh Nilab village, writes in his book 'Nilab O Khattar', 'These rocks adorned with carvings are of granite stone, due to which the artworks made on them are preserved even after thousands of years. ‘
Dr. Haroon-ur-Rashid also wrote a research article on these rocks in The Nilab in 1972, in which it was said that when a large glacier came to this side with the flood of ice in the second ice age (10 million years ago), these large rocks also flowed in this area and hit the black chita mountain and spread in this area. These rocks belong to the Plytocene epoch. ‘
These carvings are made of a sharp-edged tool that can be of iron or copper.
In India, the iron age goes back to 1500 BC, while copper goes up to <> BC.
The way the rocks in the Garden of Nilab are turned upside down, it is estimated that these rocks are not the masterpiece of any ancient tribe here, but they have flowed from Chilas.
But there are also pictures of stupas on the rocks in Chilas, but the rocks here only have pictures of wild animals and hunting humans and their tools. From which it can also be inferred that religion did not exist in the society at the time of this embroidery.
Are they merely carvings, or is there an ancient script that used to take help from shapes?
Responding to this, Professor Dr. Badshah Sardar of Allama Iqbal Open University, who has done a lot of research work on rock art, told Independent Urdu that all the rest of the rock art in Pakistan is in the same area where it was made, but The rock art of Nilab is unique in that it has flown from elsewhere.
Such rocks are present in Chilas on the banks of the Indus River, but their period is also different in that there are religious forms. But the Nilab rocks are even older, not everyone has a religious form.
These are probably from the Swan Valley culture era, which dates back millions of years and iron or copper had not yet been invented and the only invention of man was fire. Man used to dance in caves and play hunting. Making shapes on stones was his favorite hobby. They reflect ancient Hijri.
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