Pakistani and Italian archeologists have discovered a 1300 year old Hindu temple in the Swat district of Pakistan. The discovery of this temple was made during an ongoing excavation project in Barikot, at the top of Ghundai Hill. A water reservoir and a Ghaznavid military watchtower dating back to the Gandhara-era were also found during the excavation. The acropolis of ancient Bazira is known to be in the area around the Ghundai Hill. The remains are of Brahmanical or Deval temple, Fazle Khaliq of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Department of Archaeology said that the temple discovered is of God Vishnu. He also stated that the temple was built during the Hindu Shahi period, roughly 1300 years ago.
The Hindu Shahis, also known as the Kabul Shahis (850–1026 CE), were a Hindu dynasty that ruled the areas of the Kabul Valley (eastern Afghanistan), Gandhara (modern-day Pakistan), and present-day northwestern India. Dr Luca Maria Olivieri, Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan, said the new discovery was very important as now the archaeologists and historians got the complete sequence going from Kushan to Hindu Shahi and ultimately to Ghaznavid period.