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Panj Tirath is a Hindu pilgrimage site in Peshawar's Hashtnagri area, believed to be more than a thousand years old, that once held five sacred pools and two temples. Most of the site now sits inside Chacha Younas Family Park, a privately run amusement park, with the surviving structures used as storage rather than open for worship or general viewing.
This guide covers what Panj Tirath was, what has happened to it since 1947, and what a visitor can actually expect to find there today.
What Panj Tirath was
Panj Tirath, meaning "five shrines," was built around five water pools with two temples and a shaded open area, used for ritual bathing during the Hindu month of Kartik. A 19th-century Peshawar history, Munshi Gopal Das's Tareekh-e-Peshawar of 1874, traces its origin to a local tradition connecting it with the five sons of Pandu from the Mahabharata. Nineteenth and early twentieth-century archaeologists, including Alexander Cunningham and Alfred Foucher, also linked the site with an older Buddhist tradition about a bowl associated with the Buddha, which points to the ground having religious significance well before the Hindu shrines that later stood there.
The complex was damaged during the Durrani period in the 18th century, then rebuilt by the local Hindu community during Sikh rule between 1834 and 1848. Annual gatherings continued at the site until roughly the middle of the 20th century.
What happened after 1947
After partition in 1947, most of Peshawar's Hindu population left for India, and Panj Tirath fell out of active religious use. The site deteriorated over the following decades, and a large part of the land was leased out by the district government for what became Chacha Younas Family Park, an amusement park whose rides and stalls now cover much of the historic ground. The surviving temple buildings have been used as storage godowns rather than kept as monuments.
In January 2019, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government formally declared Panj Tirath a protected heritage site under the province's Antiquities Act of 2016, which makes unauthorised alteration or damage to what remains a criminal offence. A 2023 agreement between the Evacuee Trust Property Board, which administers property left by minorities after partition, and the provincial archaeology department set out which parts of the site are to be protected as heritage and which remain under the park's operation, aiming to settle years of dispute over the land.
Visiting Panj Tirath today
A visitor should expect a working amusement park with a small, protected historic core rather than a restored temple complex. There is no formal visitor centre or standard entry fee published for the heritage area itself, and access to the surviving structures is limited since they sit within the park's grounds and have been used for storage. Anyone planning to visit should treat it as a site seen from the edges of a family park rather than a monument set up for tourism, and should not expect to walk freely among the old pools and temples.
Panj Tirath is one of a small number of surviving Hindu heritage sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, most of which are in a similar state; it is a useful stop for anyone interested in Peshawar's pre-partition history rather than a standard sightseeing destination. It sits within the old city area covered by our guide to places to visit in Peshawar, though it is some distance from the main walled-city sites and is not usually combined with them in a single walk.
Is it worth visiting?
For anyone specifically interested in Gandharan and pre-partition religious history, yes, as a short, sobering addition to a Peshawar trip. For a general first visit to the city, the walled city's Mughal and British-era sites, covered in our old Peshawar walking tour, and the Gandharan sculpture in the Peshawar Museum, are a better use of limited time, since they are set up for visitors in a way Panj Tirath currently is not.
As of September 2026, the UK government advises against all travel to Peshawar. Hashtnagri and the surrounding areas are ordinary residential parts of the city used daily by residents, and the general precautions for any Peshawar visit apply: go in daylight, keep to busy streets, and check the news beforehand. See our guide to is Peshawar safe for the current picture.
Frequently asked questions
What is Panj Tirath in Peshawar?
An ancient Hindu pilgrimage site in the Hashtnagri area, believed to be more than 1,000 years old, that originally had five sacred pools and two temples used for ritual bathing.
Can you still visit Panj Tirath today?
Most of the site is now inside Chacha Younas Family Park, an amusement park, and the surviving temple structures are used for storage rather than open to general visitors. There is no formal visitor setup for the historic core.
Why is Panj Tirath inside an amusement park?
The land was leased out by the district government before the site's heritage value was formally recognised. It was declared a protected heritage site in January 2019, and a 2023 agreement set out how the park and the protected areas are to be managed separately.
Is Panj Tirath a working Hindu temple?
No. Active worship largely ended after Peshawar's Hindu population left following partition in 1947, and the site is not currently maintained as a place of worship.
Where is Panj Tirath in relation to Peshawar's other historic sites?
It is in Hashtnagri, some distance from the old walled city where most of Peshawar's Mughal and British-era landmarks are found, so it is usually visited separately rather than as part of a walled-city walk.