town and district in Peshāwar division, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies just north of the Kalpāni River; it is connected by road and rail with Dargai (Malākand Pass), Nowshera, and Peshāwar, 30 miles (50 km) south-southwest. A growing industrial centre, it has textile and vegetable oil mills, a cigarette factory, and one of the largest sugar refineries in the Indian subcontinent. Mardān is the site of a government college. The Rock of Shāhbāzgarhi, 7 miles northeast of Mardān, bears one of the great inscriptions of Emperor Aśoka (3rd century BC).

Mardān district, until 1936 a part of Peshāwar district, extends north of the Kābul River, comprises the greater portion of the Yūsufzai plain, and has the largest concentration of irrigated land in Pakistan. The chief crops are wheat, corn (maize), sugarcane, tobacco, sugar beet, and fruit (peaches, plums, apples, apricots, and pears). Marble deposits are found in the hills. Area district, 1,211 square miles (3,136 square km). Pop. (1998 prelim.) town, 244,511; (1981 prelim.) district, 1,423,000.