Bandwaya is an Assyrian village located in the Tel Keppe District of Ninawa Province, Iraq. It is located on a river, and was recently rebuilt after being destroyed and occupied by Arabs. The name of the village is composed of two syllables, the first being "Beth", which means "The house", and the second is "Hendwaya" meaning "The Indian".
History
The first mention of Bandwaya occurred in a 12th-century manuscript written by a priest named Ishaq from the town of Baa'shika, in which a blind man from "Behendwaya village" was recorded. Later on, Assyrian refugees arrived in the village from Turkey to supplement the local Assyrian population. The village existed as such up until being occupied by Arabs in the 1970s.
References
Bandwaya Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA