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Attock finds its
name in the history books dating to the rule of Ashoka, the Budhist
Emperor of upper India. Supposedly Budhism had taken root in
northern Punjab. After Asoka there is no direct mention of the
district, and the period is in darkness. Doubtless the whole tract
formed part of the Kingdom of Ederatides the Greek, who extended his
power over western Punjab. The Indo-Greek kings held the country
after him, being at last ousted (about 80 B.C.) by the
Indo-Scythians. At any rate, when Hiuen Tsang, the most famous
Chinese pilgrim, visited the district in A.D., 630 and again in
A.D., 643, Budhism was rapidly declining. The Brahman revival, to
which, India owes its present form of Hinduism, had already set in
the early years of the fifth century, and must have been at its
height in the days of Hiuen Tsang. From the time the light afforded
by the records of the Chinese pilgrims faded and a long period of
darkness swallowed up the years that intervened before the Muslim
invasions and the beginning of continuous history. The country was
under the dominion of the Hindu kings of Kashmir, and probably so
remained till end of the 9th century. After that, the district
formed part of the Kingdom of the rulers of Kabul, Samanta Deva and
his successors (more accurately designated as the "Hindu Shahis of
Kabul") who remained in possession till the times of Mahmud Ghaznavi.
With the passage of time, the Gakkhars became strong in the hills to
the east, but their dominion never extended beyond the Margalla pass
and the Khari Moorat.
ATTOCK FORT
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