Attock Khurd

Attock Khurd (Little Attock) is a small town located on the River Indus in the Attock District of Punjab, Pakistan. Historically and strategically, Attock Khurd is considered the gateway to Central Asia since it is near Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa border.

History

Ancient history

Attock Khurd (the old city) has a rich history and was of special importance to the entire sub-continent. The great grammarian Pāṇini (पाणिन), who wrote the Aṣṭādhyāyī, the oldest surviving Sanskrit grammar, is said in some historical sources to have been born near Attock in Shalātura, modern Lahur, on the right bank of Indus River in the ancient Kambojan/Gandharan territory in 520 BCE. In those days Attock was located on the high road, the Uttarapatha, the principal route of international commerce and communication between the sub-continent, Persia and China.

Attock then finds its name in the history books dating to the rule of Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka, the Emperor of upper India, who had converted to the Buddhist faith. In the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek, it is declared that Greek populations within his realm also had converted to Buddhism:

Attock

Attock (Punjabi, Urdu: اٹک) formerly Campbellpur, is a city located in the northern border of the Punjab province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Attock District. In the 1901 census, Attock was reported to have had a population of 2866 people, a figure which has grown dramatically during the 20th century with 69,588 reported in the 1998 census and contemporary estimates approaching 100,000.

It is located on the bank of the Indus, 80 km (50 mi) from Rawalpindi, 100 km (62 mi) from Peshawar, and 10 km (6 mi) from the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra.

History

Gandhara was an ancient kingdom extending to the Swat valley and the Potohar plateau regions of Pakistan as well as the Jalalabad district of northeastern Afghanistan. Situated astride the middle Indus River, the region had Takshashila and Peshawar as its chief cities. It was conquered by the Persian Empire and later in 327 BC by Alexander the Great. The region occupied by Chandragupta, founder of the Maurya empire, in the late 4th century BC, and under Ashoka was converted in the mid-3rd century BC to Buddhism. It was part of Bactria from the late 3rd century to the 1st century BC. Under the Kushan dynasty (1st century–3rd century AD), and especially under Kanishka, Gandhara developed a noted school of sculpture, consisting mainly of images of Buddha and reliefs representing scenes from Buddhist texts, but with marked Greco-Roman elements of style. The art form flourished in Gandhara until the 5th century, when the region was conquered by the Huns. The whole region 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. When the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited the Attock district in A.D., 630 and again in A.D., 643, he reported that Buddhism was declining in the region.

Attock Tehsil

Attock Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل اٹک‎) is one of the six tehsils (subdivisions) of Attock District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It lies between 33º38' and 34º0' N. and 72º7' and 72º50' E, with an area of 651 square miles (1,690 km²). The Indus bounds it on the north-west, dividing it from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while the Haro flows through from east to west. The north-west corner is occupied by the fertile Chach plain. South of this lies a dry sandy plain, beyond which rises the Kala Chitta Range. The eastern half consists of the tract known as the Nala, which includes, along with a number of low hills and much broken country, a considerable area of fairly good level land, portions of which are irrigated from wells and by cuts from the Haro and other smaller streams.

History

According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India:

See also

References

External Links