The archaeological remains found here prove the existence of a Buddhist community contemporary to Taxila, but less celebrated than its neighbour. Historians believe that the ancient city fell victim to the devastation caused by the Huns. The first Muslim invader, Mahmud of Ghazni (979-1030AD), gifted the ruined city to a Gakkhar chief, Kai Gohar. The Gakkhars were a fiercly independent tribe of the Potowar Plateau. The town, however, being in the route of invaders, could not prosper and remained deserted until Jhanda Khan, another Gakkhar chief, restored it and named it Rawalpindi after the village Rawal in 1493.
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