Hazara, interestingly, also has a link with the Indian epic, Mahabharata. Around 60 km from Mansehra is the Hill of Mukeshpuri or Mokshpuri, where the Pandavas are said to have meditated.

Hazara was a strategic region as it was situated on the Silk Route. It was at Mansehra that the Silk Route, which came down from Central Asia to Taxila, intersected with other trade routes from the Kashmir valley and Tibet. Noted historians like R C Mazumdar and Upinder Singh also believe that the region was a part of the Kamboja Mahajanapada, one of the 16 Mahajanapadas or republics of ancient India (700 BCE - 300 CE), with its capital at present-day Rajouri in Kashmir.