Allahabad--Pilgrimages--The River Jumna--Hurdwar--Akbar--Allum
II.--Fortifications--Inscriptions on Column--Military
Depôt--Lieut.-Colonel A. Abbott, C.B.--Colonel Kyd
discovers a Cave--Ancient Palibothra--Arrian's
Account--Megasthenes--Dr. Adams--Heeren--Chundragupta--Patna--The
Sacred Rivers--Bhaugulpore--The Mandara Hill--The
Chundun--Palibothra--Rajmahal--Antiquity of Kanoge--Allahabad--Extent
of Asiatic Cities--Mahomedan Invasion--Extent of Hindoostan.
THE hotel at which I took up my residence at Allahabad, was very
pleasantly situated: my rooms faced the Jumna, whose clear blue water
was most refreshing to the eye, the hotel standing on the right bank of
that noble stream.
Allahabad, which literally means the "Abode or City of God," is by
the Brahmins called Bhat Prayag, or by way of distinction it is
designated as "Prayaga," also "Praag," or "Prayagas," or "sacred
confluence of rivers."[73] The River Jumna takes its name from Yumna,
which in Sanscrit means, meeting, or confluence. Some of the religious
ceremonies enjoined upon the Hindoo pilgrims must be performed in a
vast subterranean cave, which is situated in the middle of the Fort--it
is supported by pillars, and is believed by the vulgar to extend under
ground as far as Benares, a distance of fifty-three miles, and to be
infested by snakes and poisonous reptiles--granting the cave really
to extend thus far, who could possibly live to go through to its
termination!
Allahabad is one of the most celebrated places of Hindoo pilgrimage,
and the deluded devotees come here by thousands to wash in the sister
streams to purify themselves, or to carry some of the precious water
to their distant homes. Nay, many annually drown themselves at this
celebrated junction of the Ganges and the Jumna; they are conducted
into the middle of the stream in a boat, and then sunk by having
earthen pots tied to their feet. This reckless sacrifice of life
would no doubt have sooner been put a stop to, had not the native
governments derived considerable advantage from it, for they used even
to levy a tax upon the pilgrims for the privilege of bathing in the
sacred stream. The debates in the East India house regarding the tax
levied at Juggernauth led to a change in the system; and it has since
been abolished.
Allahabad and Hurdwar are the two most noted places of pilgrimage. At
the latter city a fair is held annually where thousands of people go to
bathe, and although the river Ganges, is very shallow there, many lose
their lives. The great fair is held every twelfth year, when several
companies of sepoys are generally present both to keep the peace and
to prevent accidents. About thirty years since, innumerable lives were
lost by the sudden rush of pilgrims down the great ghât leading into
the river. Hence the troops have special charge to hinder any large
number of persons from congregating together.
Akbar was very partial to Allahabad and founded the modern city,
intending it as a stronghold to overawe the surrounding country, for
which it was extremely well adapted by its natural position. This
enterprising emperor also built Agra, which he styled Akbarabad.
Allahabad was taken in 1765, by the British army, under Sir Robert
Fletcher; soon after which (1766) the Nawab of Oude, to whom it
belonged, having been defeated at Buxar, and in subsequent battles,
assigned it by treaty to the East India company.
The Emperor of Delhi, Allum II., who was then a fugitive, had joined
the Nawab, and, together with him, made his peace with the British.
He was placed under their protection; and they agreed to allow him
twenty-six lakhs, or £260,000, per annum. Upon receiving in perpetuity
the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, it was agreed that the royal
share of those revenues, twenty-six lakhs of rupees, should be annually
paid to him by the Company; but when he accepted the aid of the
Maharattas to replace him on the throne of Delhi, he was informed that
the tribute of those provinces would be no longer granted to him. Mill,
vol. iii. p. 579, says:--"The discredit of this transaction belongs to
the Directors of the East India Company." It must however, be borne
in mind that the Government strongly advised the Emperor not to go to
Delhi.
The Emperor of Delhi resided, under the guardianship of the English,
in the Fort of Allahabad until the year 1771. In 1765, an imperial
grant was issued, constituting the East India Company Dewanny, or
receivers of revenue, of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, which grant gave
the Government the virtual sovereignty of these countries. The Dewanny
yielded about two millions sterling a year. The Emperor also confirmed
the English in all the titles conveyed to them by the Subahdar, or
Viceroy, of Bengal, whose successor is now Nawab only of Moorshedabad.
The city of Allahabad does not present a very striking appearance, as
there are only a few brick buildings without any kind of ornament. The
fort is placed at some distance, on a tongue of land, the one side
being washed by the blue waters of the Jumna, and the other nearly
approaching the dull yellow stream of the Ganges. It is lofty and
extensive, and completely commands the navigation of the two rivers.
Both the river fronts are defended by the old walls, with the addition
of some cannon and semi-circular bastions; the third side, near the
main land is regular and very strong; it has three ravelines, two
bastions, and a half-bastion, and stands higher than any ground in
front of it. The gateway is Grecian, and very elegant.
In the centre of the fort rises an ancient granite column, thirty-six
feet high, with Pali and Sanscrit inscriptions. The Sanscrit is almost
obliterated; it gives the genealogy of Akbar, and states that the
column was erected by him. The British have added a third inscription,
giving the date of its transfer to them in 1765, and its final cession
in 1801, together with the province. In the same line with the fort
is another building, which has been modernized and converted into
barracks for the garrison staff sergeants. The sums expended upon the
fortifications, up to 1803, were something quite enormous, and are said
to have amounted to more than twelve lakhs. They have now been rendered
quite impregnable against the attacks of a native enemy; and even by a
European force its capture would be a matter of no small difficulty.
Allahabad was at one time the grand military depôt of the upper
provinces. During the Sikh war of 1848-49, the principal commissary of
ordnance was located there, and most of the contents of the arsenal
in Fort William, Calcutta, were transferred to Allahabad.[74] The
present principal commissary is Lieut.-Colonel A. Abbott, C.B.,
of the Artillery, distinguished for his services at Bhurtpore, in
Affghanistan, and at Jellalabad. The following anecdote will serve to
exhibit his energy and promptitude under difficulties. In October,
1848, it was found that the store of musket-ball ammunition at
Ferozepore, etc., was damaged; upon which application was made to
Colonel Abbott for a fresh supply. By relays of bullocks, he managed
daily to send up 100,000 rounds, which reached Umballa, a distance of
529 miles, in fourteen days. He continued this until he was informed
that no more were required. This trait of zeal in the public service is
given, not only as an instance of the expeditious mode of forwarding
supplies, but as an act of justice to Lieutenant-Colonel Abbott, and
as shewing the importance of placing in such a post of difficulty, an
officer who has seen a great deal of hard service.
There is a place for the manufacture of gunpowder at Papamow, between
two and three miles from the cantonments; also another at Isharpore,
near Barrackpore. At these two depôts all the Company's gunpowder
is made, and a two-years' supply is generally kept in store. The
cantonments of Allahabad are about three miles from the fort, and
appear very comfortable.
I may here mention an interesting discovery made by Colonel Kyd, of
the Engineers, during the restoration of the fort. While forming the
glacis, he discovered a cave, which contained a number of images
belonging to the tribe of Serawagy, of the sect of the Jains, which
were soon after claimed by some persons, who asserted that they had
been deposited there by their ancestors, during the persecution of the
Hindoos by Aurungzebe in 1680. In the entrance of the cave is a sacred
tree, which is said to have flourished there from time immemorial, and
is held in great veneration by the Hindoos. There is also a tank of
water, which is in high repute among the pilgrims.
The English church is a very neat building, with a light and handsome
spire. The rides in the vicinity are numerous and pleasant; and the
roads, which extend in various directions for thirty miles, skirted
with trees of abundant foliage, are excellent. Indeed there is no
other station in the Bengal Presidency which contains so many good
roads. They are made by the prisoners, of whom, unhappily, there are
always a great number in the Allahabad gaol. It is said, that the
allowance of food is so liberal in the gaol, that some contrive to gain
admittance there, as into a comfortable asylum; however they are made
to work pretty hard, and the government sells the produce of their
labours. It has been remarked of Sydney, that if no convicts had been
sent thither, there never would have been a road two miles long. The
same may be said with equal truth of Allahabad.
The troops now stationed at Allahabad, are a Company of Native Foot
Artillery, two regiments of Native Infantry, and a depôt for H.M.
regiments of Foot, under the command of a Lieut.-Colonel. Formerly
there were two companies of European Artillery in the fort, of which
a general officer was always in command. In 1817, just before the
Maharatta war, a European Flank Battalion, composed of companies
of royal regiments, was quartered in the fortress. At this time a
circumstance occurred which created great alarm; for one evening,
whilst the officers of the Flankers were at mess, several of them were
suddenly taken ill. The cholera had been known in India in 1781 and
1783, but not since; so that it was concluded to be an attack of that
fearful and fatal contagion. Upon investigation, however, it appeared
that the cooking pots, which it was customary to have fresh tinned
every twenty or twenty-five days, were not clean. Many thought it was a
premeditated attempt at poisoning; hence it is necessary in India, more
particularly on the line of march, to "look before you cook."
Before quitting Allahabad, I must redeem my promise of laying before
the reader some statements confirmatory of my view, that the ancient
city of Palibothra was the site of Allahabad, and not, as some suppose,
Kanoge.
There are many theories in existence respecting the site of ancient
Palibothra. Some of them are so improbable as to be unworthy of notice;
but others, propounded by learned and ingenious writers, may fairly
claim consideration in this place. Before I enter upon the examination
of these it will be proper to state such information, with regard to
position and other circumstances, as we may gain from early historians.
In the first place we have the statement of Strabo (lib. xv.), that
Palibothra was situated at the confluence of the Ganges with another
river; but he does not mention the name. Arrian says:[75] "The
capital city of India is Palimbothra, in the confines of the Prasii
(or Prachi of Sanscrit writers) nigh the confluence of the two great
rivers, Erannoboas and Ganges. Erannoboas is reckoned the third river
throughout all India, and is inferior to none but the Indus and Ganges,
into the last of which it enters." He further states: "Of the two great
rivers of India, the Ganges and the Indus, Megasthenes assures us that
the first is by far the largest, for it arises great from its very
fountains, and receives many great rivers; namely Cainas, Erannoboas,
Cassoanes (Coosah?) Sonus,[76] Sitocatis and Solomatis. All these
are navigable; and, besides these, the Condochates, Sambus, Magones,
Agoranis, and Omalis."
To determine which is this said third river of India, we must premise
that the Berhampooter was not known to Alexander the Great, or his
successors, nor was it known in Europe until A.D. 1765.
Megasthenes states also "that the length of this city is eighty
furlongs, the breadth fifteen, that it is surrounded with a ditch
thirty cubits deep, and occupying six acres of ground, the walls being
defended with 570 towers and six gates."
Such is the evidence furnished on this subject by early writers, and
the question resulting from it is, which of the many rivers flowing
into the Ganges are we to consider the third river in India, at the
confluence of which Palibothra was situated? It does not appear that
Megasthenes has given the rivers in the order of their size; for he
omits all mention of some of the largest, and the first river he speaks
of, the Cainas, is certainly smaller than the fourth on his list, the
Sonus. The only rivers, of any consequence, entering the Ganges on the
right bank, are the Jumna and the Sone, of which the former is by far
the more considerable.
A very current opinion, entertained and supported by several
respectable writers, makes the modern Patna to be the site of the
ancient city. Thus Dr. A. Adams[77] says:--"Patna, the capital of
Bahar, built along the south bank of the Ganges, an extensive and
populous city, supposed to be the ancient Palibothra." Heeren[78] also
says: "Palibothra must be sought in, or near the modern town of Patna,
where its ancient appellation still survives in the name of a certain
district called Patalputhra." Major Rennel also in some places affirms
his opinion to be decidedly in favour of Patna, and in others speaks
doubtingly to the same purpose,--"S'il est vrai que Palibothra ait été
située où est aujourd'hui Patna, et les dernières découvertes rendent
cette opinion probable."
Now Patna is situated near the confluence of the Sonus with the Ganges,
in a very favourable position for a city of importance: and it appears
to be pretty certain that it is the site of a very ancient city, but
_not that of the city of Palibothra_. We must recollect that there is
an Upper and Lower Ganges, the latter of which would be below Patna.
Now, though the ancient kingdom of Maghada included Patna, it is not
probable that there was a capital so low down. Heeren declares that
the empire of the Prasii extended beyond the junction of the Jumna
with the Ganges, and we may infer from this that the said junction
was not much short of the limits of the empire. And, speaking of
particular towns, he names Ayodhya, Kanoge, and others. Also mentioning
Pataliputra (Patna) the same author says: "The scene of these fables
(Hitopadesah, or Pilpay) is laid in the city of Pataliputra, by no
means the most ancient in India."
Arrian tells us that Palibothra was in the confines of the Prasii. But
Pataliputra was the capital of King Chundragupta, who reigned long
before the kingdom of the Prasii was established. Heeren[79] says:
"Compare the accounts of Chundragupta given by Wilford in the 'Asiatic
Review, vol. v. p. 264.'" In the list of kings arranged by Sir William
Jones[80] the reign of Nauda is placed in 1602, and of Chundragupta in
1502 B.C.; the latter, therefore, must have lived 1200 years before
Sandrocottus. Will any one pretend that there was another Chundragupta?
Arrian tells us simply that the city of Palibothra is in the confines
of the Prasii: he does not say that it had been thus distinguished
as the capital of Chundragupta, which he would no doubt have done if
the fact had been so, and the very antiquity of Chundragupta destroys
the possibility of his capital being Palibothra, which was built so
many years after. We conclude, therefore, that Patna, as is generally
allowed, is the site of the ancient Pataliputra, the capital of
Chundragupta; and that it is _not_ the same as Palibothra, but a much
more ancient city.
It has been stated by some, that Pataliputra and Palibothra are one
and the same place, and that the latter name is simply a corruption of
the former. But Buchanan well remarks on this subject,[81] "This city
(Patna) is indeed allowed by the Pundits to be called Pataliputra; but
Pataliputra has no great resemblance to Palibothra; nor can Patali be
rationally considered as a word of the same origin as Pali, said to
be an ancient name of this country, and of its people and language."
There is no doubt that the use of the word Pali, in this connection, is
derived from the Pali language of the Buddhists, who have a temple at
Gya.
And further, as to the derivation of this name, we read that a Brahmin,
having married Bhoom Deo (the earth-god), had two sons, one of whom,
Bukshun, married Soormut, and had a son called Pootur (or son), who
married Patlee, the daughter of the king of the Singhaldees. In the
case of Hindoos, the men do not take their fathers' names. Supposing
that these joined their names, we have Pootur-patlee, which will not
answer, because the young man calls himself Patlee-pootur, taking
the wife's name, which is contrary to Hindoo usage. The story states
further, that Patlee-pootur planted his staff, and a beautiful city
sprang out of the ground, which in honour of his wife he called
Patleepoora, or Patleepooturpoora, a name truly royal in its length!
The pair died, leaving a son called Puttum, and a daughter named
Putnie, from whom the modern name Patna is said to have been derived.
In the absence of more definite evidence we may rest a strong
presumption on these traditions, and whatever part of them we may
accept or reject, they certainly contain some amount of historical
evidence to prove that Pataliputra must not be confounded with
Palibothra.
In the eleventh century a play is supposed to have been written,
the Mudra Rakshasha, the principal scenes in which are laid at
Pataliputra, the capital of Chundragupta. Buchanan[82] says, that
other traditions preserved in the Skund Poorana derive the name of
Patna from the Sanscrit word meaning _a cloth_; from the circumstance
of the goddess Parbuttee having dropt her mantle on the spot, in her
flight to Kylas (the sky).
So much with respect to the derivation of the names Patna and
Pataliputra. From what has been stated, it may be clearly seen that
Palibothra cannot be a corruption or modification of Pataliputra, and
that the modern name of Patna is traceable to a very remote period.
To proceed with the proof that Patna is not the ancient Palibothra:--An
opinion has been expressed by one who appears to be a competent judge,
Mr. E.C. Ravenshaw,[83] that the distance from Patna at which the Sone
now runs into the Ganges is so great that it cannot be said to be at
the point of confluence, and therefore does not answer to Arrian's
description as before quoted.
But a better argument is this,--that the river Sone has no particular
sanctity attached to it by the Hindoos; it does not convey sacred
water to the district of Patna, such as is supposed to flow in the
Ganges, and many other Indian rivers. We know that the most sacred
streams issue from the Himalaya mountains, the region of the gods and
of Brahma. The Ganges, the Indus, the Jumna, the Gograh, the Coosah,
the Gundruk, and others, come from that holy source; but the Sone and
the Nerbudda rise in the table-land of Omerkuntuc in Gundwana,--in
lat. 22°, 35´ N.; long. 82°, 15´ E.[84] Now it is very certain that
the Sone, lacking this sacred character, could not have been reckoned
as the third river in India; superior to many streams which take their
rise from the Himalaya, and inferior only to the Ganges and the Indus,
both of which are regarded with the deepest reverence.
Thus, with regard to Patna, we are led to the conclusion, that, while
there is great evidence to prove that it is a most ancient city, and
to identify it with the former Pataliputra, the capital of the Gupta
dynasty; yet it is quite as clear that it is not the site of Palibothra.
Another opinion, however, would place the ancient city further east,
and not far from Bhaugulpore.[85] The late Colonel Francklin took
a journey on purpose to examine this subject, and in his preface to
the second part of his researches respecting the site of Palibothra,
he writes:--"If then my assumption of the Mandara hill as the place
recorded in the Puranas,[86] where one of the sovereigns of Palibothra
was assassinated, be correct;--if the evidence afforded by the hills
which appear in the neighbourhood of the town, and through a very great
extent of what formerly constituted the Prasian kingdom, prior to the
expedition of Alexander the Great;--if these and other connecting
circumstances, as well local and historical, as traditional, be
conceded;--it will, I think, be also conceded to me, that they apply in
every instance throughout the discussion, as more naturally indicative
of the town of Bhaugulpore possessing the site of Palibothra, and the
metropolis of the Parsii (Prasii?) than either Rajmahal, Patna, Kanoge,
or Allahabad."
The argument drawn from the assassination of this king of Palibothra
on the Mandara hill, is really worth nothing. The circumstance that
this took place near Bhaugulpore no more proves the site of Palibothra
to have been there, than if the sovereign had been assassinated at
any other of the places named. For if kings travel, particularly
among enemies, and in times of anarchy, they are liable to be killed
anywhere. Our first Richard was assassinated in Normandy, and our first
Edward had a narrow escape in the Holy Land. Moreover, this murdered
king of Palibothra might have been taken to the Mandara hill as a
fitting place of execution; so that we can gather from this occurrence
no clue whatever, to the actual site of his capital city.
Again, there is no large river flowing into the Ganges at the point
where Bhaugulpore is situated. Colonel Francklin states that at
Dhurumgunge, five miles N.W. of Bhaugulpore he met with the river
Chundun, but the confluence of the Chundun with the Ganges is at
Champanuggur, thirteen miles from that town. He assumes this river to
have been the Erannoboas of the Greeks; and, because it is to be found
thirteen miles from Bhaugulpore and runs into the Ganges, he fixes the
Mandara hill as the site of Palibothra. At the end of his journal,
he adds, that, "in the words of Arrian, the Erannoboas was a river of
the third magnitude among the rivers in India." But here the Colonel
mistakes the meaning of his author; for Arrian says, not that it was
a river of the _third magnitude_, but the _third river_ throughout
all India. It is thus that historical authority is sometimes falsely
cited. The Chundun, even near its mouth, is only seven hundred yards
in breadth, and this will not constitute a third-rate river in India.
The Gograh, on the left bank, is in some places a mile broad, in many
places half-a-mile, and of greater depth even than the Ganges. The
Chundun is so inconsiderable, that we hear of no natives, except those
of Bhaugulpore, who speak of it at all; and to identify this with a
river said to be next in size to the Indus, is plainly absurd.
In a subsequent tour, the Colonel again visited Bhaugulpore, and about
four miles south-east of that town, he found a commanding eminence,
being 600 yards in circumference, and on which the site of bastions and
the outer ditch of a fortification are plainly to be discovered. "The
place," he says,[87] "is called by the natives Suffiegur; and here the
surface of the ground in the front, as well as the neighbouring grove
of mango trees, is overspread with a variety of stones of different
kinds, cornelians, agates, flints, and specimens of beautiful veined
stone, pieces of crystal and slabs of chalcedony; these evidently
indicating the remains of a building of a superior order, at a remote
period of time."
The Colonel again remarks--"In my humble opinion, I should assign it
as one of the summer palaces of the sovereigns of Palibothra." But
since, in that country, ruins are so numerous, and frequently of such
a splendid character, we cannot allow this circumstance to be of any
weight. Any other hill containing a few stones, and a few relics of
ancient fortifications, might, as far as Colonel Francklin has given
proof, have been the summer residence of the kings of Palibothra. There
are two very singular round towers near the town of Bhaugulpore, in the
direction indicated by the Colonel, which he may possibly have mistaken
for the summer palace of the king.
We cannot suppose that if Bhaugulpore had been the ancient Palibothra,
it would not have been revered as a sacred spot, even though it were
in ruins. Kanoge, for example, although no longer in existence, is
spoken of with veneration. But it does not appear that any particular
sanctity is attached by the natives to Bhaugulpore, nor that they
esteem it as more than a common city. And, if it had been what Colonel
Francklin claims for it, it would, of course, have been the capital
of the Prasii. But we have no evidence whatever that the kingdom of
the Prasii extended so far south; and supposing that it did, still
it is most improbable that their chief city would be placed at the
extremity of their dominions. If the Colonel's opinion were correct,
would not Abul Fazel, who wrote in 1582, or some Hindoo writer of prior
or subsequent date, have spoken of such a place? Would there not be
a pilgrimage to it, as there is now to Allahabad, and other sacred
places? Without doubt, such would have been the case; and therefore,
taking all these things into consideration, it appears to me that we
must reject Colonel Francklin's favourite theory, and that Bhaugulpore
could not have been Palibothra.
Another opinion places the site of the lost city at Benares. This is
no doubt also an ancient town; it was taken by the Sultan Mahmood of
Ghuznee in A.D. 1017, and a mosque with two elegant minarets existing
to this day, was built there by Aurungzebe to mortify the Hindoos.
The river Birnah runs between the military cantonments and the civil
station, across which a small stone bridge was thrown, about fifty
years ago, by the late Major-General J. Garstin. This river is situated
to the left of the city, where it enters the Ganges. It is a very
narrow and inconsiderable stream, and could not bring Benares within
the denomination of "a city with two large rivers;" so that we may
dismiss this opinion also, as quite improbable.
Rajmahal has likewise been mentioned, as the place where the ancient
city stood. But this is at a considerable distance below Patna, and it
is not likely that the limits of the Prasii extended so far in this
direction. A hundred years ago, Rajmahal was two or three miles inland;
and though, by the encroachment of the current upon the land, it is now
situated on the bank of the river, yet there is no other river near it,
it does not stand at the confluence of any stream with the Ganges, and
therefore does not answer to Arrian's description.
Of the opinions on this subject, which I deem erroneous, the only other
worthy of mention is that which makes Kanoge the site of Palibothra.
This is also a very ancient city, as is clear from the fact that
Vicramaditya,[88] who lived in the year B.C. 57, resided alternately
at Palibothra and at Kanoge. It is stated by Heeren[89] to have been
founded by one of the kings of Ayodhya (Oude) who made it his capital.
On the decline of Ayodhya, it rose in importance. Maurice[90] dates
its foundation in B.C. 1000. But while we may respect the antiquity of
Kanoge, we cannot assign to it the honour claimed for it. The rivers
Ramgonga and Gurrah, whose united waters flow into the Ganges near its
ruins, are very inconsiderable, and could not by any stretch of the
imagination be looked upon as constituting the _third_ river in India.
But now, having, as I hope, clearly shown the great improbability that
any of the opinions already quoted are correct, and having proved
also, how irreconcilable they are to the historical evidence which we
possess on this subject, I will mention my own opinion as to the site
of the ancient city of Palibothra. According to Arrian, as we have
seen, Palibothra is at the confluence of the Ganges and Erannoboas,
which Erannoboas is said to be the third river in India. Now the Ganges
is called the _first_, the Indus the _second_, and in respect of size,
no other river has so great a claim to be ranked the _third_, as the
Jumna. After the two streams just mentioned, the Jumna is certainly
the largest in the country. This river and the Ganges may be termed
twin-sisters, as their respective sources are within a few miles of
each other. Its length is 780 miles, according to Rennel, exceeding by
280 miles that of the Sone.
Coming down to the point at which the Jumna flows into the Ganges,
we find the city of Allahabad. And here I would place the site of
Palibothra. Its centrical position as to Hindoostan, marks it as being
most fitting and convenient for the capital of a kingdom. It is certain
also that it was inhabited by the Prasii, and it was most probably in
the very centre of their dominions.
The great sanctity of the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna at
Allahabad, as an annual bathing-place, revered by all Hindoos, is
well known. The very fact of their being two great rivers, the first
and the third in magnitude, would give it a sacredness not attachable
to inferior rivers. The second river, the Indus, falls into no other
stream. It is joined by the Cabool river at Attock, and after receiving
the Punjaub rivers, empties itself into the sea. And the fact that the
two greatest rivers are not confluent, tends, no doubt, to add to the
high veneration with which the natives regard the confluence of the
first and third rivers.
Several of the streams flowing into the Ganges which have been adopted
by controversialists, are in reality very insignificant, and are
considered by the natives as quite unimportant. But the Jumna is
universally known and venerated throughout all India. When water is
taken from the Ganges, to a distance, it is invariably either from
Hurdwar, Allahabad, or Benares.
The late Maharajah Runjeet Singh always had water from a particular
spot, which was considered the best in the Punjaub. A strict Brahmin
of Benares, would present his guests with water drawn from the most
sacred parts of the Ganges, nor, however hot the weather, would he cool
the water with ice, for by so doing, he would mix two waters, the one
holy, the other profane: the water of the Ganges, and the water of
America.
No native would ever take the Ganges water from near the Chundun; no
Brahmin living in Calcutta would ever use it. Allahabad is held in such
reverence that a public tax was paid both to the Mahomedan government
of the Nawab of Oude, and to the British government, by pilgrims at
certain seasons of the year. There are different degrees of sanctity
ascribed to the sacred cities of India; all places are not of equal
sanctity, Benares is not so sacred as Kanoge, and neither is so sacred
as Allahabad. The waters of the Ganges at this confluence are accounted
of superior holiness, and special virtue is ascribed to them.
Here then, the description of Arrian, to which I have shown that
none of the before-mentioned opinions conformed, is fully answered,
and all probability points to Allahabad as the disputed site. The
central situation of the city, its position on the right bank of the
Ganges, the circumstance of its superior sacredness, and above all,
the fact that the Jumna is the third river in India, which no one,
who will compare the relative claims of the rivers, can deny; all
these together yield more than presumptive proof in its favour. We may
fairly conclude then, that the ancient Palibothra is at the junction
of the Ganges and the Jumna, and that there appears no just ground for
supposing that any other position on the right or left bank of the
Ganges can be assigned as its site.
It may now be of interest to state what is known respecting the size
of the city. Strabo informs us[91] that "its length is eighty stadia,
its breadth fifteen,[92] and its form oblong; that it is environed by
a wall of wood, in which are sundry holes to shoot through; also a
ditch, both for the defence of the city and the reception of all the
filth issuing from it; and that the people are called Prasii." In an
appendix to his work, Francklin gives additional notes, extracted from
a pamphlet which was printed, but not published, at Calcutta, wherein
he says: "For the extent of the city and suburbs of Palibothra, from
seventy-five to eighty miles have been assigned, by the Puranas, a
distance said to be impossible for a single city." And adds: "so
indeed it might, were we to compare the cities of Asia with those of
Europe." He next states, that in A.D. 1567, Cæsar Frederic, a Venetian
merchant, who was then at Beejanuggur (Bisnuggur), says that it had a
circuit of ninety-four miles. Major Rennel makes the city of Gour, the
ancient capital of Bengal, to be fifteen miles in length, extending
along the old banks of the Ganges, and from two to three miles in
breadth. Colonel Francklin (Appendix p. 59) quotes Babylon[93] as
extending over 365 furlongs, being the number of days in the year; or
forty-five miles and five furlongs. Herodotus allows the city to have
been 480 stadia, or sixty miles in circumference.[94] Colonel Francklin
makes Kanoge to have been 100 miles in circuit. London, the largest
city in Europe, has been estimated at twenty-five, but at present, with
the suburbs, it may be thirty miles round. Now it must be recollected,
that in estimating the size of European and Asiatic cities, several
distinguishing circumstances are to be borne in mind. For instance,
though in London there are numerous churches, they occupy but little
space, compared with pagodas, mosques, and mausolea; to which in an
Eastern city, much ground and many buildings are usually attached. In
Oriental cities too, there are many gardens and granaries, and the
stables and studs for elephants occupy a great deal of room. It is
calculated that the stabling for one elephant, occupies more space than
would afford accommodation for a carriage and four horses.
The Mahomedan invasion of India, which effected so great a change in
the character of the country, took place in the first quarter of the
eleventh century. The Mahomedan empire was founded there by the Ghorè
dynasty in 1157. I may fitly close my remarks on the site of this
ancient city, by glancing at the geographical extent and condition of
the country at this great era of a mighty change in Indian history. It
is said by Rennel and other writers, that according to the testimony of
the ancients, India, on the most enlarged scale, divided on the West
from Persia by the Arachosian Mountains, bounded on the East by China,
on the North by Tartary, and extending South to the Sunda Isles,
comprised an area of 40°, including a superficies almost as large as
Europe: a statement which appears preposterous. The Mahomedan writers
understood Hindoostan, under the sovereigns of Delhi, to include the
twelve Soobahs or Provinces into which it was sub-divided in 1582;
viz., Lahore, Mooltan, Scinde, Ajmere, Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Bahar,
Oude, Bengal, Malwah, Guzerat; Cabool, and the country west of India,
was made a thirteenth Soobah, and again others were added: namely, the
Deccan, including Berar, Khandeish, and Ahmednuggur, and afterwards
Aurungabad.
According to the geography of the original Hindoos, Hindoostan is
bounded on the North by the Himalaya ridge of mountains, including
Cashmere, Nepaul, and Bootan; on the South by the Ocean; on the West by
the Indus; and on the East by Chittagong. With the exception of Bootan,
the primitive Brahminical religion and languages prevail in the above
boundaries; nor are they to be found beyond them, save in Assam and
Cassey, where Brahminical doctrines still prevail; but in Bootan the
people are Buddhists.
The modern name Hindoostan, is a Persian appellation, derived from
the word "Hindoo" (black), and "Sthan" (a place). The above limits
give 1,020,000 geographical miles. Elphinstone[95] says, "India is
bounded by the Himalaya mountains, the river Indus, and the sea. Its
length from Cashmere to Cape Comorin is about 1,900 British miles,[96]
and its breadth, from the mouth of the Indus to the mountains east of
the Berhampooter, is considerably above 1,500 British miles. In its
southern boundary it is limited by the Nerbudda."
According to the Hindoo calculation, India extends northward to the
thirty-fifth degree of latitude. Cabool, which was included by Akbar
in Hindoostan, is reckoned between the thirty-third and thirty-fifth
degrees of north latitude. But Hindoostan is bounded on the West by the
river Indus, which excludes Cabool and Scinde. Sylhet, and Chittagong
are to the East of the Berhampooter, near the mountains, and must be
included. The southern boundary is the sea.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 73: The late Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Dr. Samuel
Butler, in his Ancient and Modern Geography, p. 267, called it also
Helabas. In India some speak of it as "Illahabas."]
[Footnote 74: There is a magazine at Chunar, which serves for Benares
and the stations immediately below it. The river from Chunar to
Allahabad is not suited for a speedy transmission by boats, because the
stream for about thirty miles below Allahabad is full of shoals.]
[Footnote 75: Rooke's Translation of Alexander's Expedition.]
[Footnote 76: Sanscrit, the Sone or Golden River.]
[Footnote 77: Ancient and Modern Geography, p. 522.]
[Footnote 78: P. 300.]
[Footnote 79: Page 3, note 1.]
[Footnote 80: Works, vol. i. p. 306.]
[Footnote 81: Vol. i. p. 26.]
[Footnote 82: Vol. i. p. 146.]
[Footnote 83: Journal of Asiatic Society. Vol. xiv. p. 137. Part I,
Nos. 157-162.]
[Footnote 84: Hamilton's Gazetteer, Rennel, &c.]
[Footnote 85: Wilford, Asiatic Researches. Vol. v. p. 272.]
[Footnote 86: Elphinstone, in his history of India, says: "There are
_eighteen_ Puranas composed by different authors between the 8th and
16th centuries." Col. Francklin should have proved his author, and
given his date.]
[Footnote 87: Part iv. p. 53.]
[Footnote 88: He was also Lord of Benares, and rebuilt Ayodhya.]
[Footnote 89: P. 295.]
[Footnote 90: Vol. i. p. 36.]
[Footnote 91: Lib. xv. p. 1028.]
[Footnote 92: The eighty stadia long by fifteen broad, would be equal
to twenty-three miles and three quarters in circuit.]
[Footnote 93: Diodorus Siculus, vol i. pp. 120, 121.]
[Footnote 94: Francklin (Appendix p. 62.) gives Beejapore as thirty-six
miles in circuit, and Nineveh as forty-seven miles. Diodorus Siculus
makes Nineveh to have been sixty miles and Babylon only forty-eight.]
[Footnote 95: Vol. i. p. 1.]
[Footnote 96: China has 1,200,000 square miles, and is said to be 1,400
by 1,600 miles.]