[Cambodia.] The close connection between Java and Cambodia, the

alternate supremacy of Cambodia in Java and of Java in Cambodia,

the likelihood of settlers passing from Java to Cambodia explain, to

a considerable extent, why the traditions and the buildings of Java

and Cambodia should point to a common origin in north-west India. The

question remains: Do the people and buildings of Cambodia contain a

distinct north Hindu element which worked its way south and east not

by sea but by land across the Himálayas and Tibet and down the valley

of the Yang-tse-kiang to Yunnan and Angkor. Whether the name Cambodia

[1165] proves an actual race or historical connection with Kamboja

or the Kábul valley is a point on which authorities disagree. Sir

H. Yule held that the connection was purely literary and that as

in the case of Inthapatha-puri or Indraprastha (Dehli) the later

capital of Cambodia and of Ayodhya or Oudh the capital of Assam no

connection existed beyond the application to a new settlement of

ancient worshipful Indian place-names. The objection to applying this

rule to Cambodia is that except to immigrants from the Kábul valley

the name is of too distant and also of too scanty a reputation to

be chosen in preference to places in the nearer and holier lands of

Tirhut and Magadha. For this reason, and because the view is supported

by the notable connection between the two styles of architecture,

it seems advisable to accept Mr. Fergusson's decision that the name

Cambodia was given to a portion of Cochin-China by immigrants from

Kamboja that is from the Kábul valley. Traces remain of more than one

migration from India to Indo-China. The earliest is the mythic account

of the conversion of Indo-China to Buddhism before the time of Asoka

(B.C. 240). A migration in the first century A.D. of Yavanas or Sakas,

from Tamluk or Ratnávate on the Hugli, is in agreement with the large

number of Indian place-names recorded by Ptolemy (A.D. 160). [1166]

Of this migration Hiuen Tsiang's name Yavana (Yen-mo-na) for Cambodia

may be a trace. [1167] A Saka invasion further explains Pausanias'

(A.D. 170) name Sakæa for Cochin-China and his description of the

people as Skythians mixed with Indians. [1168] During the fifth and

sixth centuries a fresh migration seems to have set in. Cambodia

was divided into shore and inland and the name Cambose applied

to both. [1169] Chinese records notice an embassy from the king

of Cambodia in A.D. 617. [1170] Among the deciphered Cambodian

inscriptions a considerable share belong to a Bráhmanic dynasty whose

local initial date is in the early years of the seventh century,

[1171] and one of whose kings Somasarmman (A.D. 610) is recorded

to have held daily Mahábhárata readings in the temples. [1172] Of a

fresh wave of Buddhists, who seem to have belonged to the northern

branch, the earliest deciphered inscription is A.D. 953 (S. 875)

that is about 350 years later. [1173] Meanwhile, though, so far as

information goes, the new capital of Angkor on the north bank of lake

Tale Sap about 200 miles up the Mekong river was not founded till

A.D. 1078 (S. 1000), [1174] the neighbourhood of the holy lake was

already sacred and the series of temples of which the Nakhonwat or

Nága's Shrine [1175] is one of the latest and finest examples, was

begun at least as early as A.D. 825 (S. 750), and Nakhonwat itself

seems to have been completed and was being embellished in A.D. 950

(S. 875). [1176] During the ninth and tenth centuries by conquest

and otherwise considerable interchange took place between Java and

Cambodia. [1177] As many of the inscriptions are written in two

Indian characters a northern and a southern [1178] two migrations

by sea seem to have taken place one from the Orissa and Masulipatam

coasts and the other, with the same legend of the prince of Rúm land,

from the ports of Sindh and Gujarát. [1179] The question remains

how far there is trace of such a distinct migration as would explain

the close resemblance noted by Fergusson between the architecture of

Kashmir and Cambodia as well as the northern element which Fergusson

recognises in the religion and art of Cambodia. [1180] The people

by whom this Panjáb and Kashmir influence may have been introduced

from the north are the people who still call themselves Khmers to

whose skill as builders the magnificence of Cambodian temples lakes

and bridges is apparently due. [1181] Of these people, who, by the

beginning of the eleventh century had already given their name to the

whole of Cambodia, Alberuni (A.D. 1031) says: The Kumairs are whitish

of short stature and Turk-like build. They follow the religion of

the Hindus and have the practice of piercing their ears. [1182] It

will be noticed that so far as information is available the apparent

holiness of the neighbourhood of Angkor had lasted for at least 250

years before A.D. 1078 when it was chosen as a capital. This point is

in agreement with Mr. Fergusson's view that the details of Nakhonwat

and other temples of that series show that the builders came neither

by sea nor down the Ganges valley but by way of Kashmir and the back

of the Himálayas. [1183] Though the evidence is incomplete and to

some extent speculative the following considerations suggest a route

and a medium through which the Roman and Greek elements in the early

(A.D. 100-500) architecture of the Kábul valley and Pesháwar may have

been carried inland to Cambodia. It may perhaps be accepted that

the Ephthalites or White Húnas and a share of the Kedarites, that

is of the later Little Yuechi from Gandhára the Pesháwar country,

retreated to Kashmir before the father of Srí Harsha (A.D. 590-606)

and afterwards (A.D. 606-642) before Srí Harsha himself. [1184]

Further it seems fair to assume that from Kashmir they moved into

Tibet and were the western Turks by whose aid in the second half of

the seventh century Srongbtsan or Srongdzan-gambo (A.D. 640-698),

the founder of Tibetan power and civilization, overran the Tarim

valley and western China. [1185] During the first years of the

eighth century (A.D. 703) a revolt in Nepal and the country of the

Bráhmans was crushed by Srongdzan's successor Donsrong, [1186] and the

supremacy of Tibet was so firmly established in Bengal that, for over

200 years, the Bay of Bengal was known as the sea of Tibet. [1187]

In A.D. 709 a Chinese advance across the Pamirs is said to have been

checked by the great Arab soldier Kotieba the comrade of Muhammad

Kasim of Sindh. [1188] But according to Chinese records this reverse

was wiped out in A.D. 713 by the defeat of the joint Arab and Tibet

armies. [1189] In the following years, aided by disorders in China,

Tibet conquered east to Hosi on the upper Hoangho and in A.D. 729

ceased to acknowledge the overlordship of China. Though about A.D. 750

he was for a time crippled by China's allies the Shado Turks the chief

of Tibet spread his power so far down the Yangtsekiang valley that

in A.D. 787 the emperor of China, the king of Yunnan to the east of

Burma, certain Indian chiefs, and the Arabs joined in a treaty against

Tibet. As under the great Thisrong (A.D. 803-845) and his successor

Thi-tsong-ti (A.D. 878-901) the power of Tibet increased it seems

probable that during the ninth century they overran and settled in

Yunnan. [1190] That among the Tibetans who passed south-east into

Yunnan were Kedarites and White Húnas is supported by the fact that

about A.D. 1290, according both to Marco Polo and to Rashid-ud-din,

the common name of Yunnan was Kárájang whose capital was Yachi and

whose people spoke a special language. [1191] The name Kárájang was

Mongol meaning Black People and was used to distinguish the mass of

the inhabitants from certain fair tribes who were known as Chaganjang

or Whites. That the ruler of Kárájang was of Hindu origin is shown

by his title Mahara or Mahárája. That the Hindu element came from the

Kábul valley is shown by its Hindu name of Kandhár that is Gandhára or

Pesháwar, a name still in use as Gand­álarit (Gandhára-rashtra) the

Burmese for Yunnan. [1192] The strange confusion which Rashid-ud-din

makes between the surroundings of Yunnan and of Pesháwar is perhaps

due to the fact that in his time the connection between the two places

was still known and admitted. [1193] A further trace of stranger

whites like the Chaganjang of Yunnan occurs south-east in the Anin

or Honli whose name suggests the Húnas and whose fondness for silver

ornaments at once distinguishes them from their neighbours and connects

them with India. [1194] Even though these traces may be accepted

as confirming a possible migration of Húnas and Kedaras to Yunnan

and Anin a considerable gap remains between Anin and Angkor. Three

local Cambodian considerations go some way to fill this gap. The

first is that unlike the Siamese and Cochin Chinese the Khmers are

a strong well made race with very little trace of the Mongoloid,

with a language devoid of the intonations of other Indo-Chinese

dialects, and with the hair worn cropped except the top-knot. The

second point is that the Khmers claim a northern origin; and the

third that important architectural remains similar to Nakhonwat are

found within Siam limits about sixty miles north of Angkor. [1195]

One further point has to be considered: How far is an origin from

White Húnas and Kedáras in agreement with the Nága phase of Cambodian

worship. Hiuen Tsiang's details of the Tarim Oxus and Swát valleys

contain nothing so remarkable as the apparent increase of Dragon

worship. In those countries dragons are rarely mentioned by Fa Hian

in A.D. 400: dragons seem to have had somewhat more importance in

the eyes of Sung-Yun in A.D. 520; and to Hiuen Tsiang, the champion

of the Maháyána or Broadway, dragons are everywhere explaining all

misfortunes earthquakes storms and diseases. Buddhism may be the state

religion but the secret of luck lies in pleasing the Dragon. [1196]

This apparent increased importance of dragon or Nága worship in

north-west India during the fifth and sixth centuries may have

been due partly to the decline of the earlier Buddhism partly to

the genial wonder-loving temper of Hiuen Tsiang. Still so marked an

increase makes it probable that with some of the great fifth and sixth

century conquerors of Baktria Kábul and the Panjáb, of whom a trace

may remain in the snake-worshipping Nágas and Takkas of the Kamaon

and Garhwal hills, the Dragon was the chief object of worship. Temple

remains show that the seventh and eighth century rulers of Kashmir,

with a knowledge of classic architecture probably brought from beyond

the Indus, were Nága worshippers. [1197] The fact that the ninth

century revision of religion in Tibet came mainly from Kashmir and

that among the eighteen chief gods of the reformed faith the great

Serpent had a place favours the view that through Tibet passed the

scheme and the classic details of the Kashmir Nága temples which in

greater wealth and splendour are repeated in the Nakhonwat of Angkor

in Cambodia. [1198] It is true that the dedication of the great temple

to Nága worship before the Siamese priests filled it with statues of

Buddha is questioned both by Lieut. Garnier and by Sir H. Yule. [1199]

In spite of this objection and though some of the series have been

Buddhist from the first, it is difficult to refuse acceptance to

Mr. Fergusson's conclusions that in the great Nákhon, all traces

of Buddhism are additions. The local conditions and the worshipful

Tale Sap lake favour this conclusion. What holier dragon site can be

imagined than the great lake Tale Sap, 100 miles by 30, joined to

the river Mekong by a huge natural channel which of itself empties

the lake in the dry season and refills it during the rains giving a

water harvest of fish as well as a land harvest of grain. What more

typical work of the dragon as guardian water lord. Again not far off

between Angkor and Yunnán was the head-quarters of the dragon as the

unsquared fiend. In Carrajan ten days west of the city of Yachi Marco

Polo (A.D. 1290) found a land of snakes and great serpents ten paces in

length with very great heads, eyes bigger than a loaf of bread, mouths

garnished with pointed teeth able to swallow a man whole, two fore-legs

with claws for feet and bodies equal in bulk to a great cask. He adds:

'These serpents devour the cubs of lions and bears without the sire and

dam being able to prevent it. Indeed if they catch the big ones they

devour them too: no one can make any resistance. Every man and beast

stands in fear and trembling of them.' Even in these fiend dragons

was the sacramental guardian element. The gall from their inside

healed the bite of a mad dog, delivered a woman in hard labour, and

cured itch or it might be worse. Moreover, he concludes, the flesh

of these serpents is excellent eating and toothsome. [1200]

APPENDIX V.

ARAB REFERENCES. [1201]

[Arab References, A.D. 851-1350.] The earliest Arab reference to

Gujarát is by the merchant Sulaimán [1202] A.D. 851 (A.H. 237). Other

Arab accounts follow up to A.D. 1263, a period of over four

centuries. Sulaimán describes Jurz or Gujarát as bordering on the

kingdom of the Balhára (A.D. 743-974) and as forming a tongue of land,

rich in horses and camels and said to have "mines of gold and silver,

exchanges being carried on by means of these metals in dust."

Al Biláduri [1203] (A.D. 892) states that the first Islámic expedition

to India was the one despatched against Táná [1204] (Thána) by Usmán,

son of Al-Ási the Thakafi, who in the fifteenth year of the Hijrah

(A.D. 636) was appointed governor of Bahrein and Umán (the Persian

Gulf) by the second Khalífah Umar, the son of Khattáb. On the return

of the expedition, in reply to his governor's despatch, the Khalífah

Umar is said to have written: [1205] "Oh brother of Thakíf, thou

hast placed the worm in the wood, but by Alláh, had any of my men

been slain, I would have taken an equal number from thy tribe." In

spite of this threat Usmán's brother Hakam, who was deputed by the

governor to the charge of Bahrein, despatched a force to Bárúz [1206]

(Broach). Al Biláduri does not record the result of this expedition,

but mentions a more successful one to Debal at the mouth of the Indus

sent by Hakam under the command of his brother Mughaira. On the death

of his uncle Al-Hajjáj (A.D. 714; H. 95) Muhammad the son of Kásim

the Arab conqueror of Sindh, is said to have made peace with the

inhabitants of Surast or Káthiávád with whom he states the people of

Bátia [1207] that is Bet to the north of Dwárka were then at war. Al

Biláduri describes the Bátia men as Meds seafarers and pirates. In

the reign of Hishám (A.D. 724) Junnaid, son of Abdur Rahmán Al Murri,

who was appointed to the frontier of Sindh is stated to have conquered

Jurz (Gujarát) and Bárús (Broach). [1208] A more permanent result

followed a great expedition from Mansúrah in Sindh. This result was

the overthrow, from which it never recovered, of the great seaport

and capital of Vala or Valabhi. [1209] Al Biláduri's next mention

[1210] of Gujarát is in connection with the conquest of Sindán in

Kachh and the founding there of a Jámá mosque by Fazl, son of Mahán

in the reign of the Abbási Khalífah Al Mámún (A.D. 813-833) the son

of the famous Hárún-ur-Rashíd. After Fazl's death his son Muhammad

sailed with sixty vessels against the Meds of Hind, captured Máli

[1211] apparently Mália in north Káthiávád after a great slaughter

of the Meds and returned to Sindán.

The dissension between Muhammad and his brother Mahán, who in

Muhammad's absence had usurped his authority at Sindán, re-established

the power of the Hindus. The Hindus however, adds Al Biláduri,

spared the assembly mosque in which for long the Musalmáns used

to offer their Friday prayers. [1212] Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912;

H. 300) erroneously enumerates Bárúh and Sindán (Broach and Sindán)

as cities of Sindh. [1213] The king of Juzr he describes as the

fourth Indian sovereign. According to Al Masúdi [1214] (A.D. 915)

the country of the Balháras or Ráshtrakútas (A.D. 743-974), which is

also called the country of Kumkar (Konkan), is open on one side to

the attacks of the king of Juzr (Gujarát) a prince owning many horses

and camels and troops who does not think any king on earth equal to

him except the king of Bábal (Babylon). He prides himself and holds

himself high above all other kings and owns many elephants, but hates

Musalmáns. His country is on a tongue of land, and there are gold and

silver mines in it, in which trade is carried on. Al Istakhri [1215]

(H. 340; A.D. 951) gives an itinerary in which he shows the distance

between Mansúrah and Kámhal [1216] (Anhilwára) to be eight days'

journey; from Kámhal to Kambáya (Cambay) four days; from Kambáya to

the sea about two farasangs that is between seven and eight miles

[1217]; from Kambáya to Surabáya [1218] perhaps Surabára the Surat

river mouth which is half a farasang (between 1 1/2 and two miles)

from the sea, about four days. He places five days between Surabáya

(Surat) and Sindán (St. John near Daman) and a like distance between

Sindán and Saimúr (Chewal or Cheul) thirty miles south of Bombay. Ibni

Haukal [1219] (H. 366; A.D. 976) enumerates [1220] (Fámhal) [1221]

(Anhilwára), Kambáya (Cambay), Surbáráh (Surat), Sindán (Daman), and

Saimúr (Cheul) as cities of Al Hind (India), as opposed to As Sindh

or the Indus valley. From Kambáya to Saimúr, he writes, is the land

of the Balhára, which is in the possession of several kings. [1222]

Ibni Haukal describes the land between Kámhal (Anhilwára) and Kambáya

(Cambay), and Bánia three days' journey from Mansúrah as desert, [1223]

and between Kambáya and Saimúr as thickly covered with villages. Al

Bírúni, [1224] in his famous Indica about A.D. 1030-31 writes: From

Kanauj, travelling south-west you come to Ási, a distance of eighteen

farsakhs [1225] that is of seventy two miles; to Sahiva 17 farsakhs

or sixty-eight miles; to Chandra 18 farsakhs or seventy-two miles;

to Rajauri fifteen farsakhs or sixty miles; and to Nárána (near

Jaipur) the former capital of Gujarát, 18 farsakhs or seventy-two

miles. Nárána he adds was destroyed and the capital transferred to

another town on the frontier. From Nárána at a distance of 60 farsakhs

or 240 miles south-west lies Anhilwára, and thence to Somnáth on the

sea is fifty farsakhs or 200 miles. From Anhilwára, passing south

is Lárdes with its capitals Bihruch (Broach) and Rahánjur [1226]

(Rándir) forty-two farsakhs (168 miles). These he states are on

the shore of the sea to the east of Tána (the modern Thána). [1227]

After describing the coast of Makrán till it reaches Debal [1228]

(Karáchi or Thatta) Abu Rihán comes to the coast of Kachh [1229]

and Somnáth, the population of which he calls the Bawárij because,

he says, they commit their piratical depredations in boats called

Baira. [1230] He gives the distance [1231] between Debal (Karáchi or

Thatta) and Kachh the country that yields mukl (gum or myrrh) [1232]

and bádrúd (balm) as six farsakhs (24 miles); to Somnáth (from Debal)

fourteen (56 miles); to Kambáya thirty (120 miles); to Asáwal the

site of Ahmedábád (from Cambay) two days' journey; to Bahrúj (Broach)

(from Debal) [1233] thirty, to Sindán or St. John (from Debal) fifty;

to Subára (Sopára) from Sindán six [1234]; to Tána (from Sopára)

five. Rashíd-ud-dín in his translation (A.D. 1310) of Al Bírúni

(A.D. 970-1031) states [1235] that beyond Gujarát are Konkan and

Tána. He calls Tánah the chief town of the Konkans and mentions the

forest of the Dángs as the habitat of the sharva an animal resembling

the buffalo, but larger than a rhinoceros, with a small trunk and two

big horns with which it attacks and destroys the elephant. Al Idrísi,

[1236] writing about the end of the eleventh century but with tenth

century materials, places [1237] in the seventh section of the second

climate, the Gujarát towns of Mámhal (Anhilwára), Kambáya (Cambay),

Subára (apparently Surabára or Surat), Sindán [1238] (Sanján in

Thána), and Saimúr (Chewal or Cheul). He adds, probably quoting from

Al Jauhari (A.D. 950), that Nahrwára is governed by a great prince who

bears the title of Balhára who owns the whole country from Nahrwára to

Saimúr. He ranks the king of Juzr fourth among Indian potentates. The

country from Debal to Kambáya (Karáchi to Cambay) he describes [1239]

as "nothing but a marine strand without habitations and almost without

water, and impassable for travellers." [1240] The situation of Mámhal

(Anhilwára) he gives as between Sindh and Hind. He notices the Meds

as Mánds [1241] grazing their flocks to within a short distance of

Mámhal (Anhilwára). He speaks of Mámhal, Kambáya, Subára (probably

Surabára or Surat), Sindán, and Saimúr as countries of Hind (India)

touching upon Sindh. [1242] He describes Mámhal as a frontier town,

numbered by some among the cities of Sindh, and he classifies Aubkin,

Mánd, Kulámmali (Quilon), [1243] and Sindán (Sandhán in Kachh)

as maritime islands. Among the numerous towns of India are Mámhal

(Anhilwára), [1244] Kambáya (Cambay), Subára, Asáwal (Ahmedábád),

Janáwal (Chunvál), Sindán, Saimúr, Jandur [1245] (Rándir), Sandur

(apparently a repetition of Rándir), and Rumála (perhaps the south

Panjáb). [1246] He speaks of Kalbata, Augasht, Nahrwára (Anhilwára),

and Lahawar (Lahori Bandar) as in the desert [1247] of Kambáya. Of the

three Subára (Surabára or Surat), Sindán (the Thána Sanján), and Saimúr

(Cheul), he says Saimúr alone belongs to the Balhára, whose kingdom,

he adds, is large, well-peopled, commercial, and fertile. Near Subára

(apparently Surabára) he locates small islands which he styles Bára

where, he adds, cocoanuts and the costus grow. [1248] East of Sindán,

due to a confusion between Sandhán in Kachh and Sanján in Thána,

he places another island bearing the same name as the port and

under the same government as the mainland, highly cultivated and

producing the cocoa palm the bamboo and the cane. Five miles by sea

from Kulámmali lies another island called Máli, an elevated plateau,

but not hilly, and covered with vegetation. The mention of the pepper

vine suggests that Al Idrísi has wandered to the Malabár Coast. In the

eighth section of the second clime Al Idrísi places Bárúh (Broach),

Sandápúr (apparently Goa), Tána (Thána), Kandárina (Gandhár, north

of Broach), Jirbátan a town mentioned by Al Idrísi as the nearest in

a voyage from Ceylon to the continent of India on that continent. It

is described as a populous town on a river supplying rice and grain

to Ceylon, [1249] Kalkáyan, Luluwa, Kanja, and Samandirún, and in the

interior Dulaka (Dholka), Janwál (Chunvál or Viramgám), and Nahrwár

(Anhilwára). [1250] Opposite the sea-port of Bárúh (Broach), Al

Idrísi places an island called Mullán, producing large quantities of

pepper. Al Idrísi describes the port of Bárúh (Broach) as accessible

to ships from China and Sindh. The distance from Bárúh to Saimúr

he puts at two days journey, and that between Bárúh and Nahrwára

(Anhilwára) at eight days through a flat country travelled over in

wheeled carriages drawn by oxen, which he adds furnished the only

mode for the conveyance also of merchandise. He locates the towns

of Dulaka and Hanawal or Janáwal (Chunwál or Jháláwár) with Asáwal

(Ahmedábád) between Bárúh and Nahrwára. He represents all three of

these towns to be centres of a considerable trade, and among their

products mentions the bamboo and the cocoanut. From Bárúh to Sandábúr

(that is, Goa), a commercial town with fine houses and rich bazárs

situated on a great gulf where ships cast anchor, the distance along

the coast given by Al Idrísi is four days. Al Kazwíni [1251] writing

about the middle of the thirteenth century A.D. 1263-1275, but mainly

from information of the tenth century notes Saimúr (Cheul) "a city of

Hind near the confines of Sindh" with its handsome people of Turkish

extraction worshippers of fire having their own fire-temples. Al

Kazwíni (A.D. 1230) dwells at length on the wonders of Somnáth and its

temple. He calls it a celebrated city of India situated on the shore

of the sea and washed by its waves. Among its wonders is Somnáth,

an idol hung in space resting on nothing. In Somnáth he says Hindus

assemble by the ten thousand at lunar eclipses, believing that the

souls of men meet there after separation from the body and that at

the will of the idol they are re-born into other animals. The two

centuries since its destruction by the idol-breaker of Ghaznah had

restored Somnáth to its ancient prosperity. He concludes his account

of Somnáth by telling how Mahmúd ascertained that the chief idol was

of iron and its canopy a loadstone and how by removing one of the

walls the idol fell to the ground.

[Rivers.] Regarding the rivers and streams of Gujarát the Arab writers

are almost completely silent. The first reference to rivers is in

Al Masúdi (A.D. 944) who in an oddly puzzled passage says: [1252]

"On the Lárwi Sea (Cambay and Cheul) great rivers run from the south

whilst all the rivers of the world except the Nile of the Egypt, the

Mehrán (Indus) of Sindh, and a few others flow from the north." Al

Bírúni A.D. 970-1030) states that between the drainage areas of

the Sarsut and the Ganges is the valley of the river Narmaza [1253]

which comes from the eastern mountains and flows south-west till it

falls into the sea near Bahrúch about 180 miles (60 yojanas) east of

Somnáth. Another river the Sarsut (Sarasvatí) he rightly describes

as falling into the sea an arrowshot to the east of Somnáth. [1254]

He further mentions the Tábi (Tápti) from the Vindu or Vindhya hills

and the Támbra Barani or copper-coloured, apparently also the Tápti,

as coming from Málwa. In addition he refers to the Máhindri or Máhi

and the Sarusa apparently Sarasvatí perhaps meant for the Sábarmati. Al

Idrísi (A.D. 1100) is the only other Arab writer who names any of the

Gujarát rivers. As usual he is confused, describing Dulka (Dholka)

as standing on the bank of a river flowing into the sea which forms

an estuary or gulf on the east of which stands the town of Bárúh

(Broach). [1255]

The Arab writers record the following details of twenty-two leading

towns:

[Towns. Anahalváda.] Anahalváda (Ámhal, Fámhal, Kámhal, Kámuhul,

Mámhul, Nahlwára, Nahrwála). Al Istakhri (H. 340; A.D. 951) mentions

Ámhal Fámhal and Kámhal, Ibni Haukal (A.D. 976) Fámhal Kámhal and

Kámuhal, and Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century) Mámhul. That these

are perversions of one name and that this town stood on the border of

'Hind' or Gujarát (in contradistinction to Sindh) the position given to

each by the Arab geographers [1256] places beyond question. Al Istakhri

(A.D. 951) alone calls the place by the name of Ámhal which he mentions

[1257] as one of the chief cities of 'Hind.' Later he gives the name

of Fámhal to a place forming the northern border of "Hind", as all

beyond it as far as Makrán belongs to Sindh. Again a little later

[1258] he describes Kámhal as a town eight days from Mansúrah and four

days from Kambáya, thus making Kámhal the first Gujarát town on the

road from Mansúrah about seventy miles north of Haidarábád in Sindh to

Gujarát. Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968-976) in his Ashkál-ul-Bilád gives Fámhal

in his text and Kámhal in his map [1259] and again while referring

[1260] to the desert between Makrán and Fámhal as the home of the

Meds, he styles it Kámhal. Once more he refers to Fámhal as a strong

and great city, containing a Jámá or Assembly Mosque; a little later

[1261] he calls it Kámuhul and places it eight days from Mansúrah

and four from Kambáya. He afterwards contradicts himself by making

Mansúrah two days' journey from 'Kámuhul,' but this is an obvious

error. [1262] Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1039) notices Anhilwára and does

not recognize any other form. [1263] Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh

century) adopts no form but Mámhal referring to it as one of the towns

of the second climate [1264] on the confines of a desert between

Sindh and "Hind" (India or Gujarát) the home of the sheep-grazing

and horse and camel-breeding Meds, [1265] as a place numbered by some

among the cities of Hind (Gujarát) by others as one of the cities of

Sindh situated at the extremity of the desert which stretches between

Kambáya, Debal, and Bánia. [1266] Again he describes Mámhal as a town

of moderate importance on the route "from Sindh to India," a place of

little trade, producing small quantities of fruit but numerous flocks,

nine days from Mansúrah through Bánia and five from Kambáya. [1267] Al

Idrísi (quoting from tenth century materials) also notices Nahrwára as

eight days' journey from Bárúh (Broach) across a flat country a place

governed by a prince having the title of the Balhára, a prince with

numerous troops and elephants, a place frequented by large numbers

of Musalmáns who go there on business. [1268] It is remarkable that

though Vanarája (A.D. 720-780?) founded Anhilwára as early as about

A.D. 750 no Arab geographer refers to the capital under any of the

many forms into which its name was twisted before Al Istakhri in

A.D. 951. At first Anhilwára may have been a small place but before

the tenth century it ought to have been large enough to attract the

notice of Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) and Al Masúdi (A.D. 915). In

the eleventh century the Musalmán historians of Mahmúd's reign are

profuse in their references to Anhilwára. According to Farishtah

[1269] after the capture of Anhilwára and the destruction of Somnáth

(H. 414; A.D. 1025) Mahmúd was anxious to make Anhilwára his capital

especially as it had mines of gold and as Singaldip (Ceylon) rich

in rubies was one of its dependencies. Mahmúd was dissuaded from the

project by his ministers. [1270] But two mosques in the town of Pattan

remain to show Mahmúd's fondness for the city. The next Muhammadan

reference to Anhilwára is by Núr-ud-dín Muhammad Úfi, who lived in

the reign of Shams-ud-dín Altamsh (A.D. 1211). [1271] In his Romance

of History Úfi refers to Anhilwára as the capital of that Jai Ráj,

who on receiving the complaint of a poor Musalmán preacher of Cambay,

whose mosque the Hindus instigated the fire-worshippers of the place

to destroy, left the capital alone on a fleet dromedary and returning

after personal enquiry at Cambay summoned the complainant and ordered

the chief men of the infidels to be punished and the Musalmán mosque

to be rebuilt at their expense. [1272]

The Jámi-ûl-Hikáyát of Muhammad Úfi alludes [1273] to the defeat of

Sultán Shaháb-ud-dín or Muhammad bin Sám, usually styled Muhammad

Ghori, at the hands of Múlarája II. of Anahilaváda in A.D. 1178. And

the Tájul Maásir [1274] describes how in A.D. 1297 the Musalmáns under

Kutb-ud-dín Aibak retrieved the honour of their arms by the defeat of

Karan and his flight from Anhilwára. This account refers to Gujarát as

"a country full of rivers and a separate region of the world." It

also notices that Sultán Násir-ud-dín Kabáchah (A.D. 1246-1266)

deputed his general Kháskhán from Debal to attack Nahrwála and

that Kháskhán brought back many captives and much spoil. After the

conquest of Gujarát, in A.D. 1300 Sultán Alá-ud-dín Khilji despatched

Ulughkhán (that is the Great Khán commonly styled Alfkhán) to destroy

the idol-temple of Somnáth. This was done and the largest idol was

sent to Alá-ud-dín. [1275]

[Chief Towns. Asáwal.] Asáwal. Abú Rihán Al Bírúni is the first

(A.D. 970-1039) of Arab geographers to mention Asáwal the site

of Ahmedábád which he correctly places two days journey from

Cambay. [1276] The next notice is along with Khábirún (probably Kávi

on the left mouth of the Máhi) and near Hanáwal or Janáwal, apparently

Chunvál or Viramgám, by Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century) as

a town, populous, commercial, rich, industrious, and productive of

useful articles. [1277] He likens Asáwal "both in size and condition"

to Dhulaka both being places of good trade. [1278] In the early

fourteenth century (A.D. 1325) Ziá-ud-dín Barni refers to Asáwal

as the place where Sultán Muhammad Tughlak (A.D. 1325-1351) had to

pass a month in the height of the rains owing to the evil condition

to which his horses were reduced in marching and countermarching

in pursuit of the rebel Tághi. In the beginning of the fifteenth

century (A.D. 1403-4) the Tárikh-i-Mubárak Sháhi notices Asáwal as

the place where Tátárkhán the son of Zafarkhán had basely seized and

confined his own father. [1279] The Mirát-i-Sikandari also speaks

[1280] of Asáwal (A.D. 1403) but with the more courtly remark that

it was the place where Zafarkhán the grandfather of Sultán Ahmad the

founder of Ahmedábád, retired into private life after placing his

son Tátárkhán on the throne. [1281] The Mirát-i-Sikandari states that

[Ahmedábád.] the city of Ahmedábád was built [1282] in the immediate

vicinity of Asáwal. The present village of Asarwa is, under a slightly

changed name, probably what remains of the old town.

[Barda.] Barda. See Valabhi.

[Capital and Port Towns. Broach.] Broach (Báhrúj, Bárúh, Bárús)

is one of the places first attacked by the Muslim Arabs. In the

fifteenth year of the Hijrah (A.D. 636) the Khalífah Umar appointed

Usmán son of Abdul Ási to Bahrein. Usmán sent Hakam to Bahrein and

Hakam despatched a float to Báráúz (or Broach). [1283] Al Biláduri

(A.D. 892-93) speaks of Junnaid the son of Abdur Rahmán Al Murri on

his appointment to the frontier of Sindh in the Khiláfat of Hishám bin

Abdal Malik (A.D. 724-743) sending an expedition by land against Bárús

(Broach) ... and overrunning Jurz [1284] (Gujarát). Ibni Khurdádbah

(A.D. 912) enumerates Bárúh among the countries of Sindh. [1285] Broach

is next noticed [1286] by Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1039) as standing near

the estuary of the river Narbada, as 120 miles (30 parasangs) from

Debal, and as being with Rahanjur (Ránder) the capital of Lárdes. In

describing the coasts of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean Al

Masúdi (A.D. 915-944) speaks of Broach as Barús adding from which

come the famous lance shafts called Bárúsi. [1287] Al Idrísi (A.D.

1100) mentions [1288] Bárúh as a large town well-built of brick and

plaster, the inhabitants rich, engaged in trade and ready to enter

upon speculations and distant expeditions, a port for vessels coming

from China and Sindh, being two days' journey from Saimúr (Cheul) and

eight days from Nahrwára Anhilwára Pattan. In the fourteenth century

(A.D. 1325) Broach is described as in the flames of the insurrection

caused by the foreign amírs or nobles of the hot-tempered and impolitic

Muhammad bin Tughlak (A.D. 1325-1351) who visited it in person to

quell their revolt. Ziá-ud-dín Barni the famous annalist of his reign

and the author of the Tárikh-i-Fírúz Sháhi speaks of his deputation

to Broach by Malik Kabír the future Sultán Fírúz Sháh with a letter

to the Sultán. [1289]

[Port or Coast Towns. Cambay.] Cambay (Kambáya, Kambáyat, Kambáyah,

Khambáit.) According to Al Istakhri (A.D. 951) Kambáya formed the north

boundary of the land of the Balháras. [1290] Al Istakhri describes

it as four days from Kámhal (Anhilwára) sixteen miles (4 farsangs)

from the sea and four days from Surabáya probably Surabára or the

mouth of the Tápti a term which is still in use. [1291] Al Masúdi

(A.D. 915) in speaking [1292] of the ebb and flow of the ocean mentions

Kambáya. He notices that Kambáya was famous in Baghdád, as it still

is famous in Gujarát, for its shoes. These shoes, he says, were made

in Kambáya and the towns about it like Sindán (Sanján in Thána) and

Sufáráh (Supára). He notices that when he visited Kambáya in H. 303

(A.D. 913-14) the city was ruled by a Bráhman of the name of Bánia,

on behalf of the Balhára, lord of Mánkir (Málkhet). He states that this

Bánia was kind to and held friendly discussions with stranger Musalmáns

and people of other faiths. He gives a pleasing picture of Cambay,

on a gulf far broader than the estuaries of the Nile, the Euphrates,

or the Tigris whose shores were covered with villages, estates, and

gardens wooded and stocked with palm and date groves full of peacocks

parrots and other Indian birds. Between Kambáya and the sea from which

this gulf branches was two days' journey. When, says Al Masúdi, the

waters ebb from the gulf stretches of sands come to view. One day I saw

a dog on one of these desert-like stretches of sand. The tide began to

pour up the gulf and the dog hearing it ran for his life to the shore,

but the rush was too rapid. The waters overtook and drowned him. Al

Masúdi speaks of an emerald known as the Makkan emerald being carried

from Kambáya by Aden to Makkah where it found a market. [1293] Ibni

Haukal (A.D. 968-996) names Kambáya among the cities of Hind. [1294]

In his time there were Jámá or assembly mosques in Kambáya, where

the precepts of Islám were openly taught. Among the productions of

Kambáya he gives mangoes cocoanuts lemons and rice in great plenty

and some honey but no date trees. [1295] He makes Kambáya four miles

(one farasang) from the sea and four (that is four days' journey)

from Subára apparently Surabára that is Surat. The distance to Kámuhul

or Anhilwára by some mistake is shown as four farsangs instead of

four days' journey. [1296] Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) places Kambáya

within the large country of Gujarát (120 miles) [1297] (30 farsakh)

from Debal (Karáchi). He says the men of Kambáya receive tribute from

the chiefs of the island of Kís or Kísh (probably Kich-Makrán). [1298]

Al Idrísi (A.D. 1100) places Kambáya with other Gujarát cities in the

second climate. [1299] He says it is a pretty and well known naval

station, second among the towns of Gujarát. [1300] It stands at the

end of a bay three miles from the sea where vessels can enter and

cast anchor. It is well supplied with water and has a fine fortress

built by the Government to prevent the inroads of the pirates of

Kísh (Makrán). From Kambáya to the island of Aubkin (Píram) is two

and a half days' sail and from Aubkin to Debal (or Karáchi) two days

more. The country is fertile in wheat and rice and its mountains yield

the bamboo. Its inhabitants are idolators. In his Tazjiyat-ul-Amsár,

Abdullah Wassáf [1301] in A.D. 1300 (H. 699) writes: "Gujarát which

is commonly called Kambáyat contains 70,000 villages and towns all

populous and the people abounding in wealth and luxuries. In the

course of the four seasons seventy different species of beautiful

flowers bloom. The purity of the air is so great that the picture of

an animal drawn with the pen is lifelike. Many plants and herbs grow

wild. Even in winter the ground is full of tulips (poppies). The air

is healthy, the climate a perpetual spring. The moisture of the dew

of itself suffices for the cold season crops. Then comes the summer

harvest which is dependent on the rain. The vineyards bring forth

blue grapes twice a year."

The trade in horses from the Persian isles and coast and from Katíf,

Láhsa, Bahrein, and Hurmuz was so great that during the reign of Atábak

Abu Bakr [1302] (A.D. 1154-1189) 10,000 horses worth 2,20,000 dínárs

[1303] (Rs. 1,10,00,000) were imported into Cambay and the ports

of Malabár. These enormous sums were not paid out of the government

treasuries but from the endowments of Hindu temples and from taxes

on the courtezans attached to them. The same author mentions the

conquest [1304] of Gujarát and the plunder of Kambáyat by Malik

Muîzz-ud-dín (called by Farishtah Alf and by Barni Ulugh meaning the

great Khán.) The Táríkh-i-Fírúz Sháhi states that Nasrat Khán and

not Ulugh Khán took and plundered Cambay and notices that in Cambay

Nasrat Khán purchased Káfúr Hazár Dínári (the thousand Dínár Káfur),

the future favourite minister and famous general of Alá-ud-dín. About

fifty years later the hot-headed Muhammad bin Tughlak (A.D. 1325-1351)

was in Cambay quelling an insurrection and collecting the arrears of

Cambay revenue. [1305]

[Cheul.] Cheul (Saimúr). Al Masúdi (A.D. 943) is the first Arab

geographer to mention Saimúr. [1306] He says: On the coast as in

Saimúr Subára and Tána the Láriyyah language is spoken. In describing

Saimúr Al Masúdi states [1307] that at the time of his visit (H. 304;

A.D. 914) the ruler on behalf of the Balhára was Jhánjha (this is the

fifth Siláhára A.D. 916). Nearly ten thousand Musalmáns were settled

in Saimúr including some (called Bayásirah) born in the land of Arab

parents and others from Síráf and Persian Gulf, Basrah, Baghdád, and

other towns. A certain Músa bin Is-hák was appointed Raís or ruler

[1308] by the Balhára or Valabhi, that is the reigning Ráshtrakúta

Indra Nityamvarsha to adjudicate Muhammadan disputes according to

Musalmán law and customs. He describes [1309] at length the ceremony

of self-destruction by a Besar [1310] youth (a Hindu by religion)

to gain a better state in his future life, his scalping himself and

putting fire on his head, his cutting out a piece of his heart and

sending it to a friend as a souvenir.

Al Istakhri (A.D. 951) mentions Saimúr as one of the cities of Hind,

makes it the southern end of the Balhára kingdom with Kambáya as the

northern, [1311] and places it at a distance of five days from Sindán

(the Thána Sanján) and fifteen days from Sarandíb or Ceylon. [1312]

Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968) notices Saimúr as one of the cities of Hind

known to him and mentions the sea of Fárs (or the Indian Ocean)

as stretching from Saimúr on the east to Tíz or Makrán. [1313] He

states [1314] that the country between Saimúr and Támhal (Anhilawára)

belongs to Hind. He makes [1315] the distance between Subára (probably

Surabára or Swát), Sindán, and Saimúr five days each and between Saimúr

and Sarandib (Ceylon) fifteen days. Al Bírúni (A.D. 1020) says: [1316]

"Then you enter the land of Lárán in which is Saimúr also called Jaimúr

or Chaimúr." Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century) mentions Saimúr

as one of the towns of the second climate. [1317] He describes it as

large and well-built, five days from Sindán and among its products

notes cocoanut trees in abundance, henna (Lawsonia inermis), and on its

mountains many aromatic plants. [1318] His remark that Saimúr formed

a part of the vast, fertile, well-peopled and commercial kingdom of

the Balháras must be taken from the work of Al-Jauhari (A.D. 950).

Al Kazwíni (A.D. 1236) quoting Misâar bin Muhalhil (A.D. 942)

describes Saimúr as one of the cities of Hind near the confines

of Sind, [1319] whose people born of Turkish and Indian parents

are very beautiful. It was a flourishing trade centre with a mixed

population of Jews, Fireworshippers, Christians, and Musalmáns. [1320]

The merchandise of the Turks (probably of the Indo-Afghán frontier)

was conveyed thither and the best of aloes were exported and called

Saimúri after its name. The temple of Saimúr was on an eminence

with idols of turquoise and baidjadak or ruby. In the city were many

mosques churches synagogues and fire-temples.

[Chief Towns. Dholka.] Dholka (Dúlaka). Al Idrísi (end of the

eleventh century) places Dúlaka and another town he calls Hanáwal

that is Chunwal or Junawal perhaps Jháláwár between Bárúh (Broach)

and Nahrwára. He describes Dúlaka as on the banks of a river (the

Sábarmati) which flows into the sea, which forms an estuary or gulf

on the west (east) of which stands the town of Bárúh. Both these

towns, he adds, stand at the foot of a chain of mountains which lie

to the north and which are called Undaran apparently Vindhya. The kana

(bamboo) grows here as well as a few cocoanut trees. [1321]

[Goa.] Goa. See Sindábur.

[Gondal.] Gondal (Kondal). Ziá-ud-dín Barni in his Tárikh-i-Fíruz

Sháhi states [1322] that Sultán Muhammad Tughlak spent (A.D. 1349)

his third rainy season in Gujarát in Kondal (Gondal). Here the Sultán

assembled his forces before starting on his fatal march to Sindh.

[Capitals. Kachh.] Kachh. Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) is the only Arab

writer who refers to Kachh. He calls Kachh [1323] with Somnáth the

head-quarters of the country of the Bawárij or Medh pirates. Speaking

of the Indus he notices [1324] that one of its branches which reaches

the borders of Kachh is known as Sind Ságar. In a third passage he

refers [1325] to Kachh as the land of the mukl or balsamodendron

and of bádrúd or bezoar. It was twenty-four miles (6 farsangs)

from Debal (Karáchi). According to the Táríkh-i-Maâsúmi [1326] when

(A.D. 1069) the sovereignty of Sindh passed from the descendants

of Mahmúd of Ghazni to the Sumras, Singhar, the grandson of Sumra

(A.D. 1069) [1327] extended his sway from Kachh to Nasarpúr [1328]

near Sindh Haidarábád and Khafíf the son of Singhar consolidated his

power and made Kachh a Sumra dependency. [1329] Dúda the grandson of

Khafíf quelled a threatened Sumra rising by proceeding to Kachh and

chastising the Sammas. [1330] On the fall of the Sumras the Chauras

became masters of Kachh from whose hands the country passed to those

of the Sammas. Ground down under the iron sway of the Sumras a number

of Sammas fled from Sindh and entered Kachh where they were kindly

received by the Chauras who gave them land to cultivate. After

acquainting themselves with the country and the resources of its

rulers the Samma immigrants who seem to have increased in numbers and

strengthened themselves by union, obtained possession by stratagem but

not without heroism of the chief fortress of Kachh. [1331] This fort

now in ruins was the fort of Gúntrí. [1332] The Tárikh-i-Táhiri states

that up to the time the history was written (A.D. 1621) [1333] the

country was in the possession of the Sammas, both the Ráis Bhára and

Jám Sihta of great and little Kachh in his time being of Samma descent.

[Kaira.] Kaira (Karra). One mention of Karra apparently Kaira or Khedá

occurs in Ziá-ud-dín Barni's [1334] account of Muhammad Tughlak's

(A.D. 1325) pursuit of his rebellious Gujarát noble Tághi. He speaks

of Muhammad's detention for a month at Asáwal during the rains and

his overtaking and dispersing Tághi's forces at Karra. From Karra the

rebels fled in disorder to Nahrwára (Anhilwára). Several of Tághi's

supporters sought and were refused shelter by the Rána of Mándal that

is Pátri near Viramgám.

[Chief Towns. Kábirún.] Kábirún. Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh

century) mentions Kábirún and Asáwal as towns of the same 'section'

both of them populous, commercial, rich, and producing useful

articles. He adds that at the time he wrote the Musalmáns had made

their way into the greater portion of these countries and conquered

them. Kábirún like the Akabarou of the Periplus (A.D. 240) is perhaps

a town on the Káveri river in south Gujarát.

[Kambay.] Kambay. See Cambay.

[Kanauj.] Kanauj. Al Masúdi [1335] (A.D. 956) is the first Arab

traveller who gives an account of Kanauj. He says: [1336] The kingdom

of the Baûúra king of Kanauj extends about a hundred and twenty square

parasangs of Sindh, each parasang being equal to eight miles of this

country. This king has four armies according to the four quarters

of the world. Each of them numbers 700,000 or 900,000. The army of

the north wars against the prince of Multán and with his Musalmán

subjects on the frontier. The army of the south fights against

the Balhára king of Mánkír. The other two armies march to meet

enemies in every direction. Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968-976) says [1337]

that from the sea of Fárs to the country of Kanauj is three months

journey. Rashíd-ud-dín from Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1039) places [1338]

Kanauj south of the Himálayas and states [1339] that the Jamna falls

into the Ganga below Kanauj which is situated on the west of the river

(Ganga). The chief portion of Hind included in the "second climate"

is called the central land or Madhya Desh. He adds that the Persians

call it Kanauj. It was the capital of the great, haughty, and proud

despots of India. He praises the former magnificence of Kanauj,

which he says being now deserted by its ruler has fallen into neglect

and ruin, and the city of Bári, three days' journey from Kanauj on

the eastern side of the Ganges being now the capital. Kanauj was

celebrated for its descendants of the Pándavas as Máhura (Mathra)

is on account of Bás Dev (Krishna). Al Idrísi, end of the eleventh

century, speaks [1340] of Kanauj in connection with a river port

town of the name of Samandár "a large town, commercial and rich,

where there are large profits to be made and which is dependent"

on the rule of the Kanauj king. Samandár, he says, stands on a river

coming from Kashmír. To the north of Samandár at seven days is, he

says, the city of Inner Kashmír under the rule of Kanauj. The Chách

Námah (an Arabic history of great antiquity written before A.D. 753,

translated into Persian in the time of Sultán Násir-ud-dín Kabáchah)

(A.D. 1216) says [1341] that when Chách A.D. 631-670) advanced against

Akham Lohána of Brahmanábád that the Lohána wrote to ask the help of

"the king of Hindustán," that is Kanauj, at that time Satbán son of

Rásal, but that Akham died before his answer came.

[Kol.] Kol. Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) has Kol seventy-two miles (18

farsakhs) from Sanján in Kachh. [1342] And the Táj-ul-Mâásir [1343]

relates how in A.D. 1194 Kutb-ud-dín advanced to Kol and took the fort.

[Málkhet.] Málkhet (Mánkír). Al Masúdi (A.D. 943) is the first Arab

writer to mention Mánkír that is Mányákheta now Málkhet about sixty

miles south-east of Sholápúr. In relating the extinction of the great

Brahma-born dynasty of India Al Masúdi states [1344] that at the time

the city of Mánkír, the great centre of India, submitted to the kings

called the Balháras who in his time were still ruling at Mánkír. [1345]

Al Masúdi correctly describes the position of Málkhet as eighty

Sindh or eight-mile farsakhs that is six hundred and forty miles

from the sea in a mountainous country. Again he notices that the

language spoken in Mánkír was Kiriya, [1346] called from Karah or

Kanara the district where it was spoken. The current coin was the

Tártariyeh dirham (each weighing a dirham and a half) [1347] on which

was impressed the date of the ruler's reign. He describes the country

of the Balháras as stretching from the Kamkar (or Konkan) in the south

or south-west north to the frontiers of the king of Juzr (Gujarát),

"a monarch rich in men horses and camels." Al Istakhri (A.D. 951)

describes Mánkír as the dwelling of the wide-ruling Balhára. Ibni

Haukal (A.D. 968-976) repeats almost to the letter the information

given by Al Istakhri. The destruction of Málkhet (Mánya Kheta) by

the western Chálukya king Tailappa in A.D. 972 explains why none of

the writers after Ibni Haukal mentions Mánkír.

[Mándal.] Mándal. Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) enumerates Mándal

(in Viramgám) with Rúmla, [1348] Kuli, and Bárúh as countries

of Sindh. During the Khiláfat of Hishám the son of Abdul Malik

(A.D. 724-743) Junnaid son of Abdur Rahman-al-Murri was appointed to

the frontier of Sindh. According to Al Biláduri (A.D. 892) Junnaid

sent his officers to Mándal, [1349] Dahnaj perhaps Kamlej, and Báhrús

(Broach).

[Nárána.] Nárána. In his Indica Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) notices

Nárána near Jaipur as the ancient capital of Gujarát. He says that

its correct name is Bazánah but that "it is known to our people (the

Arabs) as Náráin." He places it eighty miles (20 farsakhs) south-west

of Kanauj, and adds that when it was destroyed the inhabitants

removed to and founded another city. [1350] Abú Rihán makes Nárána

the starting point of three itineraries to the south the south-west

and the west. Al Bírúni's details suffice to place this centre in the

neighbourhood of the modern Jaipúr and to identify it with Náráyan

the capital of Bairat of Matsya which according to Farishtah [1351]

Mahmúd of Ghazni took in A.D. 1022 (H. 412).

[Ránder.] Ránder (Ráhanjir or Rahanjúr). Al Bírúni (A.D. 1031) gives

[1352] Ráhanjúr and Báhrúj (Broach) as the capitals of Lar Desh or

south Gujarát. Elliot (Note 3. I. 61) writes the word Damanhúr or

Dahanhúr but the reading given by Sachau in his Arabic text of Al

Bírúni (page 100 chapter 18) is plainly Rahanjúr and the place

intended is without doubt Ránder on the right bank of the Tápti

opposite Surat. In his list of Indian towns Al Idrísi (end of the

eleventh century) seems to refer [1353] to it under the forms Jandúr

and Sandúr.

[Sanján.] Sanján (Sindán). The two Sanjáns, one in Kachh the other

in Thána, complicate the references to Sindán. Sindán in Kachh was

one of the earliest gains of Islám in India. Al Biláduri [1354]

(A.D. 892) speaks of Fazl, the son of Máhán, in the reign of the

greatest of the Abbási Khalífáhs Al-Mámún (A.D. 813-833), taking

Sindán and sending Al Mámún the rare present of "an elephant and

the longest and largest sáj or turban or teak spar ever seen." Fazl

built an assembly mosque that was spared by the Hindus on their

recapture of the town. Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) includes this

Kachh Sindán with Broach and other places in Gujarát among the

cities of Sindh. In his itinerary starting from Bakkar, he places

Sindán seventy-two miles [1355] (18 farsakhs) from Kol. Al Masúdi

(A.D. 915-944) states that Indian emeralds from (the Kachh) Sindán

and the neighbourhood of Kambáyat (Cambay) approached those of the

first water in the intensity of their green and in brilliance. As

they found a market in Makkah they were called Makkan emeralds. [1356]

Al Istakhri (A.D. 951) under cities of Hind places the Konkan Sindán

five days from Surabáya (Surabára or Surat) and as many from Saimúr

[1357] (Chewal). Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968) mentions (the Kachh) Sindán

among the cities of Hind, which have a large Musalmán population and

a Jámá Masjid [1358] or assembly mosque. Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031)

[1359] in his itinerary from Debal in Sindh places the Kokan 200 miles

(50 farsakhs) from that port and between Broach and Supára. At the

end of the eleventh century probably the Kachh Sindán was a large

commercial town rich both in exports and imports with an intelligent

and warlike, industrious, and rich population. Al Idrísi gives the

situation of the Konkan Sindán as a mile and a half from the sea and

five days from Saimúr (Cheval). [1360] Apparently Abul Fida [1361]

(A.D. 1324) confused Sindán with Sindábúr or Goa which Ibni Batúta

(A.D. 1340) rightly describes as an island. [1362]

[Port or Coast Towns. Sindábúr or Sindápúr.] Sindábúr or Sindápúr. Al

Masúdi (A.D. 943) places Sindápúr he writes it Sindábúra or Goa in

the country of the Bughara (Balhára) in India. [1363] Al Bírúni

(A.D. 1021) places Sindápúr or Sindábúr that is Goa as the first

of coast towns in Malabár the next being Fáknúr. [1364] Al Idrísi

(end of the eleventh century) describes Sindábúr as a commercial town

with fine buildings and rich bazaars in a great gulf where ships cast

anchor, four days along the coast [1365] from Thána.

[Somnáth.] Somnáth. Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) is the first of the Arab

writers to notice Somnáth. He calls Somnáth and Kachh the capital of

the Bawárij pirates who commit their depredations in boats called

baira. [1366] He places Somnáth (14 farsakhs) fifty-six miles from

Debal or Karáchi 200 miles (50 farsakhs) from Anhilwára and 180 miles

(60 yojánas) from Broach. He notes that the river Sarsút falls into

the sea an arrow-shot from the town. He speaks of Somnáth as an

important place of Hindu worship and as a centre of pilgrimage from

all parts of India. He tells of votaries and pilgrims performing

the last stage of their journey crawling on their sides or on their

ankles, never touching the sacred ground with the soles of their feet,

even progressing on their heads. [1367] Al Bírúni gives [1368] the

legendary origin of the Somnáth idol: how the moon loved the daughters

of Prajápati; how his surpassing love for one of them the fair Rohini

kindled the jealousy of her slighted sisters; how their angry sire

punished the partiality of the moon by pronouncing a curse which caused

the pallor of leprosy to overspread his face; how the penitent moon

sued for forgiveness to the saint and how the saint unable to recall

his curse showed him the way of salvation by the worship of the Lingam;

how he set up and called the Moon-Lord a stone which [1369] for ages

had lain on the sea shore less than three miles to the west of the

mouth of the Sarasvatí, and to the east of the site of the golden

castle of Bárwi (Verával) the residence of Básúdeo and near the scene

of his death and of the destruction of his people the Yádavas. The

waxing and the waning of the moon caused the flood that hid the Lingam

and the ebb that showed it and proved that the Moon was its servant

who bathed it regularly. Al Bírúni notices [1370] that in his time

the castellated walls and other fortifications round the temple were

not more than a hundred years old. Al Bírúni represents the upper part

of the Lingam as hung with massive and bejewelled gold chains. These

chains together with the upper half of the idol were, he observes,

carried away by the Emir [1371] Mahmúd to Ghazna, where a part of

the idol was used to form one of the steps of the Assembly Mosque and

the other part was left to lie with Chakra Swám, the Thánesar idol,

in the maidán or hippodrome of Mahmúd's capital. Somnáth, says Al

Bírúni, [1372] was the greatest of the Lingams worshipped in India

where in the countries to the south-west of Sindh the worship of

these emblems abounds. A jar of Ganges water and a basket of Kashmir

flowers were brought daily to Somnáth. Its worshippers believed the

stone to possess the power of curing all diseases, and the mariners

and the wanderers over the deep between Sofálá and China addressed

their prayers to it as their patron deity. [1373] Ibni Asír [1374]

(A.D. 1121) gives a detailed account of the temple of Somnáth and its

ancient grandeur. He says Somnáth was the greatest of all the idols of

Hind. Pilgrims by the hundred thousand met at the temple especially

at the times of eclipses and believed that the ebb and flow of the

tide was the homage paid by the sea to the god. Everything of the most

precious was brought to Somnáth and the temple was endowed with more

than 10,000 villages. Jewels of incalculable value were stored in the

temple and to wash the idol water from the sacred stream of the Ganga

was brought every day over a distance of two hundred farsangs (1200

miles). A thousand Bráhmans were on duty every day in the temple,

three hundred and fifty singers and dancers performed before the

image, and three hundred barbers shaved the pilgrims who intended to

pay their devotions at the shrine. Every one of these servants had a

settled allowance. The temple of Somnáth was built upon fifty pillars

of teakwood covered with lead. The idol, which did not appear to be

sculptured, [1375] stood three cubits out of the ground and had a girth

of three cubits. The idol was by itself in a dark chamber lighted by

most exquisitely jewelled chandeliers. Near the idol was a chain of

gold to which bells were hung weighing 200 mans. The chain was shaken

at certain intervals during the night that the bells might rouse fresh

parties of worshipping Bráhmans. The treasury containing many gold and

silver idols, with doors hung with curtains set with valuable jewels,

was near the chamber of the idol. The worth of what was found in the

temple exceeded two millions of dínárs (Rs. 1,00,00,000). According

to Ibni Asír Mahmúd reached Somnáth on a Thursday in the middle of

Zilkaáda H. 414 (A.D. December 1023). On the approach of Mahmúd

Bhím the ruler of Anhilvád fled abandoning his capital and took

refuge in a fort to prepare for war. From Anhilvád Mahmúd started

for Somnáth taking several forts with images which, Ibni Asír says,

were the heralds or chamberlains of Somnáth. Resuming his march he

crossed a desert with little water. Here he was encountered by an

army of 20,000 fighting men under chiefs who had determined not to

submit to the invader. These forces were defeated and put to flight

by a detachment sent against them by Mahmúd. Mahmúd himself marched

to Dabalwárah a place said by Ibni Asír to be two days journey from

Somnáth. When he reached Somnáth Mahmúd beheld a strong fortress whose

base was washed by the waves of the sea. The assault began on the

next day Friday. During nearly two days of hard fighting the invaders

seemed doomed to defeat. On the third the Musalmáns drove the Hindus

from the town to the temple. A terrible carnage took place at the

temple-gate. Those of the defenders that survived took themselves

to the sea in boats but were overtaken and some slain and the rest

drowned. [1376]

[Supára.] Supára (Subárá, Sufára, or Surbáráh.)--The references to

Subárá are doubtful as some seem to belong to Surabára the Tápti

mouth and others to Sopára six miles north of Bassein. The first

Arab reference to Subára belongs to Sopára. Al Masúdi's (A.D. 915)

[1377] reference is that in Saimúr (Cheval), Subára (Sopára), and

Tána (Thána) the people speak the Láriyáh language, so called from

the sea which washes the coast. On this coast Al Istakhri (A.D. 951)

[1378] refers to Subára that is apparently to Surabára or Surat a

city of Hind, four days from Kambáyah (Cambay). [1379]

Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968-976) mentions [1380] Surbárah apparently the

Tápti mouth or Surat as one of the cities of Hind four farsakhs,

correctly days, from Kambáyah and two miles (half farsakh) from

the sea. From Surbára to Sindán, perhaps the Kachh Sanján, he makes

ten days. Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) makes Subára perhaps the Thána

Sopára six days' journey from Debal [1381] (perhaps Diu). Al Idrísi

(A.D. 1100) mentions Subára apparently Sopára as a town in the second

climate, a mile and a half from the sea and five days (an excessive

allowance) from Sindán. It was a populous busy town, one of the

entrepôts of India and a pearl fishery. Near Subára he places Bára,

a small island with a growth of cactus and cocoanut trees. [1382]

[Surábára.] Surábára. See Supára.

[Capitals. Thána.] Thána (Tána).--That Thána was known to the Arabs in

pre-Islám times is shown by one of the first Musalmán expeditions to

the coast of India being directed against it. As early as the reign

of the second Khalifah Umar Ibnal Khattáb (A.D. 634-643; H. 13-23)

mention is made [1383] of Usmán, Umar's governor of Umán (the Persian

Gulf) and Bahrein, sending a successful expedition against Thána. Al

Masúdi (A.D. 943) refers to Thána on the shore of the Lárwi sea or

Indian Ocean, as one of the coast towns in which the Lárwi language is

spoken. [1384] Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) gives [1385] the distance from

Mahrat Desh (the Marátha country) to the Konkan "with its capital Tána

on the sea-shore" as 100 miles (25 farsakhs) and locates the Lár Desh

(south Gujarát) capitals of Báhrûj and Rahanjur (Broach and Ránder)

to the east of Thána. He places Thána with Somnáth Konkan and Kambáya

in Gujarát and notices that from Thána the Lár country begins. Al

Idrísi (end of the eleventh century) describes [1386] Thána as a

pretty town upon a great gulf where vessels anchor and from where

they set sail. He gives the distance from Sindábur (or Goa) to Thána

as four days' sail. From the neighbourhood of Thána he says the kana

or bamboo and the tabáshír or bamboo pith are transported to the east

and west. [1387]

[Vála or Valabhi.] Baráda (Porbandar).--Of the Arab attacks on the

great sea-port Vala or Valabhi, twenty miles west of Bhávnagar,

during the eighth and ninth centuries details are given Above pages

94-96. The manner of writing the name of the city attacked leaves it

doubtful whether Balaba that is Valabhi or Baráda near Porbandar is

meant. But the importance of the town destroyed and the agreement in

dates with other accounts leaves little doubt that the reference is

to Valabhi. [1388]

In the fourth year of his reign about A.D. 758 the Khalífah

Jaâfar-al-Mansúr [1389] (A.D. 754-775) the second ruler of the house

of Abbás appointed Hishám governor of Sindh. Hishám despatched a

fleet to the coast of Barádah, which may generally be read Balabha,

under the command of Amru bin Jamál Taghlabi. Tabari (A.D. 838-932)

and Ibni Asír (A.D. 1160-1232) [1390] state that another expedition

was sent to this coast in A.H. 160 (A.D. 776) in which though the

Arabs succeeded in taking the town, disease thinned the ranks of the

party stationed to garrison the port, a thousand of them died, and the

remaining troops while returning to their country were shipwrecked

on the coast of Persia. This he adds deterred Al Mahdi [1391]

(A.D. 775-785) the succeeding Khalífah from extending the eastern

limits of his empire. Besides against Balaba the Sindhi Arabs sent a

fleet against Kandhár apparently, though somewhat doubtfully, [1392]

the town of that name to the north of Broach where they destroyed

a temple or budd and built a mosque. Al Bírúni [1393] (A.D. 1030)

writing of the Valabhi era describes the city of Balabah as nearly

thirty jauzhans (yojanas) that is ninety miles to the south of

Anhilvára. In another passage [1394] he describes how the Bánia

Ránka sued for and obtained the aid of an Arab fleet from the Arab

lord of Mansúrah (built A.D. 750) for the destruction of Balaba. A

land grant by a Valabhi chief remains as late as A.D. 766. For this

reason and as the invaders of that expedition fled panic-struck by

sickness Valabhi seems to have continued as a place of consequence

if the expedition of A.D. 830 against Bala king of the east refers

to the final attack on Valabhi an identification which is supported

by a Jain authority which places the final overthrow of Valabhi at

888 Samvat that is A.D. 830. [1395]

[Kings.] Of the rulers of Gujarát between A.D. 850 and A.D. 1250

the only dynasty which impressed the Arabs was the Balháras of

Málkhet or Mányakheta (A.D. 630-972) sixty miles south-east of

Sholápúr. From about A.D. 736 to about A.D. 978, at first through

a more or less independent local branch and afterwards (A.D. 914)

direct the Ráshtrakútas continued overlords of most of Gujarát. The

Arabs knew the Ráshtrakútas by their title Vallabha or Beloved in

the case of Govind III. (A.D. 803-814), Prithivívallabha, Beloved

by the Earth, and of his successor the long beloved Amoghavarsha

Vallabhaskanda, the Beloved of Siva. Al Masúdi (A.D. 915-944) said:

Bálárái is a name which he who follows takes. So entirely did the

Arabs believe in the overlordship of the Ráshtrakútas in Gujarát

that Al Idrísi (A.D. 1100, but probably quoting Al Jauhari A.D. 950)

describes Nehrwalla as the capital of the Balarás. Until Dr. Bhandárkar

discovered its origin in Vallabha, the ease with which meanings could

be tortured out of the word and in Gujarát its apparent connection

with the Valabhi kings (A.D. 509-770) made the word Balarái a cause

of matchless confusion. [1396]

The merchant Sulaimán (A.D. 851) ranks the Balhára, the lord of Mánkír,

as the fourth of the great rulers of the world. Every prince in

India even in his own land paid him homage. He was the owner of many

elephants and of great wealth. He refrained from wine and paid his

troops and servants regularly. Their favour to Arabs was famous. Abu

Zaid (A.D. 913) says that though the Indian kings acknowledge the

supremacy of no one, yet the Balháras or Ráshtrakútas by virtue of

the title Balhára are kings of kings. Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912)

describes the Balháras as the greatest of Indian kings being as

the name imports the king of kings. Al Masúdi (A.D. 915) described

Balhára as a dynastic name which he who followed took. Though he

introduces two other potentates the king of Jurz and the Baûra or

Parmár king of Kanauj fighting with each other and with the Balhára

he makes the Balhára, the lord of the Mánkír or the great centre,

the greatest king of India [1397] to whom the kings of India bow

in their prayers and whose emissaries they honour. He notices that

the Balhára favours and honours Musalmáns and allows them to have

mosques and assembly mosques. When Al Masúdi was in Cambay the town

was ruled by Bánia, the deputy of the Balhára. Al Istakhri (A.D. 951)

describes the land from Kambáyah to Saimúr (Cheul) as the land of

the Balhára of Mánkír. In the Konkan were many Musalmáns over whom

the Balhára appointed no one but a Musalmán to rule. Ibni Haukal

(A.D. 970) describes the Balhára as holding sway over a land in which

are several Indian kings. [1398] Al Idrísi (A.D. 1100 but quoting

Al Jauhari A.D. 950) agrees with Ibni Khurdádbah that Balhára is a

title meaning King of Kings. He says the title is hereditary in this

country, where when a king ascends the throne he takes the name of

his predecessor and transmits it to his heirs. [1399]

[Condition.] That the Arabs found the Ráshtrakútas kind and liberal

rulers there is ample evidence. In their territories property was

secure, [1400] theft or robbery was unknown, commerce was encouraged,

foreigners were treated with consideration and respect. The Arabs

especially were honoured not only with a marked and delicate regard,

but magistrates from among themselves were appointed to adjudicate

their disputes according to the Musalmán law.

[The Gurjjaras.] The ruler next in importance to the Balhára was the

Jurz that is the Gurjjara king. It is remarkable, though natural,

that the Arabs should preserve the true name of the rulers of

Anhilváda which the three tribe or dynastic names Chápa or Chaura

(A.D. 720-956), Solanki or Cáulukya (A.D. 961-1242), and Vághela

(A.D. 1240-1290) should so long have concealed. Sulaimán (A.D. 851)

notices that the Jurz king hated Musalmáns while the Balhára king loved

Musalmáns. He may not have known what excellent reasons the Gurjjaras

had for hating the Arab raiders from sea and from Sindh. Nor would it

strike him that the main reason why the Balhára fostered the Moslem

was the hope of Arab help in his struggles with the Gurjjaras.

[Jurz.] According to the merchant Sulaimán [1401] (A.D. 851) the

kingdom next after the Balhára's was that of Jurz the Gurjjara king

whose territories "consisted of a tongue of land." The king of Jurz

maintained a large force: his cavalry was the best in India. He was

unfriendly to the Arabs. His territories were very rich and abounded

in horses and camels. In his realms exchanges were carried on in

silver and gold dust of which metals mines were said to be worked.

The king of Jurz was at war with the Balháras as well as with the

neighbouring kingdom of Táfak or the Panjáb. The details given under

Bhínmál page 468 show that Sulaimán's tongue of land, by which he

apparently meant either Káthiávád or Gujarát was an imperfect idea of

the extent of Gurjjara rule. At the beginning of the tenth century

A.D. 916 Sulaimán's editor Abu Zaid describes Kanauj as a large

country forming the empire of Jurz, [1402] a description which the

Gurjjara Vatsarája's success in Bengal about a century before shows

not to be impossible. Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) ranks the king of

Juzr as fourth in importance among Indian kings. According to him

"the Tátariya dirhams were in use in the Juzr kingdom." Al Masúdi

(A.D. 943) speaks of the Konkan country of the Balhára as on one

side exposed to the attacks of the king of Juzr a monarch rich in

men horses and camels. He speaks of the Juzr kingdom bordering

on Táfán apparently the Panjáb and Táfán as bounded by Rahma

[1403] apparently Burma and Sumátra. Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968-976)

notices that several kingdoms existed, including the domain of the

Siláháras of the north Konkan within the land of the Balhára between

Kambáyah and Saimúr. [1404] Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) uses not Juzr,

but Gujarát. [1405] Beyond that is to the south of Gujarát he places

Konkan and Tána. In Al Bírúni's time Náráyan near Jaipúr, the former

capital of Gujarát, had been taken and the inhabitants removed to a

town on the frontier. [1406] Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh century

really from tenth century materials) ranks the king of Juzr as the

fourth and the king of Sáfán or Táfán as the second in greatness to

the Balhára. [1407] In another passage in a list of titular sovereigns

Al Idrísi enters the names of Sáfir (Táfán) Hazr (Jazr-Juzr) and Dumi

(Rahmi). [1408] By the side of Juzr was Táfak (doubtfully the Panjáb)

a small state producing the whitest and most beautiful women in India;

the king having few soldiers; living at peace with his neighbours and

like the Balháras highly esteeming the Arabs. [1409] Ibni Khurdádbah

(A.D. 912) calls Tában the king next in eminence to the Balhára. [1410]

Al Masúdi (A.D. 943) calls Táfak the ruler of a mountainous country

like Kashmír [1411] with small forces living on friendly terms with

neighbouring sovereigns and well disposed to the Moslims. [1412] Al

Idrísi (end of eleventh century but materials of the tenth century)

notices Sáfán (Táfán) as the principality that ranks next to the

Konkan that is to the Ráshtrakútas.

[Rahma or Ruhmi.] Rahma or Ruhmi, according to the merchant Sulaimán

(A.D. 851) borders the land of the Balháras, the Juzr, and Táfán. The

king who was not much respected was at war with both the Juzr and

the Balhára. He had the most numerous army in India and a following

of 50,000 elephants when he took the field. Sulaimán notices a cotton

fabric made in Rahma, so delicate that a dress of it could pass through

a signet-ring. The medium of exchange was cowries Cypræa moneta shell

money. The country produced gold silver and aloes and the whisk of the

sámara or yák Bos poëphagus the bushy-tailed ox. Ibni Khurdádbah [1413]

(A.D. 912) places Rahmi as the sixth kingdom. He apparently identified

it with Al Rahmi or north Sumátra as he notes that between it and the

other kingdoms communication is kept up by ships. He notices that the

ruler had five thousand elephants and that cotton cloth and aloes

probably the well-known Kumári or Cambodian aloes, were the staple

produce. Al Masúdi (A.D. 943) after stating that former accounts of

Rahma's [1414] elephants, troops and horses were probably exaggerated,

adds that the kingdom of Rahma extends both along the sea and the

continent and that it is bounded by an inland state called Káman

(probably Kámarup that is Assam). He describes the inhabitants as

fair and handsome and notices that both men and women had their ears

pierced. This description of the people still more the extension of

the country both along the sea and along the continent suggests that

Masúdi's Al Rahmi is a combination of Burma which by dropping the B

he has mixed with Al Rahma. Lane identifies Rahmi [1415] with Sumátra

on the authority of an Account of India and China by two Muhammadan

Travellers of the Ninth Century. This identification is supported by

Al Masúdi's [1416] mention of Rámi as one of the islands of the Java

group, the kingdom of the Indian Mihráj. The absence of reference to

Bengal in these accounts agrees with the view that during the ninth

century Bengal was under Tibet.

[Products.] In the middle of the ninth century mines of gold and

silver are said to be worked in Gujarát. [1417] Abu Zaid (A.D. 916)

represents pearls as in great demand. The Tártáriyah, or according

to Al Masúdi the Táhiriyah dínárs of Sindh, fluctuating [1418] in

price from one and a half to three and a fraction of the Baghdád

dínárs, were the current coin in the Gujarát ports. Emeralds also

were imported from Egypt mounted as seals. [1419]

Ibni Khurdádbah [1420] (A.D. 912) mentions teakwood and the bamboo

as products of Sindán that is the Konkan Sanjan. [1421] Al Masúdi

(A.D. 943) notes that at the great fair of Multán the people of

Sindh and Hind offered Kumar that is Cambodian aloe-wood of the purest

quality worth twenty dínárs a man. [1422] Among other articles of trade

he mentions an inferior emerald exported from Cambay and Saimúr to

Makkah, [1423] the lance shafts of Broach, [1424] the shoes of Cambay,

[1425] and the white and handsome maidens of Táfán [1426] who were in

great demand in Arab countries. Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968-976) states that

the country comprising Fámhal, Sindán, Saimúr, and Kambáyah produced

mangoes cocoanuts lemons and rice in abundance. That honey could be

had in great quantities, but no date palms were to be found. [1427]

Al Bírúni (A.D. 1031) notices that its import of horses from Mekran

and the islands of the Persian Gulf was a leading portion of Cambay

trade. [1428] According to Al Idrísi (A.D. 1100) the people of Mámhal

[1429] (Anhilwára) had many horses and camels. [1430] One of the

peculiarities of the Nahrwála country was that all journeys were

made and all merchandise was carried in bullock waggons. Kambáyah

was rich in wheat and rice and its mountains yielded the Indian

kaná or bamboo. At Subára [1431] (Sopára) they fished for pearls

and Bára a small island close to Subára produced the cocoanut and

the costus. Sindán according to Al Idrísi produced the cocoa palm,

the ratan, and the bamboo. Saimúr had many cocoa palms, much henna

(Lawsonia inermis), and a number of aromatic plants. [1432] The hills

of Thána yielded the bamboo and tabáshír [1433] or bamboo pith. From

Saimúr according to Al Kazwíni (A.D. 1236, but from tenth century

materials) came aloes. Rashíd-ud-dín (A.D. 1310) states that in

Kambáyah, Somnáth, Kankan, and Tána the vines yield twice a year and

such is the strength of the soil that cotton-plants grow like willow

or plane trees and yield produce for ten years. He refers to the betel

leaf, to which he and other Arab writers and physicians ascribe strange

virtues as the produce of the whole country of Malabár. The exports

from the Gujarát coasts are said to be sugar (the staple product of

Málwa), bádrúd that is bezoar, and haldi that is turmeric. [1434]

According to Ibni Haukal (A.D. 170) from Kambáya to Saimúr the villages

lay close to one another and much land was under cultivation. [1435]

At the end [1436] of the eleventh century trade was brisk merchandise

from every country finding its way to the ports of Gujarát whose

local products were in turn exported all over the east. [1437]

The Ráshtrakúta dominion was vast, well-peopled, commercial, and

fertile. [1438] The people lived mostly on a vegetable diet, rice

peas beans haricots and lentils being their daily food. [1439] Al

Idrísi speaks of certain Hindus eating animals whose deaths had been

caused by falls or by being gored, [1440] but Al Masúdi states that the

higher classes who wore the "baldric like yellow thread" (the Janoi)

abstained from flesh. According to Ibni Haukal (A.D. 968-970) the

ordinary dress of the kings of Hind was trousers and a tunic. [1441]

He also notices that between Kambáyah and Saimúr the Muslims and

infidels wear the same cool fine muslin dress and let their beards

grow in the same fashion. [1442] During the tenth century on high

days the Balhára wore a crown of gold and a dress of rich stuff. The

attendant women were richly clad, wearing rings of gold and silver

upon their feet and hands and having their hair in curls. [1443]

At the close of the Hindu period (A.D. 1300) Rashíd-ud-dín describes

Gujarát as a flourishing country with no less than 80,000 villages and

hamlets the people happy the soil rich growing in the four seasons

seventy varieties of flowers. Two harvests repaid the husbandman,

the earlier crop refreshed by the dew of the cold season the late

crop enriched by a certain rainfall. [1444]

[Review.] In their intercourse with Western India nothing struck the

Arabs more than the toleration shown to their religion both by chief

and peoples. This was specially marked in the Ráshtrakúta towns where

besides free use of mosques and Jámá mosques Musalmán magistrates or

kázis were appointed to settle disputes among Musalmáns according to

their own laws. [1445] Toleration was not peculiar to the Balháras. Al

Bírúni records [1446] that in the ninth century (A.D. 581), when the

Hindus recovered Sindán (Sanján in Kachh) they spared the assembly

mosque where long after the Faithful congregated on Fridays praying

for their Khalífah without hindrance. In the Balhára country so

strongly did the people believe in the power of Islám or which is

perhaps more likely so courteous were they that they said that our

king enjoys a long life and long reign is solely due to the favour

shown by him to the Musalmáns. So far as the merchant Sulaimán saw

in the ninth century the chief religion in Gujarát was Buddhism. He

notices that the principles of the religion of China were brought from

India and that the Chinese ascribe to the Indians the introduction

of Buddhas into their country. Of religious beliefs metempsychoses

or re-birth and of religious practices widow-burning or satti and

self-torture seem to have struck him most. [1447] As a rule the dead

were burned. [1448] Sulaimán represents the people of Gujarát as steady

abstemious and sober abstaining from wine as well as from vinegar,

'not' he adds 'from religious motives but from their disdain of

it.' Among their sovereigns the desire of conquest was seldom the

cause of war. [1449] Abu Zaid (A.D. 916) describes the Bráhmans as

Hindus devoted to religion and science. Among Bráhmans were poets

who lived at kings' courts, astronomers, philosophers, diviners, and

drawers of omens from the flight of crows. [1450] He adds: So sure

are the people that after death they shall return to life upon the

earth, that when a person grows old "he begs some one of his family

to throw him into the fire or to drown him." [1451] In Abu Zaid's

time (A.D. 916) the Hindus did not seclude their women. Even the

wives of the kings used to mix freely with men and attend courts and

places of public resort unveiled. [1452] According to Ibni Khurdádbah

(A.D. 912) India has forty-two religious sects "part of whom believe

in God and his Prophet (on whom be peace) and part who deny his

mission." [1453] Ibni Khurdádbah (A.D. 912) describes the Hindus as

divided into seven classes. Of these the first are Thákarias [1454]

or Thákurs men of high caste from whom kings are chosen and to whom

men of the other classes render homage, the second are the Baráhmas

[1455] who abstain from wine and fermented liquors; the third are the

Katariya or Kshatrias who drink not more than three cups of wine;

the fourth are the Sudaria or Shudras husbandmen by profession;

the fifth are the Baisura or Vaish artificers and domestics; the

sixth Sandalias or Chandala menials; and the seventh the 'Lahúd,'

whose women adorn themselves and whose men are fond of amusements

and games of skill. Both among the people and the kings of Gujarát

[1456] wine was "unlawful and lawful" that is it was not used though

no religious rule forbade its use. According to Al Masúdi (A.D. 943)

a general opinion prevailed that India was the earliest home of order

and wisdom. The Indians chose as their king the great Bráhma who ruled

them for 366 years. His descendants retain the name of Bráhman and are

honoured as the most illustrious caste. They abstain from the flesh of

animals. [1457] Hindu kings cannot succeed before the age of forty nor

do they appear in public except on certain occasions for the conduct

of state affairs. Royalty and all the high offices of state [1458]

are limited to the descendants of one family. The Hindus strongly

disapprove of the use of wine both in themselves and in others not

from any religious objection but on account of its intoxicating and

reason-clouding qualities. [1459] Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) quoted

by Rashíd-ud-dín (A.D. 1310) states that the people of Gujarát are

idolators and notices the great penance-pilgrimages to Somnáth details

of which have already been given. [1460] Al Idrísi (end of the eleventh

century) closely follows Ibni Khurdádbah's (A.D. 912) division of the

people of India. The chief exception is that he represents [1461]

the second class, the Bráhmans, as wearing the skins of tigers and

going about staff in hand collecting crowds and from morn till eve

proclaiming to their hearers the glory and power of God. He makes

out that the Kastariás or Kshatriyas are able to drink three ratl

(a ratl being one pound troy) of wine and are allowed to marry

Bráhman women. The Sabdaliya or Chandal women, he says, are noted

for beauty. Of the forty-two sects he enumerates worshippers of

trees and adorers of serpents, which they keep in stables and feed

as well as they can, deeming it to be a meritorious work. He says

that the inhabitants of Kambáya are Buddhists (idolators) [1462] and

that the Balhára also worships the idol Buddha. [1463] The Indians,

says Al Idrísi [1464] (end of the eleventh century) are naturally

inclined to justice and in their actions never depart from it. Their

reputation for good faith, honesty, and fidelity to their engagements

brings strangers flocking to their country and aids its prosperity. In

illustration of the peaceable disposition of the Hindus, he quotes

the ancient practice of duhái or conjuring in the name of the king,

a rite which is still in vogue in some native states. When a man has

a rightful claim he draws a circle on the ground and asks his debtor

to step into the circle in the name of the king. The debtor never

fails to step in nor does he ever leave the circle without paying his

debts. Al Idrísi describes the people of Nahrwára as having so high

a respect for oxen that when an ox dies they bury it. "When enfeebled

by age or if unable to work they provide their oxen with food without

exacting any return." [1465]

APPENDIX VI.

WESTERN INDIA AS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. [1466]

Hêrodotos and Hekataios, the earliest Greek writers who make mention

of India, give no information in regard to Western India in particular.

[Ktêsias.] Ktêsias (c. 400 B.C.) learnt in Persia that a race of

Pygmies lived in India in the neighbourhood of the silver mines,

which Lassen places near Udaipur (Mewar). From the description of

these Pygmies (Phôtios. Bibl. LXXII. 11-12) it is evident that they

represent the Bhíls. Ktêsias also mentions (Phôtios. Bibl. LXXII. 8)

that there is a place in an uninhabited region fifteen days from

Mount Sardous, where they venerate the sun and moon and where for

thirty-five days in each year the sun remits his heat for the comfort

of his worshippers. This place must apparently have been somewhere

in Mârwâr, and perhaps Mount Âbu is the place referred to.

[Alexander.] Alexander (B.C. 326-25) did not reach Gujarát, and his

companions have nothing to tell of this part of the country. It is

otherwise with

[Megasthenês.] Megasthenês (c. 300 B.C.) who resided with Candragupta

as the ambassador of Seleukos Nikator and wrote an account of

India in four books, of which considerable fragments are preserved,

chiefly by Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian. His general account of the

manners of the Indians relates chiefly to those of northern India,

of whom he had personal knowledge. But he also gave a geographical

description of India, for Arrian informs us (Ind. VII) that he gave

the total number of Indian tribes as 118, and Pliny (VI. 17ff) does

in fact enumerate about 90, to whom may be added some seven or eight

more mentioned by Arrian. It is true that Pliny does not distinctly

state that he takes his geographical details from Megasthenês, and

that he quotes Seneca as having written a book on India. But Seneca

also (Pliny, VI. 17) gave the number of the tribes as 118 in which

he must have followed Megasthenês. Further, Pliny says (ibid.) that

accounts of the military forces of each nation were given by writers

such as Megasthenês and Dionysius who stayed with Indian kings: and

as he does not mention Dionysius in his list of authorities for his

Book VI., it follows that it was from Megasthenês that he drew his

accounts of the forces of the Gangaridæ, Modogalinga, Andaræ, Prasi,

Megallæ, Asmagi, Oratæ, Suarataratæ, Automula, Charmæ, and Pandæ

(VI. 19), names which, as will be shown below, betray a knowledge of

all parts of India. It is a fair inference that the remaining names

mentioned by Pliny were taken by him from Megasthenês, perhaps through

the medium of Seneca's work. The corruption of Pliny's text and the

fact that Megasthenês learnt the tribal names in their Prakrit forms,

make it extremely difficult to identify many of the races referred to.

That part of Pliny's account of India which may with some certainty

be traced back to Megasthenês begins with a statement of the stages

of the royal road from the Hypasis (Biás) to Palibothra (Patna)

(Nat. Hist. VI. 17). The next chapter gives an account of the Ganges

and its tributaries and mentions the Gangaridæ of Kalinga with

their capital Pertalis as the most distant nation on its banks. In

the 19th chapter, after an account of the forces of the Gangaridæ,

Pliny gives a list of thirteen tribes, of which the only ones that can

be said to be satisfactorily identified are Modogalinga (the three

Calingas: Caldwell Drav. Gr.), Molindæ (compare Mount Mâlindya of

Varâha Mihira Br. S. XIV.), and Thalutæ (McCrindle reads Taluctæ and

identifies with the Tâmraliptakas of Tamluk on the lower Ganges). He

next mentions the Andaræ (Andhras of Telingana) with thirty cities

100,000 foot 2000 horse and 1000 elephants. He then digresses to

speak of the Dardæ (Dards of the Upper Indus) as rich in gold and

the Setæ (of Mêwâr, Lassen) in silver, and next introduces the

Prasi (Prâcyas) of Palibothra (Pâtaliputra) as the most famous and

powerful of all the tribes, having 600,000 foot 30,000 horse and 8000

elephants. Inland from these he names the Monædes (Munda of Singbhúm)

and Suari (Savaras of Central India) among whom is Mount Maleus

(Mahendra Male?). Then after some account of the Iomanes (Yamunâ)

running between Methora (Mathurâ) and Chrysobora (McCrindle reads

Carisobora, Arrian Ind. VIII. Kleisobora = Krishnapura?) he turns to

the Indus, of some of whose nineteen tributaries he gives some account

in chapter 20. He then digresses to give an account of the coast of

India, starting from the mouth of the Ganges, whence to Point Calingon

(Point Godâvari) and the city of Dandaguda (Cunningham's Râja Mahendri,

but more probably the Dhanakataka or Dhenukâkata of the Western cave

inscriptions) he reckons 625 miles. The distance thence to Tropina

(Tirupanatara near Kochin according to Burgess) is 1225 miles. Next

at a distance of 750 miles is the cape of Perimula, where is the most

famous mart of India. Further on in the same chapter is mentioned a

city named Automula on the sea shore among the Arabastræ (or Salabastræ

and Oratæ, McCrindle) a noble mart where five rivers together flow

into the sea. There can hardly be a doubt that the two places are

the same, the two names being taken from different authorities,

and that the place meant is Chemula or Cheul (Ptolemy's Simulla)

the five rivers being those that flow into Bombay Harbour northward

of Cheul. The distance from Perimula to the Island of Patala in the

Indus is 620 miles. Pliny next enumerates as hill tribes between the

Indus and Jamna, shut in a ring of mountains and deserts for a space

of 625 miles, the Cæsi (the Kekioi of Arr. Ind. IV. and Kêkayas of

the Purânas, about the head waters of the Sutlej), the Cetriboni of

the woods (... Vana?), the Megallæ (Mêkalas) with 500 elephants and

unknown numbers of horse and foot, the Chrysei (Karûsha) Parasangæ

(Pârasava, corrupted by the likeness of its first three syllables

to the word parasanga, the Asmagi (Asmaka of Varâha Mihira) with

30,000 foot 300 elephants and 800 horse. These are shut in by the

Indus and surrounded by a circle of mountains and deserts for 625

miles. Next come the Dari and Suræ and then deserts again for 187

miles. Whether these are or are not correctly identified with the

Dhars and Saurs of Sindh, they must be placed somewhere to the north

of the Ran. Below them come five kingless tribes living in the hills

along the sea-coast--the Maltecoræ, Singhæ, Marohæ, Rarungæ, and

Moruni--none of whom are satisfactorily identified, but who may be

placed in Kachh. Next follow the Nareæ, enclosed by Mount Capitalia

(Âbu) the highest mountain in India, on the other side of which are

mines of gold and silver. The identification of Capitalia with Âbu is

probable enough, but the name given to the mountain must be connected

with the Kapishthala of the Purânas, who have given their name to

one of the recensions of the Yajur Veda, though Kaithal, their modern

representative, lies far away from Âbu in the Karnâl district of the

Panjâb, and Arrian places his kambistholoi (Ind. IV) about the head

waters of the Hydraôtês (Râvî). After Capitalia and the Nareæ come the

Oratæ with but ten elephants but numerous infantry. These must be the

Aparântakas of the inscriptions and purânas, Megasthenês having learnt

the name in a Prâkrit form (Avarâta, Orâta). The name of the next

tribe, who have no elephants but horse and foot only, is commonly read

Suarataratæ (Nobbe) but the preferable reading is Varetatæ (McCrindle)

which when corrected to Varelatæ represents Varalatta, the sixth

of the seven Konkans in the purânic lists (Wilson As. Res. XV. 47),

which occupied the centre of the Thána district and the country of

the wild tribe of the Varlîs. Next are the Odonbæores, whose name is

connected with the udumbara Ficus glomerata tree, and who are not the

Audumbari Sâlvas of Pânini (IV. i. 173) but must be placed in Southern

Thána. Next come the Arabastræ Oratæ (so read for Arabastræ Thorace

of Nobbe, and Salabastræ Horatæ of McCrindle) or Arabastra division

of the Oratæ or Konkanîs. Arabastra may be connected with the Ârava

of Varâha-Mihira's South-Western Division (Br. S. XIV. 17) where

they are mentioned along with Barbara (the seventh or northernmost

Konkan). This tribe had a fine city in a marsh infested by crocodiles

and also the great mart of Automula (Cheul) at the confluence of five

rivers, and the king had 1600 elephants 150,000 foot and 5000 horse,

and must therefore have held a large part of the Dakhan as well as

of the sea coast. Next to this kingdom is that of the Charmæ, whose

forces are small, and next to them the Pandæ (Pândya of Travancor)

with 300 cities 150,000 foot and 500 elephants. Next follows a list

of thirteen tribes, some of which St. Martin has identified with

modern Râjput tribes about the Indus, because the last name of the

thirteen is Orostræ, "who reach to the island of Patala," and may

be confidently identified with the Saurâshtra of Kâthiâvâda. We must

however assume that Megasthenês after naming the tribes of the west

coast enumerates the inland tribes of the Dakhan until he arrives at

the point from which he started. But the only identification that seems

plausible is that of the Derangæ with the Telingas or Telugus. Next

to the Orostræ follows a list of tribes on the east of the Indus

from south to north--the Mathoæ (compare Mânthava, a Bâhîka town

Pân. IV. ii. 117), Bolingæ (Bhâulingi, a Sâlva tribe Pân. IV. i. 173),

Gallitalutæ (perhaps a corruption of Tâilakhali, another Sâlva tribe,

ib.), Dimuri, Megari, Ardabæ, Mesæ (Matsya of Jaipur?), Abi, Suri,

(v. 1. Abhis Uri), Silæ, and then deserts for 250 miles. Next come

three more tribes and then again deserts, then four or five (according

to the reading) more tribes, and the Asini whose capital is Bucephala

(Jalâlpur) (Cunningham Anc. Geog. 177). Megasthenês then gives two

mountain tribes and ten beyond the Indus including the Orsi (Urasâ)

Taxilæ (Takshasilâ) and Peucolitæ (people of Pushkâlavatî). Of the

work of Dêïmachos, who went on an embassy to Allitrochadês (Bindusâra)

son of Candragupta, nothing is known except that it was in two books

and was reckoned the most untrustworthy of all accounts of India

(Strabo, II. i. 9).

[Ptolemy II.] Ptolemy II. Philadelphos (died 247 B.C.) interested

himself in the trade with India and opened a caravan road from

Koptos on the Nile to Berenikê on the Red Sea (Strabo, XVII. i. 45)

and for centuries the Indian trade resorted either to this port or

to the neighbouring Myos Hormos. He also sent to India (apparently

to Asoka) an envoy named Dionysius, who is said by Pliny (VI. 17)

to have written an account of things Indian of which no certain

fragments appear to remain. But we know from the fragments of

[Agatharkhides.] Agatharkhides (born c. 250 A.D.) who wrote in old age

an account of the Red Sea of which we have considerable extracts in

Diodôros (III. 12-48) and Phôtios (Müller's Geogr. Gr. Min. I. 111ff),

states that in his time the Indian trade with Potana (Patala) was in

the hands of the Sabæans of Yemen. (Müller, I. 191.) In fact it was

not until the voyages of Eudoxos (see below) that any direct trade

sprang up between India and Egypt. The mention of Patala as the mart

resorted to by the Arabs shows that we are still in Pliny's first

period (see below).

[The Baktrian Greeks.] The Baktrian Greeks extended their power into

India after the fall of the Mâurya empire (c. 180 B.C.) their leader

being Dêmêtrios son of Euthydêmos, whose conquests are referred to

by Justin (XLI. 6) and Strabo (XI. ii. 1). But the most extensive

conquests to the east and south were made by Menandros (c. 110

B.C.) who advanced to the Jumna and conquered the whole coast from

Pattalênê (lower Sindh) to the kingdoms of Saraostos (Surâshtra) and

Sigertis (Pliny's Sigerus?) (Strabo, XI. ii. 1). These statements of

Strabo are confirmed by the author of the Periplus (c. 250 A.D.) who

says that in his time drakhmai with Greek inscriptions of Menandros and

Apollodotos were still current at Barygaza (Per. 47). Apollodotos is

now generally thought to have been the successor of Menandros (C. 100

B.C.) (Brit. Museum Cat. of Bactrian Coins page xxxiii.). Plutarch

(Reip. Ger. Princ.) tells us that Menandros' rule was so mild, that on

his death his towns disputed the possession of his ashes and finally

divided them.

[Eudoxos of Cyzicus.] Eudoxos of Cyzicus (c. 117 B.C.) made in company

with others two very successful voyages to India, in the first of which

the company were guided by an Indian who had been shipwrecked on the

Egyptian coast. Strabo (II. iii. 4), in quoting the story of his doings

from Poseidônios, lays more stress upon his attempt to circumnavigate

Africa than upon these two Indian voyages, but they are of very great

importance as the beginnings of the direct trade with India.

[Eratosthenês.] The Geographers down to Ptolemy drew their knowledge

of India almost entirely from the works of Megasthenês and of the

companions of Alexander. Among them Eratosthenês (c. 275-194 B.C.),

the founder of scientific geography, deserves mention as having first

given wide currency to the notion that the width of India from west to

east was greater than its length from north to south, an error which

lies at the root of Ptolemy's distortion of the map. Eratosthenês'

critic Hipparkhos (c. 130 B.C.) on this point followed the more correct

account of Megasthenês, and is otherwise notable as the first to make

use of astronomy for the determination of the geographical position

of places.

[Strabo.] Strabo (c. 63 B.C.-23 A.D.) drew his knowledge of India,

like his predecessors, chiefly from Megasthenês and from Alexander's

followers, but adds (XV. i. 72) on the authority of Nikolaos of

Damascus (tutor to the children of Antony and Cleopatra, and envoy of

Herod) (an account of three Indian envoys from a certain king Pôros to

Augustus (ob. A.D. 14), who brought presents consisting of an armless

man, snakes, a huge turtle and a large partridge, with a letter in

Greek written on parchment offering free passage and traffic through

his dominions to the emperor's subjects. With these envoys came a

certain Zarmanokhêgas (Sramanâcârya, Lassen) from Bargosê (Broach, the

earliest mention of the name) who afterwards burnt himself at Athens,

"according to the ancestral custom of the Indians." The fact that

the embassy came from Broach and passed through Antioch shows that

they took the route by the Persian Gulf, which long remained one of

the chief lines of trade (Per. chap. 36). If the embassy was not a

purely commercial speculation on the part of merchants of Broach, it

is hard to see how king Pôros, who had 600 under-kings, can be other

than the Indo-Skythian Kozolakadaphes, who held Pôros' old kingdom

as well as much other territory in North-West India. This if correct

would show that as early as the beginning of our era the Indo-Skythian

power reached as far south as Broach. The fact that the embassy took

the Persian Gulf route and that their object was to open commercial

relations with the Roman empire seems to show that at this period

there was no direct trade between Broach and the Egyptian ports of the

Red Sea. Strabo however mentions that in his time Arabian and Indian

wares were carried on camels from Myos Hormos (near Râs Abu Somer)

on the Red Sea to Koptos on the Nile (XVII. i. 45 and XVI. iv. 24)

and dilates upon the increase of the Indian trade since the days of the

Ptolemies when not so many as twenty ships dared pass through the Red

Sea "to peer out of the Straits," whereas in his time whole fleets of

as many as 120 vessels voyaged to India and the headlands of Ethiopia

from Myos Hormos (II. v. 12 and XV. i. 13). It would seem that we have

here to do with Pliny's second period of Indian trade, when Sigerus

(probably Janjira) was the goal of the Egyptian shipmasters (see

below). Strabo learnt these particulars during his stay in Egypt with

Aelius Gallus, but they were unknown to his contemporary Diodôros who

drew his account of India entirely from Megasthenês (Diod. II. 31-42)

and had no knowledge of the East beyond the stories told by Jamboulos

a person of uncertain date of an island in the Indian Archipelago

(Bali, according to Lassen) (Diod. II. 57-60). Pomponius Mela (A.D. 43)

also had no recent information as regards India.

[Pliny.] Pliny (A.D. 23-79) who published his Natural History in

A.D. 77 gives a fairly full account of India, chiefly drawn from

Megasthenês (see above). He also gives two valuable pieces of

contemporary information:

(i) An account of Ceylon (Taprobanê) to which a freedman of Annius

Plocamus, farmer of the Red Sea tribute, was carried by stress of

weather in the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54). On his return the king

sent to the emperor four envoys, headed by one Rachias (VI. 22).

(ii) An account of the voyage from Alexandria to India by a course

which had only lately been made known (VI. 23). Pliny divides the

history of navigation from the time of Nearchus to his own age into

three periods:

(a) the period of sailing from Syagrus (Râs Fartak) in Arabia to Patalê

(Indus delta) by the south-west wind called Hippalus, 1332 miles;

(b) the period of sailing from Syagrus (Râs Fartak) to Sigerus

(Ptol. Milizêgyris, Peripl. Melizeigara, probably Janjíra, and perhaps

the same as Strabo's Sigertis);

(c) the modern period, when traffic went on from Alexandria to Koptos

up the Nile, and thence by camels across the desert to Berenice

(in Foul Bay), 257 miles. Thence the merchants start in the middle of

summer before the rising of the dogstar and in thirty days reach Okelis

(Ghalla) or Cane (Hisn Ghorab), the former port being most frequented

by the Indian trade. From Okelis it is a forty days' voyage to Muziris

(Muyyiri, Kranganur) which is dangerous on account of the neighbouring

pirates of Nitrias (Mangalor) and inconvenient by reason of the

distance of the roads from the shore. Another better port is Becare

(Kallada, Yule) belonging to the tribe Neacyndon (Ptol. Melkynda,

Peripl. Nelkynda) of the kingdom of Pandion (Pândya) whose capital

is Modura (Madura). Here pepper is brought in canoes from Cottonara

(Kadattanâdu). The ships return to the Red Sea in December or January.

It is clear that the modern improvement in navigation on which Pliny

lays so much stress consisted, not in making use of the monsoon wind,

but in striking straight across the Indian ocean to the Malabar

coast. The fact that the ships which took this course carried a

guard of archers in Pliny's time, but not in that of the Periplus,

is another indication that the direct route to Malabar was new and

unfamiliar in the first century A.D. The name Hippalus given to the

monsoon wind will be discussed below in dealing with the Periplus.

[Dionysios Periégétés.] Dionysios Periégétés who has lately been

proved to have written under Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) (Christ's

Griech. Litteratur Gesch., page 507) gives a very superficial

description of India but has a valuable notice of the Southern

Skythians who live along the river Indus to the east of the Gedrôsoi

(I. 1087-88).

[Klaudios Ptolemaios.] Klaudios Ptolemaios of Alexandria lived

according to Suidas under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (A.D. 161-180). He

compiled his account of India as part of a geographical description

of the then known world, and drew much of his materials from

Marinos of Tyre, whose work is lost, but who must have written about

A.D. 130. Ptolemy (or Marinos before him) had a very wide knowledge

of India, drawn partly from the relations of shipmasters and traders

and partly from Indian lists similar to those of the Purânas but drawn

up in Prâkrit. He seems to have made little if any use of Megasthenês

and the companions of Alexander. But his map of India is distorted by

the erroneous idea, which he took from Eratosthenês, that the width

of India from west to east greatly exceeded its length from north to

south. Ptolemy begins his description of India with the first chapter

of his seventh book, which deals with India within the Ganges. He

gives first the names of rivers, countries, towns, and capes along

the whole coast of India from the westernmost mouth of the Indus to

the easternmost mouth of the Ganges. He next mentions in detail the

mountains and the rivers with their tributaries, and then proceeds to

enumerate the various nations of India and the cities belonging to

each, beginning with the north-west and working southwards: and he

finally gives a list of the islands lying off the coast. In dealing

with his account of western India it will be convenient to notice

together the cities of each nation which he mentions separately under

the heads of coast and inland towns.

He gives the name of Indo-Skythia to the whole country on both sides of

the lower course of the Indus from its junction with the Koa (Kábul

river), and gives its three divisions as Patalênê (lower Sindh)

Abiria (read Sabiria, that is Sauvîra or upper Sindh and Multân)

and Surastrênê (Surâshtra or Kâthiâvâda). We have seen that Dionysios

knew the southern Skythians of the Indus, and we shall meet with them

again in the Periplus (chapter 38ff).

He enumerates seven mouths of the Indus, but the river is so constantly

changing its course that it is hopeless to expect to identify all the

names given by him (Sagapa, Sinthôn, Khariphron, Sapara, Sabalaessa,

and Lônibare) with the existing channels. Only it may be noted that

Sinthôn preserves the Indian name of the river (Sindhu) and that the

easternmost mouth (Lônibare) probably represents both the present

Korî or Launî and the Lûnî river of Mârwâr, a fact which goes some

way to explain why Ptolemy had no idea of the existence of Kachh,

though he knows the Ran as the gulf of Kanthi. Hence he misplaces

Surastrênê (Surâshtra or Kâthiâvâda) in the Indus delta instead of

south of the Ran. Ptolemy enumerates a group of five towns in the

north-western part of Indo-Skythia (Kohat, Bannu, and Dera Ismail

Khân) of which Cunningham (Anc. Geog. pages 84ff) has identified

Banagara with Bannu, and Andrapana with Daraban, while the sites of

Artoarta, Sabana, and Kodrana are unknown. Ptolemy next gives a list

of twelve towns along the western bank of the Indus to the sea. Of

these Embolima has been identified by Cunningham (Anc. Geog. page

52) with Amb sixty miles above Attok, and Pasipêda is identified by

St. Martin with the Besmaid of the Arab geographers and placed near

Mithankot at the junction of the Chenab with the Indus. Sousikana,

which comes next in the list to Pasipêda, is generally thought to be

a corruption of Mousikanos, and is placed by the latest authority

(General Haig, The Indus Delta Country, page 130) in Bahâwalpur,

though Cunningham (Anc. Geog. page 257) puts it at Alor, which is

somewhat more in accordance with Ptolemy's distances. Kôlaka the

most southerly town of the list, cannot well be the Krôkala of Arrian

(Karâchi) as McCrindle supposes, for Ptolemy puts it nearly a degree

north of the western mouth of the Indus.

The two great towns of the delta which Ptolemy next mentions,

are placed by General Haig, Patala at a point thirty-five miles

south-east of Haidarâbâd (op. cit. page 19) and Barbarei near Shâh

Bandar (op. cit. page 31). Barbarei is mentioned again in the Periplus

(chapter 38) under the name of Barbarikon. Ptolemy gives the names of

nine towns on the left bank of the Indus from the confluence to the

sea, but very few of them can be satisfactorily identified. Panasa

can only be Osanpur (St. Martin) on Fluellen's principles. Boudaia

must represent the Budhîya of the Arabs, though it is on the wrong

side of the river (see Haig, op. cit. page 57ff). Naagramma may with

Yule be placed at Naushahro. Kamigara cannot be Aror (McCrindle),

if that place represents Sousikana. Binagara is commonly thought to

be a corrupt reading of Minnagara (compare Periplus chapter 38). Haig

(op. cit. page 32 note 47) refers to the Tuhfatu'l Kirâm as mentioning

a Minnagar in pargana Shâhdâdpur (north-east of Haidarâbâd). Parabali,

Sydros, and Epitausa have not been identified, but must be looked

for either in Haidarâbâd or in Thar and Pârkar. Xoana may with Yule

be identified with Siwana in the bend of the Lûnî and gives another

indication that Ptolemy confounded the Lûnî with the eastern mouth

of the Indus.

On the coast of Surastrênê (Kâthiâvâda) Ptolemy mentions, first, the

island of Barakê (Dvârakâ Bêt): then the city Bardaxêma which must

be Porbandar (Yule), in front of the Barada hills: then the village

of Surastra, which perhaps represents Verâval, though it is placed

too far north. Surastra cannot well be Junâgad (Lassen) which is not

on the coast and in Ptolemy's time was not a village, but a city,

though it is certainly strange that Ptolemy does not anywhere mention

it. Further south Ptolemy places the mart of Monoglôsson (Mangrol). The

eastern boundary of the coast of Indo-Skythia seems to have been the

mouth of the Môphis (Mahî). Ptolemy's account of Indo-Skythia may be

completed by mentioning the list of places, which he puts to the east

of the Indus (i. e. the Lûnî) and at some distance from it.

These are: Xodrakê, which has not been identified, but which must be

placed somewhere in Mewâr, perhaps at the old city of Pûr, seventy-two

miles north-east of Udaipur, or possibly at the old city of Ahar,

two miles from Udaipur itself (Tod's Râjasthân, I. 677-78).

Sarbana, which is marked in Ptolemy's map at the head-waters of the

Mahî in the Apokopa mountains (Aravallis), must be identified with

Sarwan about ten miles north-west of Ratlâm. There is also a place

called Sarwanio close to Nimach, which Ptolemy may have confused

with Sarwan.

Auxoamis, which St. Martin identifies with Sûmî, and Yule with Ajmir,

but neither place suits the distance and direction from Sarwan. If

Ptolemy, as above suggested, confused Sarwan and Sarwanio, Auxoamis

may be Ahar near Udaipur, Pûr being then Xodrakê: otherwise Auxoamis

may be Ídar. The question can only be settled by more exact knowledge

of the age of Ahar and of Ídar. Orbadarou may provisionally with Yule

be placed at Âbu.

Asinda must be looked for near Sidhpur, though it cannot with

St. Martin be identified with that place. Perhaps Vadnagar (formerly

Ânandapura and a very old town) may be its modern representative.

Theophila may be Devaliya (Yule) or Thân (Burgess) in north-east

Kâthiâvâda.

Astakapra is admitted to be Hastakavapra or Hâthab near Bhâvnagar

(Bühler).

Larikê is described by Ptolemy next after Indo-Skythia on his

way down the West Coast. The northern limit of its coast was the

mouth of the river Môphis (Mahî). Its name is the Lâta of purânas

and inscriptions. Ptolemy mentions as on its coast the village of

Pakidarê, which may be a misreading for Kâpidarê and represent Kâvî

(Kâpikâ of inscriptions) a holy place just south of the Mahî. Next

comes Cape Maleô, which Ptolemy both in his text and in his map

includes in Larikê, though there is no prominent headland in a suitable

position on the east side of the Gulf of Cambay. As he puts it 2 1/4

degrees west of Broach, it may probably be identified with Gopnâth

Point in Kâthiâvâda on the other side of the gulf (the Pâpikê of

the Periplus), his name for it surviving in the neighbouring shoals

known as the Malai banks. It is in agreement with this that Ptolemy

puts the mouth of the river Namados (Narmadâ) to the north of Cape

Maleô. South of the river is Kamanê which may be identified with the

Kamanijja or Karmanêya of inscriptions, that is with Kamlej on the

Taptî above Surat. It has been supposed to be the Kammôni of the

Periplus (chapter 43), which was the village opposite to the reef

called Hêrônê on the right (east) of the gulf of Barygaza: but it is

perhaps best to separate the two and to identify Kammôni with Kim,

north of Olpâd. The next town mentioned is Nousaripa, which should

probably be read Nousarika, being the Navasârikâ of inscriptions and

the modern Nausârî. The most southerly town of Larikê is Poulipoula,

which has been identified with Phulpâdâ or old Surat, but is too far

south. Bilimora is perhaps the most likely position for it, though the

names do not correspond (unless Pouli is the Dravidian Puli or poli =

a tiger, afterwards replaced by Bili = a cat). Ptolemy begins his list

of the inland cities of Larikê with Agrinagara, which may with Yule

be identified with Âgar, thirty-five miles north-east of Ujjain, and

the Âkara of inscriptions. The next town is Siripalla, which has not

been identified, but should be looked for about thirty miles to the

south-east of Agar, not far from Shâhjahânpur. The modern name would

probably be Shirol. Bammogoura must be identified, not with Pawangad

(Yule), but with Hiuen Tsiang's "city of the Brâhmans" (Beal, Si-yu-ki,

II. 262), 200 li (about 33 miles) to the north-west of the capital

of Mâlava in his time. The distance and direction bring us nearly to

Jaora. Sazantion and Zerogerei have not been satisfactorily identified

but may provisionally be placed at Ratlâm and Badnawar respectively, or

Zêrogerei may be Dhâr as Yule suggested. Ozênê the capital of Tiastanês

is Ujjain the capital of the Kshatrapa Cashtana who reigned c. 130

A.D. His kingdom included Western Mâlwâ, West Khándesh, and the whole

of Gujarát south of the Mahî. His grandson Rudradâman (A.D. 150) tells

us in his Girnâr inscription (I. A. VII. 259) that his own kingdom

included also Mârwâr Sindh and the lower Panjâb. Next to Ujjain Ptolemy

mentions Minnagara, which must have been somewhere near Mânpur. Then

we come to Tiatoura or Chândor (Yule) on the ridge which separates

Khándesh from the valley of the Godâvari, and finally on that river

itself Nasika the modern Nâsik. It is very doubtful whether Nâsik

at any time formed part of the dominions of Cashtana, since we know

from the inscriptions in the Nâsik caves that the Kshatrapas were

driven out of that part of the country by Gautamîputra Sâtakarni,

the father of Ptolemy's contemporary Pulumâyi. Ptolemy probably found

Nâsik mentioned in one of his lists as on a road leading from Ujjain

southwards and he concluded that they belonged to the same kingdom.

Ariakê of the Sadinoi included the coast of the Konkan as far south

as Baltipatna (near Mahâd) and the Deccan between the Godâvari and

the Krishna. The name occurs in Varâha Mihira's Brihat Samhitâ XIV. in

the form Âryaka. The tribal name Sadinoi is less easy to explain. The

suggested connection with the word Sâdhana as meaning an agent (Lassen)

and its application to the Kshatrapas of Gujarát, are not tenable. The

only authority for this meaning of Sâdhana is Wilson's Sanskrit

Dictionary, and at this time it is certain that Ariakê belonged,

not to the Kshatrapas of Gujarát, but to the Sâtakarnis of Paithan on

the Godâvari. Bhândârkar's identification of the Sadinoi with Varâha

Mihira's Sântikas seems also somewhat unsatisfactory. Ptolemy's name

may possibly be a corruption of Sâtakarni or Sâtavâhana. The coast

towns of this region were Soupara (Supârâ near Bassein), south of

which Ptolemy places the river Goaris (Vaitaranî), Dounga (perhaps

Dugád ten miles north of Bhiwndi) south of which is the Bênda river

(Bhiwndî Creek), Simylla, a mart and a cape, the Automula and Perimula

of Pliny and the modern Cheul (Chemula); Milizêgyris an island, the

same as the Melizêigara of the Periplus and (probably) as the Sigerus

of Pliny and the modern Janjîra; Hippokoura, either Ghodegâon or Kudâ

(Yule) in Kolâbâ district; Baltipatna, probably the Palaipatmai of

the Periplus and the same as Pâl near Mahâd.

The inland dominions of the Sadinoi were much more extensive than

their coast line. Ptolemy gives two lists of cities, one of those

lying to the west (i. e. north) of the Bênda, whose course in the

Deccan represents the Bhîmâ river, and the other of those between the

Bênda and the Pseudostomos (here the Mâlprabhâ and Krishna or possibly

the Tungabhadra with its tributaries). The most easterly towns in the

first list, Malippala and Sarisabis, are not satisfactorily identified,

but must be looked for in the Nizâm's country to the south-east of

Haidarâbâd. Next comes Tagara mentioned in the Periplus (chapter

51) as ten days east from Paithan, and therefore about the latitude

of Kulbarga, with which it is identified by Yule. The distance and

direction make its identification with Deogir (Wilford and others),

Junnar (Bhagwanlâl), or Kolhâpur (Fleet) impossible. The best

suggestion hitherto made is that it is Dârur or Dhârur (Bhândârkar),

but Dârur in the Bhîr district is too far north, so Dhârur fifty

miles west of Haidarâbâd must be taken as the most likely site. Next

to Tagara Ptolemy mentions Baithana, which is the Paithana of the

Periplus and the modern Paithan on the Godâvari. It is called by

our author the capital of Siroptolemaios, who is the Srî-Pulumâyi

of the Nâsik cave inscriptions. Next to Baithana comes Deopali,

which may safely be identified with the modern Deoli in the suburbs

of Ahmadnagar. Gamaliba, the next stage, must be placed somewhere on

the line between Ahmednagar and Junnar, which latter ancient town is

to be identified with Ptolemy's Omênogara, although this name is not

easy to explain.

The second list of towns in Ariakê begins with Nagarouris (Nagarapurî)

which probably represents Poona which even then must have been a

place of importance, being at the head of the great road down the

Bhorghat. Tabasô (compare Varâha Mihira's Tâpasâsrâmâh and Ptolemy's

own Tabasoi) may be the holy city of Pandharpur. Indê has retained

its ancient name (Indî in the north of the Bîjâpur district). Next

follows Tiripangalida (Tîkota in the Kurundwâd State ?) and then

Hippokoura, the capital of Baleokuros. Dr. Bhândârkar has identified

this king with the Vilivâyakûra of coins found in the Kolhápur

state. His capital may possibly be Hippargi in the Sindgi taluka of

the Bîjâpur district. Soubouttou, the next town on Ptolemy's list,

is not identifiable, but the name which follows, Sirimalaga, must be

Sirnâl in the Bîjâpur taluka of the same district.

Kalligeris may be identified not with Kanhagiri (McCrindle) but with

Galgali at the crossing of the Krishna, and Modogoulla is not Mûdgal

(McCrindle) but Mudhol on the Ghâtprabhâ. Petirgala should probably

read Penengala, and would then represent the old town of Panangala

or Hongal in the Dhârvâd district. The last name on the list is

Banaouasei, which is Vanavâsî, about ten miles from Sirsi in Kanara,

a very old town where a separate branch of the Sâtakarnis once ruled.

The Pirate Coast is the next division of Western India described by

Ptolemy, who mentions five sea-ports but only two inland cities. It is

clear that the pirates were hemmed in on the land side by the dominions

of the Sâtakarnis, and that they held but little territory above the

ghâts, though their capital Mousopallê was in that region. The places

on the coast from north to south were Mandagara, the Mandagara of

the Periplus (chapter 53) which has been satisfactorily identified

with Mandangad to the south of the Bânkot creek.

Byzantion, which, as Dr. Bhândârkar first pointed out, is the

Vaijayantî of inscriptions may be placed either at Chiplun or at

Dábhol at the mouth of the Vâsishthî river. Chiplun is the only

town of great antiquity in this part of the Konkan, and if it is not

Vaijayantî Ptolemy has passed over it altogether. The similarity of

the names has suggested the identification of Byzantion with Jaygad

(Bhândârkar) or Vijayadrug (Vincent), but both these places are

comparatively modern. There are indeed no very ancient towns in the

Konkan between Sangamêshvar and the Sâvantvâdi border.

Khersonêsos is generally admitted to be the peninsula of Goa.

Armagara is placed a little to the north of the river Nanagouna and

may be represented by Cape Ramas in Portuguese territory.

The river Nanagouna here is generally supposed to be the Kâlînadî,

though in its upper course it seems to represent the Taptî, and a

confusion with the Nânâ pass led Ptolemy to bring it into connection

with the rivers Goaris and Bênda (Campbell).

Nitra, the southernmost mart on the pirate coast, is the Nitrias of

Pliny, and has been satisfactorily identified by Yule with Mangalor

on the Nêtravatî.

The inland cities of the Pirates are Olokhoira and Mousopallê the

capital, both of which must be sought for in the rugged country about

the sources of the Krishna and may provisionally be identified with the

ancient towns of Karâd and Karvîr (Kolhápur) respectively. To complete

Ptolemy's account of this coast it is only necessary to mention the

islands of Heptanêsia (Burnt Islands ?) Trikadiba and Peperinê. We

are not here concerned with his account of the rest of India.

[Bardesanês.] Bardesanês met at Babylon certain envoys sent from

India to the emperor Antoninus Pius (A.D. 154-181) and received from

Damadamis and Sandanês, who were of their number, accounts of the

customs of the Brâhmans and of a rock temple containing a statue of

Siva in the Ardhanârî form. Lassen (III. 62 and 348) connects Sandanês

with the Sadinoi and places the temple in Western India, but neither of

these conclusions is necessary. The object of the embassy is unknown.

[Periplus.] The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, formerly though wrongly

attributed to Arrian (150 A.D.), is an account of the Egyptian trade

with East Africa and India, written by a merchant of Alexandria for

the use of his fellows. It is preserved in a single manuscript which

in some places is very corrupt. The age of this work has been much

disputed: the chief views as to this matter are,

(i) that the Periplus was written before Pliny and made

use of by him (Vincent, Schwanbeck, and Glaser). The

arguments of Vincent and Schwanbeck are refuted by Müller

(Geogr. Gr. Min. I. xcviii.) Glaser's case is (Ausland 1891,

page 45) that the Malikhas of the Periplus is Malchos III. of

Nabathæa (A.D. 49-71), that the Periplus knows Meroê as capital

of Ethiopia, while at the time of Nero's expedition to East

Africa (A.D. 68), it had almost vanished, and lastly that the

author of the Periplus is Basilis or Basilês, whom Pliny names

as an authority for his Book VI. It may be replied that Malikhas

is the title Malik and may have been applied to any Arab Sheikh

(Reinaud): that the Periplus does not with certainty mention

Meroê at all: and that Basilis whether or not a contemporary of

Ptolemy Philadelphos was at any rate earlier than Agatharkhidês

(c. 200 B.C.), who quotes him (Geog. Gr. Min. I. 156);

(ii) that the Periplus was written at the same time as Pliny's

work, but neither used the other (Salmasius). This view is

refuted by Müller (op. cit. page 155);

(iii) that the Periplus was written after 161 A.D. (Dodwell);

Müller has shown (ibid.) that Dodwell's arguments are

inconclusive;

(iv) the received view that the Periplus was written between

A.D. 80 and A.D. 89 (Müller);

(v) that the Periplus was written about the middle of the third

century (Reinaud Mém. de l'Ac. des Inscr. XXIV. Pt. ii.

translated in I. A. VIII. pages 330ff).

The only choice lies between the view of Müller and that of

Reinaud. Müller argues for a date between A.D. 80 and A.D. 89, because

the Periplus knows no more than Pliny of India beyond the Ganges,

whereas Ptolemy's knowledge is much greater: because the Periplus calls

Ceylon Palaisimoundou, which is to Ptolemy (VII. iv. 1) an old name:

because the Nabathæan kingdom, which was destroyed A.D. 105, was still

in existence at the time of the Periplus: because the Periplus account

of Hippalos shows it to be later than Pliny: and because the Periplus

mentions king Zôskalês, who must be the Za Hakalê of the Abyssinian

lists who reigned A.D. 77-89. It may be replied that the Periplus is

not a geography of Eastern Asia, but a guide book for traders with

certain ports only: that Ptolemy must have found in his lists three

names for Ceylon, Taprobanê, Palaisimoundou, and Salikê, and that

he has wrongly separated Palai from Simoundou, taking it to mean

"formerly" and therefore entered Simoundou as the old and Salikê as

the modern name, [1467] whereas all three names were in use together:

that the Nabathæan king Malikhas was simply the Sheikh of the tribe

(Reinaud), and points to no definite date: that the Periplus' account

of Hippalos is certainly later than Pliny: and that the Zôskalês of

the Periplus is the Za Sâgal or Za Asgal of the Abyssinian lists,

who reigned A.D. 246-47 (Reinaud).

It follows that Reinaud's date for the Periplus (A.D. 250) is the only

one consistent with the facts and especially with the Indian facts. As

will appear below, the growth of the Hippalos legend since Pliny's

time, the rival Parthians in Sindh, the mention of Mambaros and the

supplanting of Ozênê by Minnagara as his capital since Ptolemy's time,

the independence of Baktria, and the notices of Saraganês and Sandanês,

are all points strongly in favour of Reinaud's date.

In the time of the Periplus the ships carrying on the Indian trade

started from Myos Hormos (near Ras Abu Somer) or Berenikê (in Foul Bay)

and sailed down the Red Sea to Mouza (Musa twenty-five miles north

of Mokhâ), and thence to the watering place Okêlis (Ghalla) at the

Straits. They then followed the Arabian coast as far as Kanê (Hisn

Ghurâb in Hadramaut) passing on the way Eudaimôn Arabia (Aden) once

a great mart for Indian traders, but lately destroyed by king Elisar

(Müller's conjecture for KAISAR of the MS.) From Kanê the routes to

India diverge, some ships sailing to the Indus and on to Barygaza,

and others direct to the ports of Limyrikê (Malabár Coast). There

was also another route to Limyrikê, starting from Arômata (Cape

Guardafui). In all three voyages the ships made use of the monsoon,

starting from Egypt in July. The monsoon was called Hippalos, according

to the Periplus (chapter 57), after the navigator who first discovered

the direct course across the sea, and it has been inferred from Pliny's

words (VI. 23) that this pilot lived in the middle of the first century

A.D. But Pliny's own account shows that, as we should expect, the

progress from a coasting to a direct voyage was a gradual one, with

several intermediate stages, in all of which the monsoon was more or

less made use of. There was therefore no reason for naming the wind

from the pilot who merely made the last step. Further though Pliny

knows Hippalus as the local name of the monsoon wind in the eastern

seas, he says nothing of its having been the name of the inventor of

the direct course. The inference seems to be that Hippalos the pilot

is the child of a seaman's yarn arising out of the local name of the

monsoon wind, and that his presence in the Periplus and not in Pliny

shows that the former writer is much later than the latter.

The merchant bound for Skythia (Sindh) before he reaches land, which

lies low to the northward, meets the white water from the river Sinthos

(Indus) and water snakes (chapter 38). The river has seven mouths,

small and marshy all but the middle one, on which is the port of

Barbarikon (Shâhbandar, Haig, page 31) whence the merchants' wares

are carried up by river to the capital Minnagar (near Shâhdâdpur,

Haig, page 32), which is ruled by Parthians who constantly expel

one another (chapter 39). These contending Parthians must have been

the remnant of the Karên Pahlavs who joined with the Kushâns to

attack Ardeshir Pâpakân (Journ. As. [1866] VII. 134). The imports

are clothing, flowered cottons, topazes, coral, storax, frankincense,

glass vessels, silver plate, specie, and wine: and the exports costus

(spice), bdellium (gum), yellow dye, spikenard, emeralds, sapphires,

furs from Tibet, cottons, silk thread, and indigo. The list of

imports shows that the people of Skythia were a civilised race and

by no means wild nomads.

The Periplus next (chapter 40) gives an accurate account of the Ran

(Eirinon) which in those days was probably below sea level (Haig, page

22, Burnes' Travels into Bokhara, III. 309ff), and was already divided

into the Great and the Little. Both were marshy shallows even out of

sight of land and therefore dangerous to navigators. The Ran was then

as now bounded to south and west by seven islands, and the headland

Barakê (Dvârakâ) a place of special danger of whose neighbourhood

ships were warned by meeting with great black water-snakes.

The next chapter (41) describes the gulf of Barygaza (gulf of Cambay)

and the adjoining land, but the passage has been much mangled

by the copyist of our only MS. and more still by the guesses of

editors. According to the simplest correction (hêrostês' Ariakêschôra)

our author says that next after Barakê (Dvârakâ) follows the gulf

of Barygaza and the country towards Ariakê, being the beginning of

the kingdom of Mambaros and of all India. Mambaros may possibly be a

corruption of Makhatrapos or some similar Greek form of Mahâkshatrapa,

the title of the so-called "Sâh Kings" who ruled here at this period

(A.D. 250). According to the reading of the MS. the author goes on

to say that "the inland part of this country bordering on the Ibêria

(read Sabiria = Sauvîra) district of Skythia is called ... (the

name, perhaps Maru, has dropped out of the text), and the sea-coast

Syrastrênê (Surâshtra)." The country abounded then as now in cattle,

corn, rice, cotton and coarse cotton cloth, and the people were tall

and dark. The capital of the country was Minnagara whence much cotton

was brought down to Barygaza. This Minnagara is perhaps the city

of that name placed by Ptolemy near Mânpur in the Vindhyas, but it

has with more probability been identified with Junâgad (Bhagvânlâl)

which was once called Manipura (Kath. Gaz. 487). Our author states

that in this part of the country were to be found old temples, ruined

camps and large wells, relics (he says) of Alexander's march, but

more probably the work of Menandros and Apollodotos. This statement

certainly points to Kâthiâvâda rather than to Mânpur. The voyage

along this coast from Barbarikon to the headland of Pâpikê (Gopnâth)

near Astakapra (Hâthab) and opposite to Barygaza (Broach) was one of

3000 stadia = 300 miles, which is roughly correct. The next chapter

(42) describes the northern part of the gulf of Cambay as 300 stadia

wide and running northward to the river Maïs (Mahî). Ships bound

for Barygaza steer first northward past the island Baiônes (Peram)

and then eastward towards the mouth of the Namnadios (Narmadâ) the

river of Broach. The navigation (chapter 43) is difficult by reason

of rocks and shoals such as Hêrônê (perhaps named from some wreck)

opposite the village of Kammôni (Kim) on the eastern shore and by

reason of the current on the western near Pâpikê (perhaps a sailor's

name meaning Unlucky). Hence the government sends out fishermen in long

boats called Trappaga or Kotumba (Kotia) to meet the ships (chapter 44)

and pilot them into Barygaza, 300 stadia up the river, by towing and

taking advantage of the tides. In this connection our author gives

a graphic description of the Bore in the Narbadâ (chapter 45) and of

the dangers to which strange ships are exposed thereby (chapter 46).

Inland from Barygaza (that is, from the whole kingdom, which, as

we have seen, bordered on Sauvîra or Multân) lay (chapter 47) the

Aratrioi (Arattas of the Mahâbhârata and Purânas, who lived in the

Panjâb), the Arakhôsioi (people of eastern Afghanistan), Gandaraioi

(Gandhâra of N.-W. Panjâb), Proklais (near Peshâwar), and beyond

them the Baktrianoi (of Balkh) a most warlike race, governed by their

own independent sovereigns. These last are probably the Kushâns who,

when the Parthian empire fell to pieces in the second quarter of the

third century, joined the Karên Pahlavs in attacking Ardeshir. It was

from these parts, says our author, that Alexander marched into India

as far as the Ganges--an interesting glimpse of the growth of the

Alexander legend since the days of Arrian (A.D. 150). Our author found

old drakhmai of Menandros and Apollodotos still current in Barygaza.

Eastward in the same kingdom (chapter 48) is the city of Ozênê;

which was formerly the capital, whence onyxes, porcelain, muslins,

and cottons are brought to Barygaza. From the country beyond Proklais

came costus, bdellium, and spikenard of three kinds, the Kattybourine,

the Patropapigic, and the Kabalitic (this last from Kábul).