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guages of the Hindūs prevail at this day, with more or less of their ancient purity, and in which the Nagari letters are still used with more or less deviation from their original form.”*

The name Hindustan, is composed of two Persian words, Hindu and stan, meaning the country of black people. This mode of derivation is very common with the Persians, as Dahæ-stan, Tabor-stan, Curdstan, Moghol-stan; but whatever may have been the origin of Hindu-stan, it was the name given to the part of the peninsula first known to the Persians. At present Hindustan proper, means only the region extending from the mountains on the north,

* Sir William Jones.

M. Langlès observes to the author: "Ceci est rigoureusement vrai pour l'ordre alphabétique et pour le système syllabique, qui sont les mêmes chez toutes les nations citées par l'auteur; mais plusieurs de ces nations, telles que les Chingulais, les Javans, les Siamois, les Mongols, les Mantchous, &c. ont des caractères où il seroit difficile de reconnoître quelques formes du Dêva-Nâgary, mais qui sont rangés suivant l'ordre et le système de ce dernier alphabet."

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* Pliny says:

Lib. vi. c. 23. (ed.

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ON ANCIENT INDIA.

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down to about the twenty-second degree of latitude, where the river Narbudda flows: the country southward from thence is named Deckan or Dakhina, meaning south. The name Indus used by the Greeks, has been continued by modern authors,* but the proper name in Sanscrit, is Sindhou, though it be vulgarly pronounced Sind, and Sindhy. One of the names of this country also, is Bharat, from an ancient sovereign whose dominions were so extensive, as, in the hyperbolical language of the east, to obtain for him the title of King of the World.‡

In this immense empire, were many great Rajahs, or hereditary princes, who acknowledged the Mahah, or great Rajah, as their supreme chief, or Liege Lord; but

*Pliny says: "Indus ab incolis Sindus appellatus." Lib. vi. c. 23. (edit. Bipont.)

+Translation of the Heetopades, p. 333.

"Quant aux indigènes qui sont absolument étrangers à la discussion que nous venons d'aborder, ils nomment leur pays Bhârata-Khanda, pays de Bhârata, un de leurs anciens souverains."-See Notice Géographique, sur l'Hindoustan, par M. Langlès, p. 6.

who, in the internal government of their territories, were independent sovereigns. Some of those princes were nominated to different great offices of the state; and, if called upon, were obliged at a festival named Rajasuya, or royal sacrifice, to attend the Mahah Rajah, and serve in their respective offices.* In the territories of these, as well as in the immediate territories of the Mahal Rajah, were also numerous hereditary nobles, who paid tribute, and were bound to military service to their respective chiefs. Numbers of such nobles, notwithstanding all the changes India has undergone, exist in these days.

Many great cities are mentioned, both by native and by Greek authors; but the capital, or chief place of residence of the Mahah Rajah, or great prince, has not yet been ascertained. Some have supposed it to have been Oujein, a city of great antiquity, and which answers in name and sition to the Ozene of Ptolemy, who calls

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* See the Ayeen Akbery, vol. ii. p. 89. 4to edit,

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ON ANCIENT INDIA.

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it the capital and royal residence of Tiastanus. The ruins of numerous other great cities have been discovered in different parts of the empire. Taxila, situated where Attock now stands, on the eastern bank of the Indus, and where Alexander crossed that river, was the capital of the country lying between the Indus and Hydaspes, or Behut. Lahore appears to have been the capital of Porus, prince of the country named the Punjab, lying between the Hydaspes and Hesudrus, or Setlege. Palibothra, to which place Megasthenes was sent as ambassador by Seleucus Nicator, to Sandrocotus,* was the capital of the Prasii. This city, said to have been eighty stadia, or ten miles in length, and fifteen stadia, or about two miles in breadth, is supposed by Major Rennell to have been situated where Patna now stands; which, he says, was anciently named by the Hindus Patelpoother, but according to Sir William Jones, PatalipuBut Canoge, supposed to be the Ca

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* See note A, in Appendix.

linapaxa, or Calinipaxa of Pliny,-which is situated on the right bank of the Ganges, near the spot where the Calini or Calinuddy river joins it, and which was founded about 1000 years before our æra,-is said by Ferishta to have once been the capital of those regions. The Indian histories are full of accounts of the grandeur of this city, and even in the sixth century of our æra, when it had greatly declined from its former populousness, wealth, and magnificence, it was said to contain 30,000 shops, in which betel-nut was sold.* Gour called also Lucknouti, supposed to be the Gangia Regia of Ptolemy, stood on the left bank of the Ganges, about twenty-five miles below Rajemahal; no part of the site of ancient Gour, however, is now nearer to the present bank of the Ganges than four miles; and some parts of it, which are said to have been originally washed by that river, are

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*The betel or arrék nut, with the leaf of an aromatic plant, named generally Pahn, is almost universally chewed by the natives of India.

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