much older, as the astronomer Varâha Mihira mentions the Sairindhas immediately after the Kulútas, or people of Kullu, and just before Brahmapura, which, as we learn from the Chinese pilgrim, was the capital of the hill country to the north of Haridwâr. The Sairindhas, or people of Sirindha, must, therefore, have occupied the very tract of country in which the present Sarhind is situated, and there can be little doubt that the two names are the same. But the geographical list of Varâha Mihira is copied almost verbatim from that of the still earlier astronomer Parâsara, who is believed to have flourished not later than the first century after Christ.† If we apply the correction of 110 miles, or about 700 li, to the northern half of the line between Kullu and Satadru, the position of the latter will be brought down to Hânsi, which is an ancient fortified city of even greater strength and reputation than Sarhind. But as Hwen Thsang specially notes that the territory of Satadru was only 2000 li, or 333 miles, in circuit, and that it was bounded on the west by a great river, which can only be the Satlej or Satadru, it is quite impossible that Hânsi could be the place intended, as it is upwards of 130 miles distant from the nearest point of that river. The position of the celebrated fortress of Bhatner would suit the description of a small district bounded on the west by the Satlej, and would also agree with the corrected distance from Kullu: but the direction is south-west instead of south, and the distance from Bairât is upwards of 200 miles, instead of 800 li, or *Dr. Kern's edition of the 'Brihat Sanhitâ,' b. xiv. 29, 30. 133 miles, as stated by the pilgrim. The bearing of Bairât is, however, in favour of Bhatner, as the pilgrim's south-west is certainly a mistake for southeast, otherwise the distance of Bairât from Mathura would be nearly 1500 li, or 250 miles, instead of 500 li, or 83 miles, as recorded. If we might read 1500 li instead of 500 li, the relative positions of Bhatner and Bairât would correspond very well with the pilgrim's account, as the road distance between the two places, via Hânsi, is about 250 miles. It is quite possible also that there may be a mistake in the initial Chinese character, She or Șa, which is very much like Po or Bha; and if so, the Chinese syllables Po.to-tu-lo would represent Bhaṭasthala, or Bhatner. The latter name means the "fortress of the Bhatis," but the town itself was called Band, or Bando, which was probably the contracted form of Bhaṭasthala, just as Máru is now the common contracted form of Marusthala. But in spite of these plausible agreements both in name and in position, I am inclined to think that Sarhind must be the place indicated by the pilgrim as the capital of the ancient district of Satadru. This conclusion is strengthened by the pilgrim's statement that the country produced gold, which, so far as I know, can only apply to the lower hills lying to the north of Sarhind, where gold is still found in some of the smaller affluents of the Satlej. Accepting Sarhind as the capital of Satadru, the boundaries of the district may be determined approximately from its size. On the west and north it was bounded by the Satlej for upwards of 100 miles from the neighbourhood of Simla to Tihâra, below Lûdiâna. On the south the boundary extended for about 100 miles from Tihâra to Ambâla, and on the east for about the same distance, from Ambâla to Simla. The circuit thus described embraces a considerable portion of the hill states to the west and south of Simla, together with the districts of Sarhind proper and Lûdiâna in the plains. As it is the only district lying to east of the Satlej that is included within the limits of Northern India, I infer that it must have been a dependency of the neighbouring state of Jâlandhar. TAKI, OR PANJAB. The kingdom which Hwen Thsang calls Tse-kia, or Taki, embraced the whole of the plains of the Panjâb from the Indus to the Biâs, and from the foot of the mountains to the junction of the five rivers below Multân.* The Chinese syllable tse is used by Hwen Thsang to represent the cerebral of the Sanskrit in the t name of Danakakata, which is found in no less than five of the western cave inscriptions at Kanhari and Kârli.† In Hwen Thsang's travels this name is written To.no. kia-tse.kia, in which the last two syllables are transposed. It is the Danaka of Abu Rihân, which, as will be shown hereafter, is most probably the same as the old town of Dharani-kotta, on the Kistna river, adjoining the modern city of Amaravati. Tse-kia, therefore, represents Taki, which would appear to have been the name of the capital as well as of the kingdom of the Panjab in the seventh century, just as Lahor has since. been used to describe both the kingdom and the See Maps Nos. V. and VI. Dr. Stevenson read this name as the Pali form of the Greek Xenokrates, but in all the inscriptions at Kanhari and Kârli it is clearly the name of a town or country. capital of Ranjit Singh. The position of the capital will be discussed hereafter. It will be sufficient at present to note that it was within a few miles of the more ancient capital of She-kie-lo, which was long ago identified by Professor Lassen with the Sakala of the Mahabharata, and with the Sangala of Arrian. Now the people of Sákala are called Madras, Araṭṭas, Járttikas, and Báhikas,* in the Mahabharata; and in the Lexicon of Hemachandra the Báhikas are said to be the same as the Takkas. Again, in the 'Raja Tarangini,' the district of Takkadesa is mentioned as a part of the kingdom of Gurjara (or Gujarât, near the Chenâb), which Raja Alakhâna was obliged to cede to Kashmir between A.D. 883 and 901. From these statements it is clear that Sakala was the old capital of the powerful tribe of Takkas, whose country was named after themselves Takka-desa.§ The name of the new capital is not actually stated by Hwen Thsang, but I believe it to have been Taki, or Takkáwar, which I would identify with the Tahora of the Pentingerian Tables by the mere softening of the guttural k to the aspirate h. In the latter authority Tahora is placed at 70 Roman miles, or 643 English miles from Spatura, opposite Alexandria Bucefalos. I will now turn to the early Muhammadan writers who have noticed Kashmir and Sindh, and who, therefore can scarcely have omitted all mention of so important a country as the Panjâb, which lies immedi *In the Mahâbhârata and Vishnu Purâna the name is written Bâlhika; but as they follow the Kulûtas, it seems certain that the true reading is Bâhîka, as proposed by Lassen. 6 + Lassen, Pentapot Indica,' p. 21. Bâhîkâshṭakkanâmâno. 'Raja Tarangini,' v. 150, Troyer; v. 155, Calcutta edit. § For the position of Sâkala, or Taki, see Maps. Nos. V. and VI, ately between them. In A.D. 915, Masudi thus describes the Indus, according to Sir Henry Elliot's translation:* "The Mihrán of es-Sind comes from the "well-known sources of the high land of es-Sind, "from the country belonging to Kinnauj in the king"dom of Budah, and of Kashmir, el Kandahâr, and et-Takin. The tributaries which rise in these coun"tries run to el Multân, and from thence the united "river receives the name of Mihrán." In this passage Takin must certainly be intended for the hills of the Panjab. The Kabul river and the Indus both flow through Gandhára, or el Kandahâr; the Jhelam comes from Kashmir; and the Biâs and Satlej flow through Jalandhar and Kahlur, which in the time of Hwen Thsang were subject to Kanoj. The only other tributaries of the Indus are the Chenâb and the Râvi, which must therefore have flowed through the kingdom of Takin. The mention of Gândhâra and Kanoj shows that Masudi does not refer to the actual sources of the rivers, but to the points in the lower ranges of hills, where they enter the plains. Takin, therefore, in the time of Masudi, represented the lower hills and plains of the Panjâb to the north of Multân, which was then in the possession of the Brahman kings of Kabul. The name is read Takin,, by Sir Henry Elliot, and Táfan,, by Gildemeister,† in his extracts from Masudi. The first reading is supported by the strong authority of Abu Rihân and Rashid-ud * Sir H. M. Elliot's' Muhammadan Historians of India,' p. 56; and Prof. Dowson's edition, i. 21, where the name is read as Tâfan. But Sprenger, in his translation of 'Masudi,' p. 193, gives Tâfi, with Takan and Tâfan as variants, and at p. 390, Tákin. De Rebus Indicis,' p. 161. |