din, who agree in stating that the great snowy mountain of Kelárjik (or Lârjk), which resembled Demavend by its cupola form, could be seen from the boundaries of Takishar and Lohâwar.* Elliot, in one passage, corrects Tákishar to Kashmir; but this alteration is quite inadmissible, as the mountain is specially noted to have been only 2 farsangs, or about 8 miles, distant from Kashmir. One might as well say that St. Paul's Cathedral is visible from Ludgate Hill and Windsor. The mountain here referred to is the great Dayamur, or Nanga Parbat, to the west of Kashmir, which is 26,629 feet in height; and which I have myself seen repeatedly from Râmnagar, on the Chenâb, a distance of 200 miles. In a second passage of the same author, Sir Henry calls the mountain Kalárchal, and the two places from which it can be seen he names Takas and Lohâwar. This Takas, or Tákishar, I take to be the same place as the Tsekia, or Táki of Hwen Thsang, and the Takin of Masudi. He The earliest Muhammadan author who mentions Taki is the merchant Sulimân, who visited the east before A.D. 851, when his account was written. describes Tafak, , as not of very great extent, and its king as weak, and subject to the neighbouring princes; but he adds that he possessed "the finest white women in all the Indies." As Táfak and Tákin are almost the same in unpointed Persian characters, I have Reinaud, Fragments Arabes,' p. 118. In Sir H. M. Elliot, p. 41, and in Dowson's edition of Elliot, i. 65, Tâkishar is altered to Kashmir. ↑ Sir H. M. Elliot, p. 30; and Dowson's edition, i. 46. If this is the same as Ibn Batuta's Karáchal, or Black Mountain," the identification with Nanga Parbat, or the "Bare Mountain is nearly certain, as "bareness" means blackness," from want of snow. 66 66 Sir Henry Elliot, p. 49; and Dowson's edition, i. 4. no hesitation in identifying Tafak with the Panjâb, where the women, and especially those of the lower hills, are the "fairest," as well as the "finest," in India. Ibn Khurdâdba, who died in A.D. 912, mentions the king of Taffa* as next in eminence to the Balha Râ, Lastly, Kazwini describes Taifand, i, which was taken by Mahmud of Ghazni in A.D. 1023, as a strong Indian fort, on the top of an inaccessible mountain.t This account agrees with the actual hill of Sangala, which is almost inaccessible on three sides, and on the fourth is protected by a sheet of water. All these slightly different names of Takin, Táfan, Tafak, Taffa, Tákas, and Tákishar, I take to be only various readings of the one original form of Táki, or Takin, which, when written without the diacritical points, may be read in several different ways. M. Reinaud gives another spelling as Tában,, which, without the points, may be read in as many different ways as the other form of Táfan. I conclude, therefore, that the true form of the name of the country was Taki, or Táka, as recorded by Hwen Thsang. The name of the capital was probably either Takin or Takkáwar, of which the former agrees exactly with Kazwini's Taifandi, and the latter with the Tahora of the Pentingerian Tables. I consider it almost certain that the name must have been derived from the tribe of Táks or Takkas, who were once the undisputed lords of the Panjâb, and who still exist as a numerous agricultural race in the lower hills between the Jhelam and the Râvi. Sir Henry Elliot, Muhammadan Historians of India,' p. 53. In Dowson's edition, i. 13, this name is written Tafan. + Gildemeister, 'De Rebus Indicis,' p. 208. The former importance of this race is perhaps best shown by the fact that the old Nagari characters, which are still in use throughout the whole country from Bamiyan to the banks of the Jumna, are named Tákari, most probably because this particular form was brought into use by the Taks or Takkas. I have found these characters in common use under the same name amongst the grain dealers to the west of the Indus, and to the east of the Satlej, as well as amongst the Brahmans of Kashmir and Kangra. It is used in the inscriptions, as well as upon the coins of Kashmir and Kangra; it is seen on the Sati monuments of Mandi, and in the inscriptions of Pinjor; and lastly, the only copy of the 'Raja Tarangini' of Kashmir was preserved in the Takari characters. I have obtained copies of this alphabet from twenty-six different places between Peshawar and Simla. In several of these places the Takari is also called Mundé and Lundé, but the meaning of these terms is unknown. The chief peculiarity of this alphabet is, that the vowels are never attached to the consonants, but are always written separately, with, of course, the single exception of the inherent short a. It is remarkable also that in this alphabet the initial letters of the cardinal numbers have almost exactly the same forms as the nine unit figures in present use. In the seventh century the kingdom of Taki was divided into three provinces, namely, Taki in the north and west, Shorkot in the east, and Multán in the south. The province of Taki comprised the plains of the Panjâb, lying between the Indus and the Biâs, to the north of the Multân district, or the whole of the Chaj Doâb, together with the upper portions of the three Doâbs of Sindh-Sâgar, Richna, and Bâri. The province of Shorkot comprised the middle portions of these Doâbs, and the province of Multan their lower portions. It is probable, also, that the possessions of Multân may have extended some distance to the west of the Indus as well as to the east of the Satlej, as was the case in the time of Akbar. 1. TÂKI, OR NORTHERN PANJAB. The province of Tâki contained several of the most celebrated places of ancient India; some renowned in the wars of Alexander, some famous in Buddhist history, and others known only in the widelyspread traditions of the people. The following is a list of the most important of the ancient places, arranged according to their relative geographical positions from west to east. The names of the Doâbs were invented by Akbar by combining the names of the including rivers. Thus, Chaj is an abbreviation of Chenâb and Jhelam; Richna of Râvi and Chenâb; and Bári of Biâs and Ravi. Sindh-Sâgar Doâb Chaj Doâb Richna Doâb Bâri Doâb 1. Jobnâthnagar, or Bhira. 3. Nikaa, or Mong. 5. Sâkala, or Sangala. Jobnáthnagar, or Bhira. The modern town of Bhira, or Bheda, is situated on the left, or eastern bank, of the Jhelam; but on the opposite bank of the river, near Ahmedabad, there is a very extensive mound of ruins, called Old Bhira, or Jobnáthnagar, the city of Raja Jobnáth, or Chobnáth. At this point the two great routes of the salt caravans diverge to Lahor and Multân; and here, accordingly, was the capital of the country in ancient times; and here also, as I believe, was the capital of Sophites, or Sopeithes, the contemporary of Alexander the Great. According to Arrian, the capital of Sopeithes was fixed by Alexander as the point where the camps of Kraterus and Hephæstion were to be pitched on opposite banks of the river, there to await the arrival of the fleet of boats under his own command, and of the main body of the army under Philip.* As Alexander reached the appointed place on the third day, we know that the capital of Sophites was on the Hydaspes, at three days' sail from Nikea for laden boats. Now Bhira is just three days' boat distance from Mong, which, as I will presently show, was almost certainly the position of Nikæa, where Alexander defeated Porus. Bhira also, until it was supplanted by Pind Dâdan Khan, has always been the principal city in this part of the country. At Bhiṛat the Chinese pilgrim, Fa-Hian, crossed the Jhelam in A.D. 400; and against Bhira, eleven centuries later, the enterprising Baber conducted his first Indian expedition. The classical notices of the country over which *'Anabasis,' vi. 3. Beal's translation, chap. xv.; Fa-Hian calls it Pi-cha or Bhi-dathe Chinese ch being the usual representative of the cerebral d. |