of the subjects of Sophites, that it seems highly probable that they were one and the same people. They were certainly neighbours; and as both of them would appear to have had the same peculiar customs, and to have been equally remarkable for personal beauty, I conclude that they must have been only different tribes of the same race of people. 2. BUKEPHALA, OR DILAWAR. The scene of Alexander's battle with Porus has long engaged the attention, and exercised the ingenuity, of the learned. The judicious Elphinstone* placed it opposite to Jalâlpur; but Burnest concluded that it must have been near Jhelam, because that place is on the great road from Tartary, which appears to have been followed by Alexander. In 1836 the subject was discussed by General Court, whose early military training, and unequalled opportunities for observation during a long residence in the Panjâb, gave him the best possible means of forming a sound opinion. General Court fixed the site of Alexander's camp at Jhelam, his passage of the river at Khilipatam, 3 kos, or 6 miles, above Jhelam, the scene of his battle with Porus at Pattikoti on the Jaba Nadi, 8 miles to the east of Jhelam, and the position of Nikaa at Vessa, or Bhesa, which is 3 miles to the south-east of Pathi or Patti-koti. The late Lord Hardinge took great interest in the subject, and twice conversed with me about it in 1846 and 1847. His opinion agreed with mine that the camp of Alexander was most pro *Elphinstone's Kabul,' i. 109. + Travels in Panjab, Bokhara, etc.,' ii. 49. Journal of the Asiatic Society,' Bengal, 1836, pp. 472, 473. bably near Jalâlpur. In the following year, General Abbott published an elaborate disquisition on the battle-field of Alexander and Porus, in which he placed the camp of the former at Jhelam, and of the latter on the opposite bank near Norangabad. The passage of the river he fixed at Bhuna, about 10 miles above Jhelam, and the field of battle near Pakrâl, about 3 miles to the north of Sukchenpur. In this state the question remained until the end of 1863, when my tour through the Panjâb gave me an opportunity of examining at leisure the banks of the Hydaspes from Jalâlpur to Jhelam. Before discussing Alexander's movements, I think it best to describe the different places on the line of the river, between Jhelam and Jalâlpur, with the approaches to them from the westward. When we have thus ascertained the site that will best agree with the recorded descriptions of Bukephala, we shall then be in a better position for deciding the rival claims of Jhelam and Jelâlpur as the site of Alexander's camp. The distances that I shall make use of in this discussion are all taken from actual measurements.* The town of Jhelam is situated on the west bank of the river, 30 miles to the north-east of Jalâlpur, and exactly 100 miles to the north-north-west of Lahor. The remains of the old town consist of a large ruined mound, to the west of the present city, about 1300 feet square and 30 feet high, which is surrounded by fields covered with broken bricks and pottery. The square mound I take to be the ruins of the citadel, which is said to have been called Puta. Numbers of *Journal of the Asiatic Society,' Bengal, 1848, part ii. p. 619. See No. VII. Map of Alexander's Passage of the Hydaspes.' old coins are still discovered in the mound after rain; but those which I was able to collect were limited to the mintages of the later Indo-Scythians, the KabulBrahmans, and the princes of Kashmir. As similar and even earlier coins are described by Court and Abbott to have been found in great numbers in previous years, it is certain that the city must have been in existence as early as the first century before Christ. But the advantages of its situation, on one of the two principal lines of road across the North Panjâb, are so great that it must, I think, have been occupied at a very early date. This opinion is confirmed by the numbers of large bricks that have been dug out of the old mound. The ruined city near Dârâpur, which has been described by Burnes* and Court,† is situated on the west bank of the river, 20 miles below Jhelam, and 10 miles above Jalâlpur. In their time, the old mound was unoccupied, but about 1832 A.D. the people of Dilawar abandoned their village on a hill to the west, and settled on the site of the ruined city. Before that time, the place was usually called Pind, or "the mound," although its true name is said to have been Udamnagar, or Udinagar. The same name is also given by Burnes, but Court, who twice alludes to these ruins, mentions no name, unless he includes them under that of Gagirakhi, the ruins of which he describes as extending along the banks "of the Hydaspes from near Jalâlpur to Dârâpur." According to this account, the ruins would not be less than 6 or 7 miles in length. I think it probable that there has * Travels in Panjâb, Bokhara, etc.,' ii. 51. M been some confusion between two different places, which have here been joined together as one continuous extent of ruins. Girjhák, which I take to be the original of Court's Gagirakhi, is an old ruined fort on the top of the hill to the north of Jalâlpur, to which the people assign a fabulous extent; but it is at least 8 miles from Dárápur, and is, besides, separated from it by the deep Kandar ravine, and by the precipitous range of hills at whose west foot Dilawar is situated. Burnes also describes the old city as extending "for three or four miles." But this is certainly an exaggeration, as I was unable to trace the ruins for more than one mile in length by half a mile in breadth. The ruins consist of two large mounds just half a mile apart, with two smaller mounds about midway between them. The south mound on which Dilawar is situated, is about 500 feet square at top, and 1100 or 1200 feet at base, with a height of 50 or 60 feet. The north mound, on which old Dârâpur stands, is 600 feet square, and from 20 to 30 feet in height. Between these mounds the fields are covered with broken bricks and pottery, and the whole place is said to be the ruins of a single city. The walls of the Dilawar houses are built of the large old bricks dug out of this mound, which are of two sizes, one of 11 by 8 by 3 inches, and the other of only half this thickness. Old coins are found in great numbers in the Dilawar mound, from which the Jalâlpur bazar is said to be supplied, just as Pind Dâdan is supplied from the ruins of Jobnâthnagar. The coins which I obtained belonged to the first Indo-Scythians, the Kabul-Brahmans, the kings of Kashmir, and the Karlúki Hazára chiefs, Hasan and his son Muhammad. The site, therefore, must have been occupied certainly as early as the second century before the Christian era. Its foundation is attributed to Raja Bharati, whose age is not known. I conclude, however, that the dominating position of Dilâwar, which commands the passage of the Jhelam at the point where the lower road from the west leaves the hills, just below the mouth of the Bunhâr river, must have led to its occupation at a very early period. The town of Jalâlpur is situated on the west bank of the Jhelam at the point where the Kandar ravine joins the old bed of the river. The stream is now 2 miles distant, but the intervening ground, though partially covered with small trees, is still very sandy. The town is said to have been named in honour of Akbar, in whose time it was most probably a very flourishing place. But since the desertion of the river, and more especially since the foundation of Pind Dadan, the place has been gradually decaying, until it now contains only 738 houses, with about 4000 inhabitants. From the appearance of the site, I estimated that the town might formerly have been about three or four times its present size. The houses are built on the last slope at the extreme east end of the salt range, which rises gradually to a height of 150 feet above the road. Its old Hindu name is said to have been Girjhák, and as this name is found in Abul Fazl's 'Ayin Akbari ** as Kerchak (read Girjak) of Sindh Sâgar, we have a proof that it was in use until the time of Akbar, when it was changed to Jalâlpur. But the people still apply the name of Girjhák to the remains of walls on the top of the Mangal-De hill, Gladwyn's Translation, ii. 263. |