Sophites ruled are very conflicting. Thus Strabo* records:"Some writers place Kathaa and the country of Sopeithes, one of the monarchs, in the tract between the rivers (Hydaspes and Akesines); some on the other side of the Akesines and of the Hyarotes, on the confines of the territory of the other Porus,-the nephew of Porus, who was taken prisoner by Alexander, and call the country subject to him Gandaris.” This name may, I believe, be identified with the present district of Gundalbár, or Gundar-bár. Bár is a term applied only to the central portion of each Doâb, comprising the high lands beyond the reach of irrigation from the two including rivers. Thus Sandal, or Sandar-bár, is the name of the central tract of the Doâb between the Jhelam and the Chenâb. The upper portion of the Gundal Bár Doâb, which now forms the district of Gujarât, belonged to the famous Porus, the antagonist of Alexander, and the upper part of the Sandar-Bár Doâb belonged to his nephew, the other Porus, who is said to have sought refuge among the Gandaridæ. The commentators have altered this name to Gangarida, or inhabitants of the Ganges; but it seems to me that the text of Diodorust is most probably correct, and that the name of Gandaridæ must refer to the people of the neighbouring district of Gandaris, who were the subjects of Sophites. The rule of the Indian prince was not, however, confined to the Doâb between the Hydaspes and Akesines; for Strabo relates that "in the territory of *Geogr., xv. 1, 30. + Hist., xix. 47. Geogr., xv. 1-30. This notice was most probably derived from Kleitarchos, one of the companions of Alexander, as Strabo quotes him in another place (v. 2-6) as having mentioned the salt mines of India, «ὶ τοὺς ἐν Ινδοις ἅλας. Sopeithes there is a mountain composed of fossil salt sufficient for the whole of India." As this notice can only refer to the well-known mines of rock salt in the Salt Range, the whole of the upper portion of the Sindh Sagar Doâb must have been included in the territories of Sopeithes. His sway, therefore, would have extended from the Indus on the west to the Akesines on the east, thus comprising the whole of the present districts of Pind Dâdan and Shâhpur. This assignment of the valuable salt mines to Sopeithes, or Sophites, may also be deduced from a passage in Pliny by the simple transposition of two letters in the name of a country, which has hitherto puzzled all the commentators. Pliny says, "when Alexander the Great was on his Indian expedition, he was presented by the king of Albania with a dog of unusual size," which successfully attacked both a lion and an elephant in his presence.* The same story is repeated by his copyist, Solinus,† without any change in the name of the country. Now, we know from the united testimony of Strabo, Diodorus, and Curtius, that the Indian king who presented Alexander with these fighting dogs was Sophites, and he, therefore, must have been the king of Albania. For this name I propose to read Labania, by the simple transposition of the first two letters. AABAN would, therefore, become AABAN, which at once suggests the Sanskrit word lavana, or 'salt,' as the original of this hitherto puzzling The mountain itself is named Oromenus by Pliny, who notes that the kings of the country de name. *Hist. Nat., viii. 61. + lbid., xxxi. 39. "Sunt et montes nativi salis, ut in Indis Oro+ Ibid. menus. rived a greater revenue from the rock salt than from either gold or pearls. This name is probably intended for the Sanskrit Raumaka, which, according to the Pandits, is the name of the salt brought from the hill country of Ruma. H. H. Wilson, however, identifies Ruma with Sambhar;* and as rauma means 66 salt," it is probable that the term may have been applied to the Sambhar lake in Rajputana, as well as to the Salt Range of hills in the Panjâb.t The historians of Alexander have preserved several curious particulars regarding Sophites and the country and people over which he ruled. Of the king himself, Curtius records that he was pre-eminent amongst the barbarians for beauty; and Diodorus§ adds, that he was six feet in height. I possess a coin of fine Greek workmanship, bearing a helmeted head on one side, and on the reverse a cock standing, with the legend nørror, which, there seems good reason to believe, must have belonged to this Indian prince. The face is remarkable for its very striking and peculiar features. The subjects of Sophites also were distinguished by personal beauty, which, according to Diodorus, they endeavoured to preserve, by destroying all their children who were not well formed. Strabo relates the same thing of the Kathæi, but, as he adds, that they elected the handsomest person for their king, his account must be referred to the subjects of Sophites, as the Kathai of Sangala had no king. There is, however, so much confusion between all the authorities in their accounts of the Kathai and * See his Sanskrit Dictionary in voce. + See Maps Nos. V. and VI. § Hist., xvii. 49. Ruma, Rauma, Raumaka. |