named Prithudaka or Prithu's pool, from daka or udaka water; and the city which he afterwards built on the spot was called by the same name. The shrine of Prithudaka has a place in the Kurukshetra Mahatmya, and is still visited. Amin. Five miles to the south-south-east of Thânesar there is a large and lofty mound called Amin, which is said by the Brahmans to be a contraction of Abhimanyu Khera, or the mound of Abbimanyu, the son of Arjun. The place is also named Chakra-bhyu, or the "Arrayed army, " because the Pândus here assembled their troops before their last battle with the Kauravas. Here Abbimanyu was killed by Jayadratha, who was himself killed the next day by Arjun. Here Aditi is said to have seated herself in ascetic abstraction to obtain a son, and here accordingly she gave birth to Suryya, or the Sun. The mound is about 2000 feet in length from north to south, and 800 feet in breadth, with a height of from 25 to 30 feet. On the top there is a small village called Amin, inhabited by Gaur Brahmans, with a temple to Aditi, and a Suryya Kund on the east, and a temple to Suryya on the west. The Suryya Kund is said to represent the spot where the Sun was born, and accordingly all women who wish for male children pay their devotions at the temple of Aditi on Sunday, and afterwards bathe in the Suraj Kund. 2. BAIRÂT. According to Hwen Thsang the capital of the kingdom of Po-li-ye-to-lo, which M. Reinaud has identified with Páryátra or Bairát, was situated at 500 li, or Z 833 miles, to the west of Mathura, and about 800 li, 133 miles, to the south-west of the kingdom of Sheto-tu-lo, that is, of Satadru, or the Satlej. The bearing and distance from Mathura point unequivocally to Bairál, the ancient capital of Matsya as the city of Iwen Thsang's narrative, although it is upwards of 100 miles further to the south of Kullu than is recorded by the pilgrim. But I have already given an explanation of this discrepancy in my account of the intermediate position of Satadru in Northern India. Abu Rihan, the contemporary of Mahmud, places Narána, the capital of Karzát, at 28 parasangs to the west of Mathura,† which, taking the parasang at 3 miles, would make the distance 98 miles, or 14 miles in excess of the measurement of Hwen Thsang. But as the narratives of the different Muhammadan historians leave no doubt of the identity of Narána the capital of Karzát, with Narayana the capital of Bairát, this difference in the recorded distance from Mathura, is of little moment. According to Abu Rihân, Narána, or Bazána, was called Narayan, by the Musalmans, a name which still exists in Narayanpur, a town situated at 10 miles to the north-cast of Bairât itself. From Kanoj to Narâna, Abu Rihân gives two distinct routes; the first direct viâ Mathura being 56 parasangs, or 196 miles, and the other to the south of the Jumna being 88 parasangs, or 308 miles. The intermediate stages of the later route are, 1st, Asi, 18 para * Julien's' Hiouen Thsang,' pp. 206-207. See Map No. X. Reinaud, Fragments Arabes et Persans,' p. 107. The translator gives Bazâna, but this has been corrected by Sir H. M. Elliot to Nacina. Reinaud, 'Fragments,' p. 106; Dowson's edit. of Sir H. Elliot, i. 58. sangs, or 63 miles; 2nd, Sakina, 17 parasangs, or 59 miles; 3rd, Jandara, 18 parasangs, or 63 miles; 4th, Rajauri, either 15 or 17 parasangs, 54 or 59 miles, and 5th, Bazana, or Narána, 20 parasangs, or 70 miles. As the direction of the first stage is specially recorded to have been to the south-west of Kanoj, it may be at once. identified with the Assai Ghat on the Jumna, 6 miles to the south of Etawa, and about 60 miles to the south-west of Kanoj. The name of the second stage is written li Sahina, for which by the simple shifting of the diacritical points, I propose to read حندون Suhania, which is the name of a very large and famous ruined town situated 25 miles to the north of Gwalior. Its distance from the Assai Ghât is about 56 miles. The third stage named Jandara by M. Reinaud, and Chandra by Sir Henry Elliot, I take to be Hindon, reading for a. Its dis tance from Suhaniya by the Khetri Ghât on the Chambal river is about 70 miles. The fourth stage, named Rajori, still exists under the same name, 12 miles to the south-west of Mácheri, and about 50 miles to the north-west of Hindon. From thence to Narainpur and Bairât, the road lies altogether through the hills of Alwar or Mâcheri, which makes it difficult to ascertain the exact distance. By measurements on the lithographed map of eight miles to the inch, I make the distance to be about 60 miles, which is sufficiently near the 20 parasangs, or 70 miles, of Abu Rihân's account. According to the other itineraries of Abu Rihân, Narina was 25 parasangs to the north of Chitor in Mewar, 50 parasangs to the east of Multan, and 60 parasangs to the north-east of Anhalwâra.* The bearings of these places from Bairât are all sufficiently exact, but the measurements are more than one-half too short. For the first distance of 25 parasangs to Chitor, I would propose to read 65 parasangs, or 227 miles, the actual distance by the measured routes of the quartermaster-general being 217 miles. As the distance of Chitor is omitted in the extract from Abu Rihân which is given by Rashid-ud-din, it is probable that there may have been some omission or confusion in the original of the Târikh-i-Hind from which he copied. The erroneous measurement of 50 parasangs to Multan is perhaps excusable, on the ground that the direct route through the desert being quite impassable for an army, the distance must have been estimated. The error in the distance of Anhalwâra I would explain by referring the measurement of 60 parasangs to Chitor, which lies about midway between Bairât and Anhalwâra. From a comparison of all these different itineraries, I have no hesitation whatever in identifying Bazána or Narána, the capital of Karzát or Guzrát, with Nárayanapura, the capital of Bairat or Vairát. In Ferishta the latter name is written either Kibrat, as in Dow, or Kairat as in Briggs, both of which names are an easy misreading of Wairát or Virát, as it would have been written by the Muhammadans. Virất, the capital of Matsya, is celebrated in Hindu Legends as the abode of the Five Pandus during their exile of 12 years from Dilli or Indraprastha. The country was also famous for the valour of its people, as Manu directs that the van of an army should be * Reinaud, Fragments,' pp. 108-112. composed of "men born in Kurukshetra near Indraprastha, in Matsya or Viráta, in Panchâla or Kânya. Kubja, and in Surasena of the district of Mathura."* The residence of Bhim Pandu is still shown on the top of a long low rocky hill about one mile to the north of the town. The hill is formed of enormous blocks of coarse gritty quartz, which are much weatherworn and rounded on all the exposed sides. Some of these blocks have a single straight face sloping inwards, the result of a natural split, of which advantage has been taken to form small dwellings by the addition of rough stone walls plastered with mud. Such is the Bhim-gupha or Bhim's cave, which is formed by rough walls added to the overhanging face of a huge rock about 60 feet in diameter and 15 feet in height. Similar rooms, but of smaller size, are said to have been the dwellings of Bhim's brothers. The place is still occupied by a few Brahmans, who profess to derive only a scanty subsistence from the offerings of pilgrims, a statement which is rather belied by their flourishing appearance. Just below Bhim's cave, a wall has been built across a small hollow to retain the rain water, and the fragments of rock have been removed from a fissure to form a tank, about 15 feet long by 5 feet broad and 10 feet deep; but at the time of my visit, on the 10th of November, it was quito dry. The present town of Bairât is situated in the midst of a circular valley surrounded by low bare red hills, which have long been famous for their copper mines. It is 105 miles to the south-west of Delhi, and 41 miles to the north of Jaypur. The main entrance to *Haughton's translation, vii. 193. |