Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/164

 145 The inhabitants on the other side of this mountain work extensive mines of gold and silver. Next are the O r a t u r ee, whose king has only ten ele- phants, though he has a very strong force of in- ing of Svarataratad, which, is found in some editions. It is quite possible, however, that the SvarataratsB may be intended for the Sur^h^ras. The famous Yarfiha Mihira mentions the Sur&shtras and B&daras together, amongst the people of the south-west of India (Dr. Kern's Brihat SmihiiAj XIV. 19.) These B&daras must therefore be the people of Badari, or Vadari. I understand the name of Vaaari to denote a district abounding in the Badari, or Ber-tree (Jiyube), which is very common in Southern Rfij- putAnA. For the same reason I should look to this neigh- Dourhood for the ancient Sauvlra, which I take to be the true form of the famous Sophir, or Ophir, as Sauvira is only another name of the Vadari or Ber-tree, as well as of its juicy fruit. Now, Sofir is the Coptic name of India at the present day; but the name must have belonged originally to that part of the Indian coast which was tre- c^uented by the merchants of the West. There can be little doubt, I think, that this was in the Gulf of Khambay, which from time immemorial has been the chief seat of Indian trade with the West. During the whole period of Greek history this trade was almost monopolized by the famous city of Barygaza, or BhAroch, at the mouth of the Narmadft river. About the fourth century some portion of it was diverted to the new capital of Balabni, in the peninsula of Gi:garftt ; in the Middle Ages it was shared with Khambay at the head of the gulf, and in modem times with Surat, at the mouth of the Tapti. If the name of Sauvira was derived, as I suppose, from the prevalence of the Ber-tree, it is probable that it was only another appellation for the province of Badari, or Edar, at the head of the Gulf of Khambay. This, indeed, is the very position in which we should expect to find it, according to the ancient inscrip- tion of Rudra Dftma, which mentions Sindhu- Sauvira immediately after Surashtra and BhArukachha, and just before Kukura Aparanta, and Nishada {Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. VII. 120). According to this arrangement Sau- vira must have been to the north of Surfishtra and BhA- roch, and to the south of Nishada, or jus£' where I have placed it, in the neighbourhood of Mount Abd. Much the same locality is assigned to Sauvira in the Vishnu PurAna.** —Anc. Oeog. of Ind. pp. 496-497 •• see also pp. 660-562 of thji same work, where the subject is further discussed. Digitized by Google