Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/170

 151 a level tract of country known by the general name of A m a n d a,t whereof the tribes are four in number — the Peucolait8e,§ Arsa- galitse, Geretse, Asoi. Many writers, however, do not give the river Indus as the western boundary of India, but in- clude within it four satrapies, — the Q e d r o s i, Arachotse, Arii, Paropamisad 8e,|| (which is a mile to the north-east of that Sarai), in the extensive rnins of a fortified city abounding with stUpaSf monasteries, and temples. From this place to Hashtnagar the distance is 74 miles English, or 19 in excess of Pliny's estimate. Taxila represents the Sanstrit Takshasila, of which the Pali form is Takhasila, whence the Greek form was taken. The word means either * cut rock* or * severed head.* — Anc» Oeog. oflnd. pp. 104-121. J As the name Amanda is entirely unknown, M. de St.- Martin proposes without hesitation the correction Gandhftra, on the ground that the territory assigned to the Amanda corresponds exactly to Gandh&ra, of which the territory occupied by the Peucolitse (Peukela6tis), as we know from other writers, formed a part. The Geretse are beyond doubt no others than the Goursei of Arrian ; and the Asoi may perhaps be identical with the Aspasii, or, as Strabo gives the name, Hippasii or Pasii. The Arsagalitae are only mentioned by Plmy. Two tribes settled in the same locality are perhaps indicated by the name — the Arsa, men- tioned by Ptolemy, answering to the Sanskrit Uraaa j and the Ghilit or Ghilghit, the Ga>halata of Sanskrit, formerly mentioned. § V. 1. PeucoUtae. H Gedrdsia comprehended probably nearly the same dis- trict which is now known by the name of Mekr&n. Alex- ander marched through it on returning from his Indian e^edition. Arachdsia extended from the chain of moun- tams now called the Suleim^ as far southward as Gedrdsia. Its capital, Arachotos, was situated somewhere in the direc- tion of Kandahar, the name of which, it has been thought, preserves that of Gandh^ra. According to Colonel Rawlinson the name of Arachdsia is derived from Harakhwati (Sans- krit 8a/irasvaU)j and is preserved in the Arabic Rakhaj. It is, as has already been noticed, the Harauvatas of the Bisutun inscription. Aria denoted the country lying between Meshed and Herfit ; Ari^a, of which it formed a