Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/38

 22

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

[JANUARy 5, 1872.

mountains, and warlike tribes, occurring in the works of P a mini and his commentators, is very large. It would be difficult, or even impossible, to identify them all, but the positions and mo dern names of a good many can be determined with ease. It is not our purpose in this article to notice all such places, but to confine ourselves to such as may seem to throw new light on some doubtful points connected with the Ancient

The position of the hill-fort of Aorn os in the capture of which Alexander the Great dis played very great valour, is still a matter of un certainty. The Sanskrit name corresponding to it is also equally unknown. Professor Wilson

Geography of Afghanistan and the Panjāb.

ây a ni—the name of a wine manufactured from

to suppose that the Greeks, in their A or nos drop ped the first part of the name, retaining only the latter. General Cunningham derives it from the name of a king, whom he calls Rājā Vara. May it not be the V a ran a mentioned by Pā nini in IV-2–82 It was the name of a city as well as its people. There is a place on the right bank of the Indus, opposite to A tak, still

grapes produced in the district. The country about

called, we are told, Bar an as or Varanas.

The northernmost Kingdom of Afghanistan, in ancient times, was known to some of the

Greek and Roman Geographers by the name of Kapis en e, and the Chinese traveller Hwan Thsang calls it Kia-pi-she. Pånini mentions Kå

pish i(IV-2-99), from which he derives Kāpish

Kabul is still remarkable for its fine grapes. The name of another kingdom was Archosia, which was called Arkhoj or Rokhaj by the Arab geographers, and Tsaukuta, supposed to be equi valent to Raukuta, by Hwan Thsang. European antiquarians" trace the name, or that of the river A r c hot is, in the province, to the Zend Hara q aiti, corresponding to the Sanskrit S a r a s v a ti. But we are not aware upon what evi dence a river of the name of Sar as v a ti is fixed in this district. Sar as y a ti is one of

the Sap ta Sindh a vas, or seven rivers of the Vedas, and if assigned a position here, would certainly be far away from the other six. The

traces it to the word—a varana, ‘ enclosure',

which, he thinks, forms the latter part of many names of cities. Whether it was actually so used is more than doubtful, and it would be necessary

The Or to span of the classical geographers has been identified with the modern Kabul.

The Sanskrit name corresponding to it is not known.

Professor Wilson derives it from such

an original as Urdd has thana.

But we do

not meet with such a name, and the etymology is purely aimless and conjectural. To derive it from the name of a tribe would be more reason

able. Hwan Thsang calls the country about the place Fo-li-shi-sa-tang-na. May not this name be derived from such a compound as Par sh us than a, the country of the Parshus, a warlike tribe mentioned by Pånini in V-3-117.

Pă n in i and Patanjali call the Panjāb-Bä

river Saraswati was situated to the east of

hika (IV-2-117 and W-3-114).

the Satlej. Perhaps the name Archosia, Arkhoj, or Rokhoj, is to be derived from

of Alexander tell us, that after having crossed

that of the mountain Rikshoda, mentioned by På n in i's commentators, the Brahmans living

his march through the Panjab, he captured

about which, were called Ark shodas.

This

name is given as one to which Pånini's rule (IV-3-91) does not apply. Another province of Afghanistan is called Fa-la-nu by Hwan Thsang, and identified with

the modern Vane h or Wanneh by some, and with Banu, by General Cunningham. The

The historians

the Hydraotes or Ravi in the course of and destroyed a town of the name of Sangala. European antiquarians have identified it with the Sanskrit S h a kala. But Shākala, from the evidence to be gathered from the Mahāb ārata, and according to Hwan Thsang, who visited the place, was situated to the west of the Ravi. Professor Wilson, therefore thinks

that after Alexander had destroyed the Shā

Sanskrit name corresponding to this is not

kala to the east of the Ravi, another was

known. Pānini, however, mentions a country named Varnu in several places (IV-2-103, and IV-3-93), which is very likely the same as Hwan Thsang's Fa-la-nu. The country of

ly a gratuitous supposition. General Cunning

Gandhāra is mentioned in the group Kach chh a di IV-2–133 and in IV-1–169, and the river Suva stu, the modern Swat, a branch of

the Kabul river, (in IV-2-77).

founded to the west of the river.

ham thinks

This is mere

that Alexander re-crossed the

Ravi to conquer the town. Would it not be better to suppose that the two places were dis tinct”

Alexander destroyed Sangala,

while

Shākala existed in the time of Hwan Thsang.

Sangala belonged to a tribe that had no King,
 * See Wilson's Ariana Antiqua.