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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1884.
Kábul, the Karoura of our author. He gives Kanthi:-The Gulf of this name is now called as the eastern boundary of the Paropanisadaithe Gulf of Kachh. It separates Kachh, the a line drawn south from the sources of the river south coast of which is still called Kantha, Orus through the Kaukasian Mountains (the . from the Peninsula of Gujarat. In the Periplús eastern portion of the Hindd-Kush) to a point the gulf is called Barakê and is described as of lying in long. 119° 30 and lat. 39o. Arakh - very dangerous navigation. In Ptolemy, Barakê sia lay to the south of the Paropanisadai--its is the name of an island in the Gulf. chief city was Arakhốtos, whose name, according Two mouths only of the Indus are mentioned to Rennell, is preserved in Arokhaj. There is a | by the followers of Alexander and by Strabo. river of the same name which has been iden. The Periplús gives the same number (7) as tified with the Helmand (the Etymander or Ptolemy. There are now 11, but changes are Erymanthos of the anciente) but also and more continually taking place. Sagapa, the western probably with the Urghand-dbor Arkand-ab, mouth, was explored by Alexander. It separates which passes by Kandahår. Gedrôsia, the from the main stream below Thatha. In the modern Balochistan, had for its eastern boundary chronicles of Sindh it is called Sågåra, from which the River Indus. The boundary of India on the perhaps its present name Ghara, may be derived. north was formed by Mount Imaos (Sansk. hima, It has long ceased to be navigable. cold), a name which was at first applied by the Sinthôn:- This has been identified with the Greeks to the Hindu-Kosh and the chain of the Piti branch of the Indus, one of the mouths of Himalayas running parallel to the equator, but the Baghår River. This branch is otherwise which was gradually in the course of time trang- called the Sindhi Khrysoun. This is the Kediwari ferred to the Bolor range which runs from north mouth to south and intersects them. Ptolemy, however, Khariphron Cunningham identifies this places Imaos further east than the Bolor, and with the Kyar river of the present day which, he in the maps which accompany his Geography, this says, leads right up to the point where the southern meridian chain, as he calls it, is prolonged up to branoh of the Ghåra joins the main river near the most northernly plains of the Irtish and Obi. Låri-bandar.
Sogdiana lay to the north of Baktria and abutted on Skythia, both towards the north Sabalaessa is now the Sir mouth. and towards the west. The name has been Lonibarê in Sanskrit is Lonavari (or Lópavapreserved in that of Soghd, by which the country da, or Lavanavari or LÂvanavâţA." It is now the along the Kohik from Bokhårå to Samarkand has Kori, but is called also the Launi which preserves always been known. Our author places the Sogdian the old name. Mountains (the Påmir range) at the sources of the Bardax ôma:-This, according to Yule, is now Oxus, and the mountains of the Kômé da i be. Pur-bandar, but Dr. Burgess prefers Srinagar, a tween the souroes of that river and the Jazartes. much older place in the same district, having
The Sakai were located to the east of the near it a small village called Bardiya, which, as he Sogdians-Ptolemy describes them as nomadio, thinks, may possibly be a reminiscence of the as without towns and as living in woods and caves. Greek name. He specifies as their tribes the Karatai (proba. Syrastra:-This in the Prakritized form is bly connected with the Kiratai of India), the Sorath. It has been identified by Lassen with Komaroi, the Kô medai, the Massage, Junagadh, a place of great antiquity and historical tai, the Grynaioi Skythai, the Toör. interest in the interior of the Peninsula, about 40 nai and the Byltai. The Sakai it would miles eastward from the coast at Navi-bandar. appear therefore were the Mountaineers of Kafi- The meaning of the name is the old fort. The ristán, Badakshân, Shignan, Roshan, Baltistan place was anciently called Girnagara, from its or Little Tibet, &c.
vicinity to the sacred mountain of Girnar, near Syrastréné and Lariks.
which is the famous rock inscribed with the edicta Syrastrênê. The name is formed from the of Asoka, Skandagupta and Rudra Dáma. Yule Sanskrit Surashtra (now Sorath) the ancient identifies Syrastra with Navi-bandar, a port at the name of the Peninsula of Gujarat. It is men- mouth of the Bhadar, the largest river of the tioned in the Peripliis of the Erythraean Sea as Peninsula, said to be fed by 99 tributaries. Juthe sea-board of Abêria and is there praised for någadh was visited by Hiuen Tsiang, who state the great fertility of its soil, for its cotton fabrics, that after leaving the kingdom of Valabhi (near and for the superior stature of its inhabitants. Bhaunagar) he went about 100 miles to the west
11 Lavana is the Sauskrit word for salt.
