Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 13
Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

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Page 396
________________ 348 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [NOVEMBER, 1884. were required to make it answer to the descrip- tion of the position of the old city as given by Hiuen-Tsiang. (See Lassen, Ind. Alt., vol. II, p. 335; Saint-Martin's Asie Centrale, pp.52-56; Cunningham, Geog. of Anc. Ind., pp. 44-46 ; Masson, Various Journeys, vol. III, p. 164). 44. Between the Seuastos and the Indus the Gandarai and these cities :Proklaïs ......... ............ 23° 32° Naulibi ...........................124° 20' 33° 20' The Gandarai:-Gandhára is a name of high antiquity, as it occurs in one of the Vedic hymns where a wife is represented as saying with reference to her husband, "I shall always be for him a Gandhára ewe." It is mentioned frequently in the Mahabharata and other post-Vedic works, and from these we learn that it contained the two royal cities of Takshasil & (Taxila) and Pushka råvati (Peukelaõtis) the former situated to the east and the latter to the west of the Indus. It would therefore appear that in early times the Gandhåric territory lay on both sides of that river, thongh in subsequent times it was confined to the western side. According to Strabo the country of the Gandarai, which he calls Gandaritis, lay between the Khoaspês and the Indus, and along the River Kôphês. The name is not mentioned by any of the historians of Alexander, but it must nevertheless have been known to the Greeks as early as the times of Hekataios, who, as we learn from Stephanos of Byzantion, calls Kaspa. pyros a Gandaric city. Herodotos mentions the Gandarioi (Book III, c. xci) who includes them in the 7th Satrapy of Darius, along with the Sattagydai, the Dadikai and the Aparytai. In the days of Alka and some of his immediate successors Gandhara was one of the most flourishing seats of Buddhism. It was accordingly visited both by Fa-hian and Hiuen-Tsiang, who found it to contain in a state of ruin many mo. numents of the past ascendancy of their faith. From data supplied by the narratives of these pilgrims Cunningham has deduced as the boundaries of Gandhåra, which they call. Kien-to-lo, on the west Lamghân and Jalalabad, on the north the hills of Swât and Bunir, on the east the Indus, and on the south the hills of Kelab&gh. "Within these limita," he observes, "stood several of the most renowned places of ancient India, some celebrated in the stirring history of Alexander's exploits, and others famous in the miraculous legends of Buddha, and in the sub- sequent history of Buddhism under the Indo- Scythian prince Kanishka." (Geog. of Ind., p. 48.) Opinions have varied much with regard to the position of the Gandarioi. Rennell placed them on the west of Baktria in the province afterwards called Margiana, while Wilson (Ar. Antiq. p. 131) took them to be the people south of the Hind-kush, from about the modern Kandahår to the Indus, and extending into the Panjab and to Kasmir. There is, however, no connexion between the names of Gandaria and Kandahår. Proklaïs is the ancient capital of Gandhára, situated to the west of the Indus, which was men. tioned in the preceding remarks under ita Sanskrit name Push ka lå vati, which means ' abounding in the lotua.' Its name is given variously by the Greek writers as Peukelaõtis, Peukolaitis, Peukelas, and Proklais, the last form being common to Pto. lemy with the author of the Periplus. The first form is a transliteration of the Pali Pukhalaoti; the form Peukelas which is used by Arrian is taken by Cunningham to be a close transcript of the PAli Pukkala, and the Proklaïs of Ptolemy to be perhaps an attempt to give the Hindi name of Pokhar instead of the Sanskrit Pushkara. Arrian describes Peukelas as a very large and populous city lying near the Indus, and the capital of a prince called Astês. Ptolemy defines its position with more accuracy, as being on the eastern bank of the river of Souastênê. The Periplas informa us that it traded in spikenard of various kinds, and in kostus and bdellium, which it received from different adjacent countries for transmis. sion to the coast of India. It has been identified with Hasht-nagar (i.e., eight cities) which lies at a distance of about 17 miles from Parashawar (Peshawar). Perhaps, as Cunningham has suggested, Hasht-nagar may mean not 'eight cities' but the city of Astês. Naulibi:-" It is probable," says Cunningham, "that Naulibi is Niløb, an important town which gave its name to the Indus; but if so it is wrongly placed by Ptolemy, as Nil&b is to the South of the Köphês" (Geog. of Anc. Ind., p. 48). 45. Between the Indus and the Bidaspés towards the Indus the Arsa territory and these cities :Ithagouros.......................12 ......... 125° 40' 330 20 Taxiala ............................. 125° 32° 15' Arsa represents the Sanskrit Urasa, the name of a district which, according to Cunningham, is to be identified with the modern district of Rash in Dhantâwar to the west of Muzafaribed, and which included all the hilly country between the Indus and Kasmir as far south as the boundary of Atak. It was visited by Hiuen. Tsiang, who calls it U-la-shi and places it between Taxila and Kaśmir. Pliny, borrowing from Me. gasthenes, mentions a people belonging to these parts called the Arsagalitae. The first part

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