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NOVEMBER, 1884.)
PTOLEMY'S GEOG. BK. VII, CH. 1, 88 59, 60.
357
southwards from Bakhar for about 20 miles until it is lost in the broad belt of sand-hills which bound the N&ra or old bed of the Indus on the west. Through this gap a branch of the Indus once flowed which protected the city on the northwest. To the north-east it was covered by a second branch of the river which flowed nearly at right angles to the other at a distance of three miles. When Alôr was deserted by the river, it was supplanted by the strong fort of Bakhar (p. 258). The same author thinks it probable that Alôr may be the Binagara of Ptolemy, as it is placed on the Indus to the eastward of Oskana, which appears to be the Oxykanus of Arrian and Curtius.
Bônis:-The table places this at the point of bifurcation of the western mouth of the river and an interior arm of it. Arab geographers mention & town called Bania in Lower Sindh, situated at the distance of a single journey below Mangurs. This double indication would appear to suit very well with Banna, which stands at the point where the Piniari separates from the principal arm about 25 miles above Thattha. Its position is however on the eastern bank of the river. (Etude, pp. 298, 299.)
Kolaka or Kôlala is probably identical with the Krókala of Arrian's Indika (sec. 21), which mentions it as a small sandy island where the fleet of Nearkhos remained at anchor for one day. It lay in the bay of Karachi, which is situated in a district called Karkalla even now.
59. And in the islands formed by the river are these towns :Patala............. ................112° 30' 21° Barbarei...........................113° 15' 22° 30
60. And east of the river at some distance therefrom are these towns :Xodrake..........................116° 24° Barbana ...........................116° 22° 50 Auzoamis ........................115° 30' 22° 20 Asinda ............................114° 15' 22° Orbadarou or Ordabari.........1159 22° Theophila .......................114° 15' 21° 10 Astakapra .........................114° 40' 20°15'
Patala as we learn from Arrian was the greatest city in the parts of the country about the mouths of the Indus. It was situated, he expressly states, at the head of the Delta where the two great arms of the Indus dispart. This indication would of itself have sufficed for its identification, had the river continued to flow in
its ancient channels. It has, however, frequently changed its course, and from time to time shifted the point of bifurcation. Hence the question regarding the site of Patala bas occasioned much controversy. Rennell and Vincent, followed by Burnes and Ritter, placed it at Thaotha; Droysen, Benfey, Saint-Martinand Cunningham, at Haidaribad (the Nirankot of Arab writers), and McMurdo followed by Wilson and Lassen, at a place about 90 miles to the north-east of Haidarabad. The last supposition is quite untenable, while the argumente in favour of Haidaråbåd, which at one time was called Påtalapur appear to be quite conclusive. (See Saint-Martin, pp. 180 ff., Cunningham, pp. 279— 287). Patala figures conspicuously in the history of the Makedonian invasion. In its spacious docks Alexander found suitable accommodation for his fleet which had descended the Indus, and here he remained with it for a considerable time. Seeing how advantageously it was situated for strategy as well as commerce, he strengthened it with a citadel, and made it a military centre for controlling the warlike tribes in its neighbourhood. Before finally leaving India he made two excursions from it to the ocean, sailing first down the western and then down the eastern arm of the river. Påtala in Sanskrit mythology was the name of the lowest of the seven regions in the interior of the earth, and hence may have been applied to denote generally the parts where the sun descends into the under world, the land of the west, as in contrast to Prachayaka, the land of the east. Patala in Sanskrit means "the trumpet-flower,' and Cunningham thinks that the Delta may have been so called from some resemblance in its shape to that of this flower. The classic writers generally spell the name as Pattala.
Barbarei:-The position of Barbarei, like that of Patala, has been the subject of much discussion. The table of Ptolemy places it to the north of that city, but erroneously, since Barbarei was a mari. time port. It is mentioned in the Periplús under the name of Barbarikon, as situated on the middle mouth of the Indus. D'Anville in opposi. tion to all the data placed it at Debal Sindhi, the great emporium of the Indus during the middle ages, or at Karachi, while Elliot, followed by Cunningham, placed it at an ancient city, of which some ruing are still to be found, called Bambhara, and situated almost midway between Karachi and Thattha on the old western branch of the river which Alexander reconnoitred, Burnes again, followed by Ritter, placed it at Richel,
- The Brahmans of Sehvan have stated to us that According to looal legends recorded in their Sanskrit books Kaboul is the ancient Chichapalapoura; Multan,
Prahladpur; Tattah, Déval, Haidarabad, Neran, and more anciently Patalpuri." Dr. J. Wilson, Journ. Bombay Asiat. Soc., vol. III, 1850, p. 77.
