Indian Antiquary Vol 28

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 54

40
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1899.
whole of Lower Banēr. From Matwanai in the east, where the Barandu River enters a narow defile leading down to the Indus, to Elai in the west, the whole expanse of the valley on both sides of the winding river lay clearly before me. No ruins or artificial mounds offered themselves to view from this commanding position, except the Stupa of Takhtaband already described. Nor could the Hinda traders, whom I got hold of in Kalpanai village, tell me of any other ancient sites within reach besides those already visited.
Chamla Valley. -I accordingly returned by midday to the deserted camp of Barkili and hence crossed with the rear guard the pass usually designated as that of Bunēr, which leads to the head of the Chamla Valley. The latter is drained by the river, which receives the streams from the northern slopes of Mount Mahāban and joins the Barandu not far from its own junction with the Indus. Chamla geographically as well as ethnographically forms & territory distinct from Banēr proper. The fir-covered top of the pass was reached throngh very pretty forest scenery, and offered to me once more & striking view across Banēr, bounded in the north only by the snow-capped ranges of the Düma Mountains, Dosirri and Ilm.
Reaching in the afternoon the camp which was pitched below the village of Ambēla, I took an opportunity to represent to General JEFFREYS, Commanding the 2nd Brigade, my desire of approaching Mount Mahāban as closely as the military dispositions permitted. From the time that the Buner Expedition had beer taken into view I had fondly entertained the hope that it would give me the chance of reaching that mountain which has never yet been visited by a European or surveyed. This desire arose from the fact that of the various positions which have been proposed for the Aornos of the historians of Alexander there is none which in my opinion has a better claim for serious consideration than Mount Mahāban.
Mount Mahāban. - I peed ont review here the numerous opinions which have been advanced since General Court took up the question in 1886 regarding the site of that famous mountain stronghold. They have been fully set forth and discussed by General Cunningham in a separate chapter of his Ancient Geography of India. Nor is this the place to explain the reasons which seem to me to militate against any one of the suggested sites that are at
present accessible for examination, such as Rāja Hodi's Castle' opposite Attock, the Karamā bill, the ruined castle of Ränigat.7
The claims of Monnt Mahaban were first advanced by the late General Abbott, of Abbottabad, nearly half a century ago. They were rightly based by him on the close agreement which the main orographical features of that mountain, as then known, its proximity to the Indus, its great height and extent, present with the description of the Greek historians. No fact has since come to light which could shake the weight of the arguments derived from this observation."
. See pp. 58 -99.1 compare also Sir E Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography, L. Pp. 498 399.
1 General Cunningham himself, evidently after a good deal of hesitation, settled upon Ranigat u the most likely position. But that distinguished antiquarian, to whose intuitive perception in matters of ancient topography we owe MADy happy identifications, wao bimeell constrained to own in this case that he did not feel satisfied with this location. To any unbiased student of the question who has visited the ruins on the Ränigat hill, the objections most appear unsurmountable. Its great distance from the Indus, its comparatively small beight, and still smaller summit are all features which cannot be reconciled with the salient points of the Greek accounta.
See General Abbott's paper "Gradua ad Aornum," ). 4. 8. B., 1864, pp. 300 299. Before him General Court already seems to have thought of Mah ben possible position for Aornos, see bis incidental reference, J. 4. 8. B., 1889. p. 810.
The main objection which General Cunningham rainer to Mount Mahaban the representative of Aornos (Anciont Geography, p. 61 9.) is based on the assumption that it is the great mountain' by the side of which the Mahāvana monastery of Hiuen Twiang was situated. "If any fort had then existed on the top of the mountain," General Cunningham arguen," it is almost certain that the pilgrim would have mentioned its name," oto. After what we have shown below me to the real position of the Mshavana convent, it is clear that this negative argument, weak in itself, falls to the ground,
Nor can I attach any greater importance to his other two objections, derived as they are from such defective information as ha hitherto been available regarding the shape and extent of the mountain and its several spurs In the absence of any proper survey it is impossible to assert the easy accessibility of the mountain a contrasted with the description given of the steepness of Aornos, or to compare ita circuit with the varying figures recorded for the latter by the historians of Alexander.