Indian Antiquary Vol 50

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 49

FEB., 1921]
THE EARLY COURSE OF THE GANGES
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from all parts of India and Ceylon used to come there with their merchandise. It was a royal city where the kings of the country resided. 116 Gange of Ptolemy and Pliny was evidently Saptagrâma, the capital of Radha, situated on the Ganges and an emporium of commerce. Saptagrâma was known to the Romans by the name Gange Regia. 118 Its ancient name appears to have been Ganga, and the country was perhaps called Ganga from the name of the capital, 88 from Champa, the country of Anga was called Champa (Chenpo), and from Mathura, 119 Gange has been described in the Periplus as a seat of commerce. It says," on its bank (i.e. the bank of the Ganges) is a market-town which has the same name as the river Ganges. Through this place are brought Malabathrum and Gangetio spikenard and pearls, and muslins of the finest sorts, which are called Gangetic."120 The word Ganga of the Kaushitaki Upanishad is also derived from Gangå (the Ganges) from its situation on that river. According to Ptolemy, Gange wag "the Royal residence," and it was not far from the mouth of the Ganges.111 There can be no reasonable doubt therefore that Saptagrâma or modern Såtgaon near Hughli was the Gange of Ptolemy, and it was the capital of the Gangaridæ or Gang-Radhi. GangaRadhi may mean either that Radha was situated, as it now is, on the western side of Ganga or the Ganges, or that it is a combination of names of both the capital called Gåriga (Gange of Ptolemy) and the country called Radha. At any rate, we come to know that in the second century of the Christian era, Saptagrama was known by the name of Gânga. During the Paurânio period, it was known only by the name of Triveni which was and still is a quarter of Saptagrâma situated on the Ganges.122 Perhaps the name of Saptagrâma (the Seven Villages) was too secular for the religious Hindus, and Triveni (the three plaits or rivers) was associated with the three most sacred rivers of India : Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati.
It is therefore clear that Parthalis of the fourth century B.C., was not the capital of Radha in the second century A.D. In the course of five or six centuries, there was evidently an extension of the delta of the south, and Saptagrâma rose into importance from its vicinity to the sea and the convenience it afforded to commerce by allowing easy access to it as a port through the channel of the Sarasvati. The capital was consequently removed from Parthalis to Saptagrâma. It should only be observed that at this distance of time, it is difficult to determine precisely the points from which the channels branched off the Ganges, and it would be erroneous to form a conception of the mouths of the Ganges of the second century A.D. from the present distribution of the channels in the delta, as it has been done by many writers who have attempted to identify them on the assumption that the deltaic channels and estuaries of the Ganges in the 19th or 20th century were identical with those of the second century. From the aforesaid falcts, it would appear that Mid-Bengal was gradually elevated, but whether or not the subsidence took place after the complete formation of the delta is entirely a geographical question.
(To be continued.)
- 116 JASB., 1910, p. 615; Asiatio Researches, vol. V ; Caloutta Review, vol. XXI, p. 278.
118 Asiatic Researches, vol. V, p. 278. 119 Beal's Records of Western Countries, vol. I, pp. 37, 72; vol. II, pp. 74, 191. 130 Sohoff's Periphus of the Erythroan Sea, p. 47; see also McCrindle's Commerce and Navigation of
the Erythrcan Soa, p. 146. in MoCrindle's Ptolomy, p. 172. 13 Brihad-dharma Purana, Ioh. 6; II, ch. 22; Kavilan kana Chand, pp. 228, 229; 500 also Brinde
vana Dama's Chaitanya-Bhagavata, anta-Ihanda (Nityanando's stay at Saptagrdma).