Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 190

174
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1923
The stratagem by which Kao Hsien-chih met and overcame the reluctance of his troops, which threatened failure when success seemed assured, looks characteristically Chinese. The forethought shown in preparing this ruse is a proof alike of Kao Hsien-chin's judgment of men and of the extreme care with which every step of his great enterprise must have been planned. But such a ruse, to prove effective, must have remained unsuspected. I believe that, in planning it, full advantage was taken of the peculiar configuration of the Darkot, which provides, as seen, a double route of access to the pass. If the party of men sent ahead to play the role of the "barbarians of Little Po-la" offering their submission was despatched by the Baroghil and Rukang route, while the troops marched by the Showitakh-Showar-shur route, all chance of discovery while on the move would be safely guarded against. As I had often occasion to note in the course of my explorations, Chinese military activity, from antiquity down to modern times, has always taken advantage of the keen sense of topography widely spread in the race. So kao Hsien-ehih was likely to take full account of the alternative routes. Nor could it have been particularly difficult for him to find suitable actors, in view of the generous admixture of local auxiliaries which the Chinese forces in Central Asia have at all times comprised.
The remaining stages of Kao Hsien-chih's advance can be traced with equal ease. The three marches which brought him from the southern foot of the pass to "the town of A-nu-yüeh " obviously correspond to the distance, close on 30 miles, reckoned between the first camping ground below the Darkot to the large village of Yasin. The latter, by its position and the abundance of cultivable ground near by, must always have been the political centre of the Yasin valley. Hence it is reasonable to assume that we have in A-nu-yüeh a fairly accurate reproduction of the name Arniya or Arniah, by which the Dards of the Gilgit valley know Yasin.
The best confirmation of this identification is furnished by the statement of the Chinese record that the bridge across the River So-yi was situated 60 li from A-nu-yüeh. Since the notice of Little Po-lü contained in the T'ang Annals names the River So-yi as the one on which Yeh-to, the capital of the kingdom, stood, it is clear that the Gilgit river must be meant. Now, a reference to the map shows that, in a descent of the valley from Yasin, the Gilgit river is reached at a distance of about 12 miles, which exactly agrees with the 60 li of the Chinese account. It is evident also that, since the only practicable route towards Gilgit proper and the Indus valley leads along the right, or southern, bank of the Gilgit river, the Tibetan reinforcements hurrying up from that direction could not reach Yasin without first crossing the river. This explains the importance attaching to the bridge and the prompt steps taken by the Chinese leader to have it broken. As the Gilgit river is quite unfordable in the summer, the destruction of the bridge sufficed to assure safe possession of Yasin.28
37 The T'ang Annals specifically mention in the account of Shih-ni, or Shighnan, on the Oxus that its chief in A.D. 747 followed the Imperial troops in their attack on Littlo P'o.lü, and was killed in the fighting: cf. Chavannes, Turcs occidentaux, p. 163.
28 The biography of Kao Hsien-chih calls this bridge "pont de rotin " in M. Chavannes' translation, Turce occidentaur, p. 153. But there can be no doubt that what is meant is a" rope bridge," or jhula, made of twigs twisted into ropes, & mode of construction still regularly used in all the valleys between Kashmir and the Hindukush. Rope bridges of this kind across the Gilgit river near the debouchure of the Yasin valley were the only permanent means of access to the latter from the south, until the wire suspension bridge near the present fort of Gupig was built in recent years.