Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 58
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1929
extremity of the range of which the Pir-sar spur is the largest and most conspicuous offshoot. Diodorus' more specific statement that the Indus washed the rock on its southern side is borne out by the map. This shows that the portion of this bend nearest for those coming up the Indus valley lies due south of Pîr-sar. The relative elevation of Bar-sar at the northern end of the spur (7,914 feet by clinometer), if measured from the bank of the Indus (circ. 1,700 feet at Thakot) agrees remarkably well with the height of Aornos, 11 stadia or about 6,600 feet, as recorded by Arrian.63 If the relative height of the ûna peak (8,721 feet above sea level by triangulation) rising immediately to the west of Bar-sar is taken, the agreement becomes, if anything, still closer. Obviously no such test can be applied to the measurement of the circuit; for we do not know on what lines or on which level it was taken. It is curious to note that if a map measurer is passed round the foot of the eastern extremity of the range from near Sarkul on the Indus past the Takhta pass to Shang and thence back again behind the Una peak we get a total direct length of some 22 miles. But of course other measurements, greater or lesser, would also be possible.
Coming next to the commanding height near Aornos which a light-armed force was sent ahead under Ptolemy to occupy, it is clear that the small plateaus on either flank of Mount Uņa would exactly answer the purpose in view. This was to secure a position on that side from which the “rock” was most assailable. Taking into account all the tactical advantages which the possession of higher ground must have implied for the assailant, in times before the invention of long-range firearms even more than since, there can be no doubt that the side whence an attack upon the rock-girt plateau of Pîr-sar would offer most chances of success would be where the spur joined on, and was overlooked by, the main range. This is the Bûrimar plateau on the eastern shoulder of the culminating peak of Una (Fig. 6). But there are considerations which make me inclined to favour the gently sloping alp of "Little Ûņa" immediately below the western flank of ûna-sar as the most likely site of Ptolemy's fortified encampment. From here it was easier to guard the route leading up from the river, and thus to give that assistance for the subsequent ascent of the main force which Arrian's account shows to have become indispensable once the defenders had discovered the Macedonian move. “Little Una ” offers also the advantage, anyhow nowadays, of easier access to water, and by its situation it was less exposed to attack from the enemy's main position on Pir-sar.
The route by which the crest of the range where it overlooks Pir-sar could best be gained from the river certainly led up the valley to the west of the Danda-Nûrdai spur, and thence from its head to "Little ûna." The information collected by me showed that this route is considered the easiest from that side for reaching the grazing-grounds on the top of the main range. It is regularly used by the local Gujars when moving there from their hamlets above the Indus. The ascent in the valley is undoubtedly steep, but its bottom is less confined than that of the valley on the other side of the Danda-Nûrdai spur towards Pir-sar. Near the head of the valley the pass shown in the map with a clinometrical height of 6,471 feet gives acoess to the lower slopes of Little ûna and from these the alps occupied by the Gujar huts of Achar and Little ûna can be gained without difficulty.
It is the route just described which for the reasons indicated I believe to have been fol. lowed first by Ptolemy and then also by Alexander's main column. Arrian tells us that after Alexander had seen the beacon' lit by Ptolemy on the mountain he had occupied, he next day moved forward with his troops, but as his progress was obstructed by the barbarians,
63 Bar-sar as well as the rest of Pir-sar is visible from more than one point of the right bank of the Indus between Sarkul and Gunahghar. It is obvious that the height measurement recorded by Arrian must be a relative one, and that the river-bank can reasonably be supposed to have been the place from which it was takon. A height measurement of this kind from a convenient baso is a simplo goometrical task, and Groek surveying knowledge at the time of Alexander was fully equal to it.
