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THE SINDHU-SAUVĪRAS kingdoms of the Sibis, Vrsadarbhas, Madras, Kekayas and Sauviras, thus occupying the whole of the Punjab except the north-western corner. According to the Agnipurāņa (Chap. 200), the river Devikā, but, according to the Bhāgavatapurāna (verse 10), the river Iksumati flowed through Sauvīra.
Other Epic references to the Sauvīras include the mention of a Sauvīra king Satruñjaya, who received instruction from a priest named Bharadvāja (Mbh., XII, Chap. 140, 5249-50), and of a Sauvīra princess who married Manasyu, the son of Pravīra by a Saurasena princess, and grandson of Puru (Mbh., Adiparvan, Chap. 49, 3696-7). Sovira or Sauvīra is also mentioned in early Buddhist literature. The Mahāgovinda Suttanta 2 refers to Sovīra whose king was Bharata; while the Divyāvadāna in relating a story (pp. 544-86) accounting for the name of Bharukaccha (Broach), refers to Rudrāyana, king of Roruka in Sauvīra. The Mahābhāsya of Patañjali and the Vvākarana of Kramadeśvara mention a city named Dattamitri in Sauvira. In the Milinda-Pamho, Sovira is described as a great sea-port (Trenckner Ed., p. 359); and it is not unlikely that the country is identical with the famous Sophir or Ophir of the Bible.4 Alberuni appears to identify Sauvīra with Multan and Jahrawar (India, Vol. I, pp. 300, 302); while, according to the Haimakosa (IV, 26), the Sauvira country is identical with Kunālaka.
Towards the middle of the second century A.D., the land of the Sindhus and the Sauvīras seems to have been administered by the Ksatrapa rulers of W. India. The Junāgadh Rock Inscription of Rudradāman (c. 150 A.D.) refers to the Mahāksatrapa's conquest of Sindhu-Sauvīra,5 along with E. and W. Akara (= mod. Khandesh) and Avanti (Pūrvaparākarāvanti), Anupanivrt (probably the Māndhātā region), Ānartta, Surāstra, Švabhra, Maru, Kaccha, Kukura, Aparānta and other countries. The Ksatrapas seem, however, to have wrested the country from the Kusāņas, probably from one of the successors of Kaniska. After the era of the Ksatrapas, the region probably passed over to the Guptas, and later to the Maitrakas of
1 Pargiter, A.I.H.T., pp. 109, 264; and Chap. on Yaudheyas. 2 Digha, II, pp. 235-6.
3 Ind. Ant., 1911, Foreign Elements in Hindu Population (Bhandarkar); Bomb. Gaz., I, ï, II; Kramadiśvara, p. 96.
4 Cunningham, A.G.I., pp. 569-71.
6 P.H.A.I., 4th Ed., p. 390. Sindhu is the inland portion lying to the west of the Indus (Watters. On Yuan Chwang, II. 252-3 read with 256). Sauvira includes the inland portion lving to the east of the Indus as far as Multan (Alberuni, I, 302; Ind. Ant., 7, 259). See also in this connection Appendix B of P.H.A.I., 4th Ed., dealing with the Chronological relation of Kaniska and Rudradāman I (pp. 522-7).
