Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c20.7

c20.7

That part of Pliny's account of India which may with some certainty be traced back to Megasthenes begins with a statement of the stages of the royal road from the Hypasis (Biás) to Palibothra (Patna) (Nat. Hist. VI. 17). The next chapter gives an account of the Ganges and its tributaries and mentions the Gangaridae of Kalinga with their capital Pertalis as the most distant nation on its banks. In the 19th chapter, after an account of the forces of the Gangaridae, Pliny gives a list of thirteen tribes, of which the only ones that can be said to be satisfactorily identified are Modogalinga (the three Calingas: Caldwell Dray.-Gr.), Molindae (compare Mount Malindya of Varaha Mihira Br. S. XIV.), and Thalutae (McCrindle reads Talutae and identifies with the Tamraliptakas of Tamluk on the lower Ganges). He next mentions the Andarae (Andhras of Telingana) with thirty cities 100,000 foot 2000 horse and 1000 elephants. He then digresses to speak of the Dardae (Dards of the Upper Indus) as rich in gold and the Setae (of Mewar, Lassen) in silver, and next introduces the Prasi (Pracyas) of Palibothra (Pataliputra) as the most famous and powerful of all the tribes, having 600,000 foot 30,000 horse and 8000 elephants. Inland from these he names the Monades (Munda of Singbhum) and Suari (Savaras of Central India) among whom is Mount Maleus (Mahendra Male ?). Then after some account of the Iomanes (Yamuna) running between Methora (Mathura) and Chrysobora (McCrindle reads Carisobora, Arrian Ind. VIII. Kleisobora = Krishnapura ?) he turns to the Indus, of some of whose nineteen tributaries he gives some account in chapter 20. He then digresses to give an account of the coast of India, starting from the mouth of the Ganges, whence to Point Calingon (Point Godavari) and the city of Dandaguda (Cunningham's Raja Mahendri, but more probably the Dhanakataka or Dhenukakata of the Western cave inscriptions) he reckons 625 miles. The distance thence to Tropina (Tirupanara near Kochin according to Burgess) is 1225 miles. Next at a distance of 750 miles is the cape of Perimula, where is the most famous mart of India. Further on in the same chapter is mentioned a city named Automula on the sea shore among the Arabastra (or Salabastra and Oratae, McCrindle) a noble mart where five rivers together flow into the sea. There can hardly be a doubt that the two places are the same, the two names being taken from different authorities, and that the place meant is Chempla or Cheul (Ptolemy's Simulla) the five rivers being those that flow into Bombay Harbour northward of Cheul. The distance from Perimula to the Island of Patala in the Indus is 620 miles. Pliny next enumerates, as hill tribes between the Indus and Jamna, shut in a ring of mountains and deserts for a space of 625 miles, the Cesi (the Kekioi of Arr. Ind. IV. and Kekayas of the Puranas, about the head waters of the Sutlej), the Cetriboni of the woods (..... Vana ?), the Megallae (Mekalas) with 500 elephants and unknown numbers of horse and foot, the Chrysei (Karusha) Parasangae (Parasava, corrupted by the likeness of its first three syllables to the word parasangya), the Asmagi (Asmaka of Varaha Mihira) with 30,000 foot 300 elephants and 800 horse. These are shut in by the Indus and surrounded by a circle of mountains and deserts for 625 miles. Next come the Dari and Sura, and then deserts again for 187 miles. Whether these are or are not correctly identified with the Dhars and Saurs of Sindh, they must be placed somewhere to the north of the Ran. Below them come five kingless tribes living in the hills along the sea-