The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.207

v1.c24.207

The dominion of Persian authority under Darius, therefore, as is clear from the Greek sources in connexion with the Inscriptions, comprised the realm from the embouchment of the Indus to its uppermost tributaries on the north and west. Regarding the Indians towards the south, we have the express statement of Herodotus (III, 101) to the effect that 'these were never subject to King Darius.' Herodotus also evidently considers the sandy wastes in portions of the present Sind and Rājputāna, to the east of the Indus, as the frontier in that direction; for he says (III, 98) that 'the part of the Indian territory towards the rising sun is sand,' and he adds immediately afterwards that 'the eastern part of India is a desert on account of the sand.' How far eastward the Persian dominion may have extended in the Panjab cannot be exactly determined; but it is significant that Herodotus never refers to the Ganges valley², and not one of our sources makes any mention of the famous Indian kingdom of Magadha, which was coming into prominence under the Buddhist rulers Bimbisāra and Ajātaçatru during the reign of Darius and simultaneously with the Persian conquests³. On the whole, so far as the extent of the Persian control is concerned, no better summary need be given than the cautious expression of Vincent Smith, when he says: 'Although the exact limits of the Indian satrapy [under Darius] cannot be determined, we know that it was distinct from Arīa (Herāt), Arachosia (Kandahār), and Gandaria (North-western Panjāb). It must have comprised, therefore, the course of the Indus from Kālabāgh to the sea, including the whole of Sind, and perhaps included a considerable portion of the Panjāb east of the Indus⁴.'