Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c13.s2.67

c13.s2.67

In the opinion of Smith, the position of this kingdom is fixed by the remark of Strabo⁷ that it included a mountain composed of fossil salt sufficient for the whole of India; Sophytes was, therefore, according to him, the "lord of the fastness of the Salt Range stretching from the Jhelum to the Indus." But we have already seen that the classical writers agree in placing Sophytes' territory *east of the Jhelum*. Curtius tells us⁸ that the nation ruled by Sopeithes (Sophytes), in the opinion of the "barbarians," excelled in wisdom, and lived under good laws and customs. They did not acknowledge and rear children according to the will of the parents, but as the officers entrusted with the medical inspection of infants might direct, for if they remarked anything deformed or defective in the limbs of a child they ordered it to be killed. In contracting marriages they did not seek an alliance with high birth but made their choice by the looks, for beauty in the children was highly appreciated. Strabo informs us¹ that the dogs in the territory of Sopeithes (Sophytes) were said to possess remarkable courage. We have some coins of Sophytes bearing on the obverse the head of the king, and on the reverse the figure of a cock.² According to Smith the style is suggested probably by the "owls" of Athens. Strabo calls Sophytes a *nomarch* which probably indicates that he was not an independent sovereign, but only a viceroy of some other king.³