The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c16.11

c16.11

¹ The position of the kingdom of Sophytes is fixed by the remark of Strabo (xv, 30) that it included 'a mountain composed of fossil salt sufficient for the whole of India'. Curtius (ix, 1) misplaces Sophytes on the west of the Hyphasis, and is followed by McCrindle, whose map shows the kingdom as lying north of Amritsar, an impossible position. Cunningham (*Anc. Geog.*, p. 155) may or may not be right in placing the capital of Sophytes at Old Bhīra (properly 'Bahrah'), on the west side of the Jihlam. For the coins of Sophytes of Greek type see *ante*, Plate 'Indian Coins I', fig. 1; and Rapson, *Indian Coins*, §§ 9, 11; *Catal. of Coins in the Indian Museum*, vol. i, p. 7. The restoration of the name Saubhūti is due to M. Sylvain Lévi (*J.A.*, sér. viii, vol. xv, pp. 237–9).