The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c16.16

c16.16

Our exact knowledge of the courses of the rivers in the Panjāb and Sind begins only from the date of the Arab invasion in 712 a.d., more than a thousand years subsequent to the expedition of Alexander. Concerning the changes which happened during that millennium absolutely nothing is known. But during the twelve hundred years that have elapsed since the Arab conquests changes on a stupendous scale are known to have occurred, and it is certain that similar effects must have been produced by the ever operating causes during the thousand years which intervened between Alexander and Muhammad bin Kāsim.¹ During the known period, earthquakes, floods, changes of level, denudation, accretion, and alterations of climate all have contributed to transform the face of the country. The delta of the Indus has advanced more than 50 miles, and has thus lengthened the courses of the rivers, while necessarily diminishing their gradients and velocity. One huge river, the Hakrā or Wahindah, which formerly gave life and wealth to the desert wastes of Bikanīr, Bahāwalpur, and Sind, has ceased to exist; the Biās (Hyphasis) has forsaken its ancient independent bed, and become a tributary of the Sutlaj;¹ while the other rivers, the Indus, Jihlam (Hydaspes), Chināb (Akesinēs), and Rāvī (Hydraōtes) have all repeatedly changed their courses and points of junction.