The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c16.18

c16.18

¹ Raverty gives as various correct spellings, Sutlaj, Sutlāj, and *Shuttlaj*. This river, which was called Śatadra in Sanskrit, is rarely mentioned by the Greek or Roman authors under the name of Hesidrus. The Hypanis of Strabo is a variant for Hyphasis. A learned reviewer of the first edition says that 'exception may be taken to the strange remark that the Biās was in early days not a confluent of the Sutlej (p. 85); for the Rig Veda says that one flows into the other'. The only passage in the Rig Veda which mentions the Vipāśa is iii, 33, and that may be interpreted as referring to twin streams more or less parallel, but not necessarily confluent. Compare the reference to 'the Vipāś together with the Śatudrī' in the *Brihaddevatā* (Macdonell's ed., i, 114). The Sutlaj is the most erratic of the rivers of the Panjāb. The Biās or Biāh deserted its ancient channel about A. D. 1790, for the first time since it is heard of in history, and moved towards the east, combining with the Sutlaj, which shifted westwards simultaneously (Raverty, pp. 504, 505: see next note).