History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c8.s1.2

c8.s1.2

¹ The importance of Kanauj in ancient times was probably due to its strategic advantages. The city stood on a cliff on the right bank of the Ganges, which was then the highway of commerce and communication, and it must have, therefore, been a convenient centre for river traffic in the upper Doab [see Samuel Beal, *The Travels of Fa-hian (Fo-kuo-ki)*, ch. XVIII, p. xliii; Thomas Watters, *On Yuan Chwang (Si-yu-ki)*, Vol. I (1904), p. 341; *Bāla-Rāmāyaṇa* of Rājaśekhara, Act X, p. 306, ed. Govindadeva Śāstrī (Benares, 1869). The river, however, now flows at a distance of some miles to the east (see *Gazetteer of Farrukhabad*, p. 217; *Imperial Gazetteer of India*, XIV, p. 370]. Besides, as observed by Cunningham, "the situation is a commanding one, and before the use of the cannon the height alone must have made Kanauj a strong and important position" (Cunningham's *Ancient Geography of India*, ed. S. N. Majumdar, (Calcutta, 1924), p. 436).