The Geography of the Puranas c8.242

c8.242

It appears that the vast area north of the Oxus now known as Tājikistan was very sparsely populated. This is true since in ancient times the population was limited to the higher mountain valleys while the lower basins of the Vakhsh, Kafirnigan, Surkhan and Shirabad were absolute deserts. According to the Purāṇas, the inhabited zones were situated on the flanks of the Kumuda, Añjana, Kṛṣṇa, Mukuṭa and Pāṇḍura mountains. This brings out the fact that the belt of settled population in ancient times covered Baisun, Denau (medieval Changhanian) Karatagh (medieval Hamvaran), Diu-Shambe (medieval Shuman and modern Stalinabad) and Kafirnigan (medieval Ajdiyan) regions, i.e., a belt 100 miles long and 20 miles wide along and parallel to the southern piedmont of the Hissar range. The ‘Sahasrapuri of demons’ appears to be the ancient Hissar. ‘The city of scholars’ on the Pāṇḍura mountain probably corresponds to old Changhanian or Denau (on modern maps) and the ‘living place of Pannagas’ on the Mukuṭa mountain is the ancient settlement of Baysun which has always been an important town controlling the Iron Gate to the west. The Purāṇas do not attach much importance to the Vakhsh valley. They only refer to the ‘poor living places’ or miscellaneous population groups which lived scattered along the valley. It is to be noted that the fire-worshippers of the Vakhan, Shugnan, Roshan and other valleys of the upper Oxus have been ignored altogether in the Meru region beyond the limits of the area under discussion.