The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t11.28

c5.s1.t11.28

The first of these places stands on an isolated hill, about halfway between Bâzâr and Hashtnagar; Mr. Loewenthal describes it as a barren hill of no great height, which forms three sides of a square, with the open side towards the north-west.* By the trigonometrical survey maps, *Takht-i-Bahai* is only 1859 feet above the sea, or 650 feet above the Yusufzai plain. Mr. Loewenthal also describes the ascent as easy; and as the place is situated not less than 35 miles from the nearest point of the Indus, I think it may be rejected at once as not answering the description of lofty and difficult access, and as being too far from the probable position of Embolima. The position of the lofty isolated hill of *Káramár*, which is situated 6 miles to the south of Bâzâr, and only 18 miles to the north-north-west of Ohind, added to its height, which is 3480 feet above the sea, or 2280 feet above the Yusufzai plain, would give it a most prominent claim to notice if it possessed any remains of former occupation. But the *Káramár* hill is a mere bluff ridge, without ruins and without a name in the traditions of the people. The *Panjpir* hill is a similar but smaller ridge, which rises to the height of 2140 feet above the sea, or 940 feet above the Yusufzai plain. It is a mere sharp ridge crowned with a single building, which is now dedicated to the Panjpir, or five Great Saints of the Muhammadans, of whom the earliest is *Baha-ud-din Zakariya* of Multan, commonly called *Baháwal Hakk*. But the Hindus affirm that the place was originally dedicated to the *Panch-Pandu*, or Five Pandu brothers of the ‘Mahâbhârata.’