The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t11.5

c5.s1.t11.5

I will begin with the name Aornos, which, though a Greek word, can hardly, as Mr. Loewenthal observes, be an invention of the Greeks. It must, therefore, be the transcription, either more or less altered, of some native name. Mr. Loewenthal thinks that it was derived from Banâras in its Sanskrit form of *Varânasi*, which a Greek of Alexander's time could only have pronounced by prefixing a vowel. He would thus have got Avaranas or Aornos. But this is, perhaps, proving too much, as the final letter in Aornos is almost certainly the Greek termination, which need not, therefore, have formed part of the original native name. It is also suspicious that the literal transcription of the native name should form a pure Greek word. If Banâras or Varánasi was the original form of the name, then we ought to find another Banâras to the north of the Caucasus, as Arrian relates that after passing Drapsaka, or Andarâb, Alexander “moved against Aornos and Bactra, the two chief cities of the Bactrians, which being immediately surrendered to him, he placed a garrison in the castle of Aornos.”* On comparing Arrian’s names with Ptolemy’s map, it seems evident that his Bactra and Aornos are the same as Ptolemy’s Zariaspa and Bactra regia, and as the latter is placed in the country of the Varni, or Οὔαρνοι, I conclude that the name Aornos, Ἄορνος, is only a natural and slight alteration of Οὔαρνος or Varnos, made by the followers of Alexander for the sake of obtaining a significant name in Greek. Similarly I would refer the second Aornos to Raja Vara, whose name is still attached to all the ruined strongholds between Hashtnagar and Ohind. Thus the old hill fort and city of Takht-i-Bahai, 15 miles to the north-east of Hashtnagar, is said to have been the residence of Raja Vara. But his name is more particularly attached to the grand hill-fort of Ránigat above Nogrâm. Ráni-gat, or the Queen’s rock, is a huge upright block on the north edge of the fort, on which Raja Vara’s Rani is said to have seated herself daily. The fort itself is attributed to Raja Vara, and some ruins at the foot of the hill are called Raja Vara's stables. Some people call him Raja Virát, but as they connect him with the story of the five Pândus, I conclude that the name has been altered to suit the story. The position of the true Virát was in Matsya or Mácheri, to the south of Delhi: all others are spurious. I think, therefore, that the hill fort of Aornos most probably derived its name from Raja Vara, and that the ruined fortress of Ráni-gat has a better claim to be identified with the Aornos of Alexander than either the Mahában hill of General Abbott, or the castle of Raja Hodi proposed by General Court and Mr. Loewenthal.