The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t14: 9. Falana, or Banu.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t14
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9. Falana, or Banu.
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The name of *Fa-la-na* is mentioned only by Hwen Thsang, who places the country to the south-east of Ghazni, and at fifteen days' journey to the south of Lamghân.[†] It was 4000 *li*, or 666 miles, in circuit, and was chiefly composed of mountains and forests. It was subject to Kapisene, and the language of the people had a slight resemblance to that of Central India. From the bearing and distance, there is no doubt that *Banu* was the district visited by Hwen Thsang, from which it may be inferred that its original name was *Varana*, or *Barna*. This is confirmed by Fa-Hian, who calls the country by the shorter vernacular name of *Po-na*, or *Bana*, which he reached in thirteen days from Nagarahâra in going towards the south. *Pona* also is said to be three days' journey to the west of the Indus, which completes the proof of its identity with Banu, or the lower half of the
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[*] ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ ii. 150; and my ‘Ladak,’ p. 34. [†] H. Th., i. 265.
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valley of the Kuram river. In the time of Fa-Hian the kingdom of Banu was limited to this small tract, as he makes the upper part of the Kuram valley a separate district, called *Lo-i*, or *Roh*.* But in the time of Hwen Thsang, when it had a circuit of more than 600 miles, its boundaries must have included the whole of the two large valleys of the Kuram and Gomal rivers, extending from the Safed Koh, or "Little Snowy Mountains" of Fa-Hian, to Sivastan on the south, and from the frontiers of Ghazni and Kandahar on the west to the Indus on the east.
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I think it not improbable that the full name of this district, *Falana* or *Barana*, may have some connection with that of the great division of the Ghilji tribe named *Burán*, as the upper valleys of both the Kuram and Gomal rivers, between Ghazni and the Sulimâni mountains, are now occupied by the numerous clans of the Sulimâni Khel, or eldest branch of the Burâns. *Iryúb*, the elder son of Burân, and the father of Sulimân, is said to have given his name to the district of *Haryúb* or *Iryáb*, which is the upper valley of the Kuram river.
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M. Vivien de St. Martin† identifies *Falana* with *Váneh*, or *Wanneh*, of Elphinstone.‡ But *Vána*, or *Wána*, as the Afghans call it, is only a petty little tract with a small population, whereas *Banu* is one of the largest, richest, and most populous districts to the west of the Indus. *Vána* lies to the south-south-east, and *Banu* to the east-south-east of Ghazni, so that either of them will tally very well with the south-east direction noted by Hwen Thsang; but *Vána* is from 20 to 25 days' journey to the south of Lamghân, while Banu is just 15 days' journey as noted by the pilgrim. As Fa-Hian's notice of Banu dates as high as the beginning of the fifth century, I think that it may be identified with the *Banagara* of Ptolemy, which he places in the extreme north of Indo-Scythia, and to the south-south-east of *Nagara*, or Jalâlâbâd. A second town in the same direction, which he names *Andrapana*, is probably *Dráband* or *Deráband*, near Dera Ismaïl Khan.
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∗ Beal's Translation, c. 14, p. 50.
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† 'Hiouen Thsang,' appendice iii.
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‡ Elphinstone's 'Kabul,' ii. 156, 158.
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Hwen Thsang mentions a district on the western frontier of Falana, named *Ki-kiang-na*, the position of which has not yet been fixed. M. Vivien de St. Martin and Sir H. Elliot have identified it with the *Kaikánán*, or *Kikán*, of the Arab historians of Sindh;* but unfortunately the position of *Kaikánán* itself is still undetermined. It is, however, described as lying to the north or north-east of Kachh Gandâva, and as *Kikiangna* was to the west of *Falana* or *Banu*, it appears probable that the district intended must be somewhere in the vicinity of *Pishin* and *Kwetta*; and as Hwen Thsang describes it as situated in a valley under a high mountain, I am inclined to identify it with the valley of Pishin itself, which lies between the Khoja Amrân hills on the north, and the lofty Mount Takatu on the south. This position agrees with that of *Kai-kán*, قيكان given by Biladûri,† who says that it formed part of Sindh in the direction of Khorasan. This is further confirmed by the statement that *Kaikán* was on the road from Multan to Kabul, as the usual route between these places lies over the Sakhi Sarwar Pass in the Sulimâni mountains, and across the Pishin valley to Kandahar. A shorter, but more difficult, route is by the valley of the Gomal river to Ghazni. But as the valley of the Gomal belonged to Falana, it follows that the district of Kikiangna must have been somewhere in the neighbourhood of Pishin; and as this valley is now inhabited by the tribe of Khakas, it is not improbable that the name of Kikán, or Kaikán, may have been derived from them.
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∗ ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ iii. 185; Dowson's edition of Sir H. Elliot's ‘Muhammadan Historians,’ i. 381.
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† Renaud's ‘Fragments Arabes, etc.,’ p. 184.