The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t2.6

c5.s1.t2.6

The names of other peoples and towns are recorded by Ptolemy; but few of them can now be identified, as we have nothing to guide us but the bare names. The Parsii, with their towns Parsia and Parsiana, I take to be the Pashais, or people of the Panjhir or Panjshir valley. The true name is probably Panchir, as the Arabs always write *j* for the Indian *ch*. The modern spelling of Panjshir adopted by Burnes, Leech, and others, appears to be only an attempt to give the Afghan pronunciation of *ch* as *ts* in *Pantsir*. A town named Panjhir is mentioned by the early Arab geographers, and a mountain named *Pashái* was crossed by Ibn Batuta, on his way from Kunduz to Parwân.*