The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t8.1

c5.s1.t8.1

The ancient capital of Gândhâra was *Pushkalavati*, which is said to have been founded by Pushkara, the son of Bharata, and the nephew of Rama.* Its antiquity is undoubted, as it was the capital of the province at the time of Alexander’s expedition. The Greek name of *Peukelaotis*, or *Peucolaïtis*, was immediately derived from *Pukkalaoti*, which is the Pali, or spoken form of the Sanskrit *Pushkalavati*. It is also called *Peukelas* by Arrian, and the people are named *Peukalei* by Dionysius Periegetes, which are both close transcripts of the Pali *Pukkala*. The form of *Proklaïs*, which is found in Arrian’s ‘Periplus of the Erythræan Sea,’ and also in Ptolemy’s ‘Geography,’ is perhaps only an attempt to give the Hindi name of *Pokhar* instead of the Sanskrit *Pushkara*.