The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t8.5

c5.s1.t8.5

It seems to me not improbable that the modern name of Hashtnagar may be only a slight alteration of the old name of *Hastinagara*, or "city of Hasti," which might have been applied to the capital of Astes, the Prince of Peukelaotis. It was a common practice of the Greeks to call the Indian rulers by the names of their cities, as Taxiles, Assakanus, and others. It was also a prevailing custom amongst Indian princes to designate any additions or alterations made to their capitals by their own names. Of this last custom we have a notable instance in the famous city of Delhi; which, besides its ancient appellations of *Indraprastha* and *Dilli*, was also known by the names of its successive aggrandizers as Kot-Pithora, Kila-Alai, Tughlakâbâd, Firuzâbâd, and Shahjahânâbâd. It is true that the people themselves refer the name of Hashtnagar to the "eight towns" which are now seated close together along the lower course of the Swât river; but it seems to me very probable that in this case the wish was father to the thought, and that the original name of Hastinagar, or whatever it may have been, was slightly twisted to Hashtnagar, to give it a plausible meaning amongst a Persianized Muhammadan population, to whom the Sanskrit Hastinagara was unintelligible. To the same cause I would attribute the slight change made in the name of *Nagarahára*, which the people now call *Nang-nihár*,* or the "Nine Streams."