The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s2.t1.21

c5.s2.t1.21

The question now arises, how did the new city of Pravarasenapura lose its own name, and assume that of the old city of Srinagari? I think that this difficulty may perhaps be explained by the simple fact that the two cities were actually contiguous, and, as they existed together side by side for upwards of five centuries, the old name, as in the case of Delhi, would naturally have remained in common use with the people, in preference to the new name, as the customary designation of the capital. The old name of Delhi is exactly a case in point. There, new city after new city was built by successive kings, each with the distinctive name of its founder; but as they were all in the immediate vicinity of Delhi itself, the old familiar name still clung to the capital, and each new appellation eventually became absorbed in the one general name of "Delhi." In the same way I believe that the old familiar name of Srinagar eventually swamped the name of the new city of Pravarasenapura.