The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s3.t1: Jâlandhara.

The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s3.t1

Language: English

Jâlandhara.

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Since the occupation of the plains by the Muhamadans, the ancient kingdom of Jâlandhara has been confined almost entirely to its hill territories, which were generally known by the name of Kângra, after its most celebrated fortress. The district is also called Kâtoch, the meaning of which is unknown, and Trigartta,* which is the usual Sanskrit name found in the Purânas, and in the native chronicle of Kashmir.

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In the seventh century Jâlandhara is described by the Chinese pilgrim† as about 1000 *li*, or 167 miles in length from east to west, and 800 *li*, or 133 miles in breadth from north to south. If these dimensions are even approximately correct, Jâlandhar must then have included the state of Chamba on the north, with Mandi and Sukhet on the east, and Satadru on the south-east. As the last is the only district to the east of the Satlej, which is included in N. India, I infer that it must have belonged to the kingdom of Jâlandhar. With the addition of these districts the size of the province will agree very well with the dimensions assigned to it by the Chinese pilgrim.

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† Julien’s ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ ii. 202.

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At the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit, Jâlandhar itself was the capital, which he describes as from 12 to 13 *li*, or upwards of 2 miles in circuit. Its antiquity is undoubted, as it is mentioned by Ptolemy as Kulindrine, or Ktulindrine, which should probably be corrected to Sulindrine, as the *K* and Σ are frequently interchanged in Greek manuscripts. According to the Padma Purâna,‡ the city of Jâlandhara was the capital of the great Daitya king Jalandhara, who became so powerful by virtue of his austerities as to be invincible. At last, however, he was overcome by Siva, through a disgraceful fraud, and his body was devoured by the yoginis, or female demons. But the conclusion of the legend is differently given in the local Purâna,* which states that he was overwhelmed and crushed to death by a mass of mountains which Siva placed upon him. Flames then sprang out of his mouth, which was under Jwála-mukhi; his back was under the upper part of the Doâb, which is still called Jálandhara-pitha, or Jálandhar-pith, by the people; and his feet were under the lower part of the Doâb at Multân. Akbar partially adopted this version of the legend when he named the different Doâbs after the enclosing rivers, by calling the land between the Satlej and Biâs the Doâb-i-Bist Jálandhar, or Bit Jálandhar, instead of the Sab Doab, which it should have been if he had placed the initial of the eastern river first, as he did in the names of the Bâri and Chaj Doâbs.

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∗ ‘Hema-Kosha.’ Jâlandharâs Trigarttâsyuh—“Jâlandhara, that is Trigartta.”

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‡ Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purâna. Kennedy’s ‘Hindu Mythology,’ p. 456.

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The royal family of Jâlandhara and Kângra is one of the oldest in India, and their genealogy from the time of the founder, Susarma Chandra, appears to me to have a much stronger claim to our belief than any one of the long strings of names now shown by the more powerful families of Rajputana. All the different scions of this house claim to be of Somavansi descent; and they assert that their ancestors held the district of Multân and fought in the Great War on the side of Duryodhan against the five Pându brothers. After the war they lost their country, and retired under the leadership of Susarma Chandra to the Jâlandhar Doâb, where they established themselves, and built the stronghold of Kangra. The expedition of Alexander terminated on the banks of the Hyphasis, or Biâs; but he received the submission of Phegelast or Phegæus, the king of the district, beyond the river, that is of the Jâlandhar Doâb. Towards the end of the fifth century, the kingdom of Trigartta was presented to Pravaresa by the Raja of Kashmir.* In the seventh century, the Chinese pilgrim, Hwen Thsang, was courteously entertained for a whole month by Raja U-ti-to, or Udita,† whom I would identify with Adima of the genealogical lists. One hundred and sixty years later, in an inscription dated A.D. 804, the Raja of Jâlandhara is named Jaya Chandra, who is the Jaya Malla Chandra of the lists, the seventh in descent from Adima. Lastly, Avanta, king of Kashmir, from A.D. 1028 to 1081, married two daughters of Indu Chandra,‡ Raja of Jâlandhara, who is the Indra Chandra of the genealogical lists of Kângra. These instances are sufficient to show that Jâlandhara existed as an independent State for many centuries before the Muhammadan conquest.

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∗ Jâlandhara Purâna. † Diodorus, xvii. 51, “Phegæus.” Curtius, ix. 1, 2, “Phegelas erat gentis proximæ rex.”

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The smaller chiefships of Guler, Jaswâl, Datârpur, and Siba, are offshoots from the parent stem of Kângra. The independence of Guler, or Haripur, was established by Hari Chandra, about A.D. 1400, when he yielded Kângra to his younger brother, Karmma Chandra. The date of the foundation of the other principalities is unknown, but I believe that they were always tributary to the parent state until the time of the Muhammadans, when the capture of Kângra by Mahmud of Ghazni afforded them an opportunity of asserting their independence.

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The French traveller Thevenot,§ in his account of the dominions of the Emperor of Delhi, mentions that "there are many Rajas who own not the authority of the Great Mogul." But the territories of these Rajas must have been far in the interior of the hills, as we know that the chiefs of all the outer hills were subjected by the Mogul emperors. Thevenot specially mentions the province of "Ayoud, or Haoud," as containing "the most northern countries that belong to the Great Mogul, as Caucares, Bankish, Nagarcut, Siba, and others." The Caucares must be the Gakars who hold the lower hills to the west of the Jhelam. Terry* calls them Kakares, and their principal cities Dekalee and Purhola (or Dângali and Pharwâla). The Bankish are the Banchish of Terry,† whose "chief city, called Bishur (Peshâwar) lyeth east (read west) somewhat southerly from Chishmere, from which it is divided by the river Indus." Nagarcut is Kângra or Nagarkot, which is mentioned under the same name by Abu Rihân,‡ who was present at its capture by Mahmud of Ghazni. Siba is not as we might suppose, the small state in the neighbourhood of Kângra, but a district on the Ganges, of which the chief city, according to Terry, was "Hardware (or Haridwâra), where the river Ganges, passing through or amongst large rocks, makes presently after a pretty full current." From these accounts it is clear that the whole of the states in the lower hills, from Peshâwar on the west to the Ganges on the east, were subject to the emperor of Delhi. Regarding the general name of Ayoud, or Haoud, which Thevenot applies to them, I can only conjecture that it may be some corrupt form of Himavat, or Himwat, one of the well-known names of the Himálaya mountains, which the Greeks have preserved under the two different forms of Emódos and Imäus.

Linked texts (4)

Rājataraṅgiṇī — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit
Historiae Alexandri Magni — Q. Curtius Rufus, Latin
Padmapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Purāṇa — Sanskrit