The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.18

c5.s4.18

All these slightly different names of *Tákin*, *Táfan*, *Táfak*, *Táffa*, *Tákas*, and *Tákishar*, I take to be only various readings of the one original form of *Táki*, or *Tákin*, which, when written without the diacritical points, may be read in several different ways. M. Reinaud gives another spelling as *Tában*, طابن, which, without the points, may be read in as many different ways as the other form of *Táfan*. I conclude, therefore, that the true form of the name of the country was *Táki*, or *Táka*, as recorded by Hwen Thsang. The name of the capital was probably either *Tákin* or *Takkáwar*, of which the former agrees exactly with Kazwini's *Taifand* طيفند, and the latter with the *Tahora* of the Pentingerian Tables. I consider it almost certain that the name must have been derived from the tribe of *Táks* or *Takkas*, who were once the undisputed lords of the Panjâb, and who still exist as a numerous agricultural race in the lower hills between the Jhelam and the Râvi.