The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t13.1

c5.s4.t13.1

Shorkot is a huge mound of ruins, which gives its name to the parganah, or division of Shor, or the lower half of the Richna Doâb.[*] It was visited by Burnes,[†] who describes the place as "a mound of earth, surrounded by a brick wall, and so high as to be seen for a circuit of six or eight miles." He adds that it is much larger than Sehwân, which, following the measurement of De la Hoste, is 1200 feet long, by 750 feet broad.[‡] According to my information, Shorkot is much smaller than Harapa, and about the size of Akbar, that is, 2000 feet by 1000 feet, but loftier than either of them. The mound is surrounded by a wall of large-sized bricks, which is an undoubted sign of antiquity. Burnes was informed by the people that their town had been destroyed by some king from the westward, about 1300 years ago. The locality leads him to fix on it as the place where Alexander was wounded, and to assign its downfall to Alexander himself. I received the same tradition about its destruction, which I would attribute to the White Huns, who must have entered the Panjâb from the westward during the sixth century, or about the very time specified in the tradition.