The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t18.4

c5.s4.t18.4

The doubt now arises whether Suráka, or “the drinkers,” can have been the true name of this people. Arrian† places the Oxudraka at the junction of the Hydaspes and Akesines, where Curtius locates the Sobii, Diodorus the Ibæ, and Strabo the Sibæ. The only explanation of this discrepancy that I can suggest is, the probable confusion between the name of Sobii, or Chobiya, of Ferishta,‡ and that of Sorii, or Suraka. The former was the name of the subjects of Sopeithes, or Sophytes, whose rule extended over the Salt Range of mountains above the junction of the Hydaspes and Akesines. The latter name I would refer to Shorkot, which I have already identified with Alexandria Sóriane. It is still the capital of the district of Shor, which lies just below the junction of the Hydaspes and Akesines. The Sobii, therefore, were the immediate neighbours of the Sorii, the former people occupying the country above the confluence of the rivers, and the latter the country just below it.