The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t19.1

c5.s4.t19.1

The southern province of the Panjáb is Multán. According to Hwen Thsang it was 4000 *li*, or 667 miles, in circuit, which is so much greater than the tract actually included between the rivers, that it is almost certain the frontier must have extended beyond them. In the time of Akbar no less than seventeen districts, or separate *parganahs*, were attached to the province of Multán, of which all those that I can identify, namely, *Uch*, *Diráwal*, *Moj*, and *Marot*, are to the east of the Satlej. These names are sufficient to show that the eastern frontier of Multán formerly extended beyond the old bed of the Ghagar river, to the verge of the Bikaner desert. This tract, which now forms the territory of Bahâwalpur, is most effectually separated from the richer provinces on the east by the natural barrier of the Great Desert. Under a strong government it has always formed a portion of Multân; and it was only on the decay of the Muhammadan empire of Delhi that it was made into a separate petty state by Bahâwal Khân. I infer, therefore, that in the seventh century the province of Multân must have included the northern half of the present territory of Bahâwalpur, in addition to the tract lying between the rivers. The northern frontier has already been defined as extending from Dera Din-panáh, on the Indus, to Pák-pattan on the Satlej, a distance of 150 miles. On the west the frontier line of the Indus, down to Khânpur, is 160 miles. On the east, the line from Pâk-pattan to the old bed of the Ghagar river, is 80 miles; and on the south, from Khânpur to the Ghagar, the distance is 220 miles. Altogether, this frontier line is 610 miles. If Hwen Thsang's estimate was based on the short kos of the Panjâb, the circuit will be only 2/3 of 667 miles, or 437 miles, in which case the province could not have extended beyond Mithankot on the south.