The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t19.5

c5.s4.t19.5

The present confluence of the Biâs and Satlej dates only from about A.D. 1790, when the Satlej finally deserted its old course by Dharmkot, and joined the Biâs at Hariki-pattan. For many centuries previously the point of junction had remained constant just above the ferry of Bhao-ki-pattan, between Kasûr and Firuzpur. This junction is mentioned by Jauhar in A.D. 1555,* and by Abul Fazl in 1596.† But though the confluence of the two rivers near Firuzpur had been long established, yet even at the latter date the waters of the Biâs still continued to flow down their old channel, as described by Abul Fazl:—"For the distance of 12 kos near Firuzpur the rivers Biâh and Satlej unite, and these again, as they pass on, divide into four streams, the Húr, Haré, Dand, and Núrni, all of which rejoin near the city of Multân." These former beds of the Biâs and Satlej still exist, and form a most complicated network of dry channels, covering the whole of the Doâb between the Satlej and the high bank of the old Biâs. None of the names given in Gladwyn's translation of the 'Ayin Akbari' are now to be found; but I am inclined to attribute this solely to the imperfection of the Persian alphabet, which is a constant source of error in the reading of proper names. The Har I would identify with the Para, the Hari with the Raghi, and the Nurni with the *Sûk-Nai*, all dry beds of the Biâs river to the south of Harapa. The *Dand* is probably the Dhamak, or *Dank*, an old channel of the Satlej, which in its lower course takes the name of Bhatiyâri, and passing by Mailsi, Kahror, and Lodhran, joins the present channel just above its confluence with the Chenâb. In most of our maps the Old Biâs is conducted into the lower course of the Bhatiyâri, whereas its still existing and well-defined channel joins the Chenâb 20 miles below Shujâhabad, and its most southerly point is 10 miles distant from the nearest bend of the Bhatiyâri.