The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t2.6

c5.s4.t2.6

The rule of the Indian prince was not, however, confined to the Doâb between the Hydaspes and Akesines; for Strabo‡ relates that "in the territory of Sopeithes there is a mountain composed of fossil salt sufficient for the whole of India.” As this notice can only refer to the well-known mines of rock salt in the Salt Range, the whole of the upper portion of the Sindh Sâgar Doâb must have been included in the territories of Sopeithes. His sway, therefore, would have extended from the Indus on the west to the Akesines on the east, thus comprising the whole of the present districts of Pind Dâdan and Shâhpur. This assignment of the valuable salt mines to Sopeithes, or Sophites, may also be deduced from a passage in Pliny by the simple transposition of two letters in the name of a country, which has hitherto puzzled all the commentators. Pliny says, “when Alexander the Great was on his Indian expedition, he was presented by the king of *Albania* with a dog of unusual size,” which successfully attacked both a lion and an elephant in his presence.* The same story is repeated by his copyist, Solinus,† without any change in the name of the country. Now, we know from the united testimony of Strabo, Diodorus, and Curtius, that the Indian king who presented Alexander with these fighting dogs was *Sophites*, and *he*, therefore, must have been the king of *Albania*. For this name I propose to read *Labania*, by the simple transposition of the first two letters. *ΛΑΒΑΝ* would, therefore, become *ΛΑΒΑΝ*, which at once suggests the Sanskrit word *lavana*, or ‘salt,’ as the original of this hitherto puzzling name. The mountain itself is named *Oromenus* by Pliny,‡ who notes that the kings of the country derived a greater revenue from the rock salt than from either gold or pearls. This name is probably intended for the Sanskrit *Raumaka*, which, according to the Pandits, is the name of the salt brought from the hill country of *Ruma*. H. H. Wilson, however, identifies *Ruma* with *Sámbhar*;* and as *rauma* means "salt," it is probable that the term may have been applied to the *Sámbhar* lake in Rajputana, as well as to the Salt Range of hills in the Panjâb.†