The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t22.10

Language: English

c5.s4.t22.10.1

The story of *Sâmba*, the son of Krishna, is told in the *Bhâvishya Purâna*,* but as it places the *Mitra-vana*, or "Sun-grove," on the bank of the Chandrabhâga, or Chenâb river, its composition must be assigned to a comparatively late period, when all remembrance of the old course of the Râvi flowing past Multân had died away. We know, however, from other sources, that the Sun-worship at Multân must be very ancient. In the seventh century Hwen Thsang found a magnificent temple with a golden statue of the god most richly adorned, to which the kings of all parts of India sent offerings. Hence the place became commonly known amongst the early Arab conquerors as "The Golden Temple;" and Masudi even affirms that *el Multân* means "meadows of gold."† Hwen Thsang calls it *Meu-lo-san-pu-lo*, which, according to M. Vivien de St. Martin, is a transcription of *Mûlasthânipura*. The people themselves refer the name to *Mûla-sthâna*, which agrees with the form of *Mûla-tâna*, quoted by Abu Rihân from a Kashmirian writer. *Mûla* means “root, or origin,” and *sthána*, or *thán*, in the spoken dialects, means “place, or shrine.” Hence, *Múla-sthána* is the “Temple of *Múla*,” which I take to be an appellation of the Sun. In the *Amarakosha* one of the names of the Sun is *Vradhna*, which is also given as a synonym of *Múla*; hence *vradhna* must be connected with the Latin *radix* and *radius*, and also with the Greek *ῥάβδος*.

c5.s4.t22.10.2

But as *radix* signifies not only origin, or root, in general, but also a particular root, the radish, so also does *múla* signify origin, or root, and *múlaka*, or *múli*, a radish. The connection between a sunbeam and a radish obviously lies in their similarity of shape, and hence the terms *radius* and *múla* are both applied to the spoke of a wheel. *Múla-sthána* is said by Wilson to mean “heaven, ether, space, atmosphere, God,” any one of which names would be applicable to the Sun as the lord of the ethereal space. For these reasons I infer that *múla* is only an epithet of the Sun, as the God of rays, and that *Múla-sthána-pura* means simply the “city of the Temple of the Sun. *Bhága* and *Hansa* are well-known names of the Sun; and therefore *Bhágapura* and *Hansapura* are only synonyms of the name of Multân. The earliest name is said to have been *Kasyapapura*, or as it is usually pronounced, *Kasappur*, which I take to be the *Kaspaturos* of Hekatæus, and the *Kaspaturos* of Herodotus, as well as the *Kaspeira* of Ptolemy. The last town is placed at a bend on the lower course of the *Rhuadis*, or Râvi, just above its junction with the *Sandobág*, or *Chandrabhága*. The position of *Kaspeira* therefore agrees most exactly with that of *Kasyapapura* or Multân, which is situated on the old bank of the Râvi, just at the point where the channel changes its course from south-east to east.

c5.s4.t22.10.3

This identification is most important, as it establishes the fact that Multân or Kaspeira, in the territory of the Kaspeirei, whose dominion extended from Kashmir to Mathura, must have been the principal city in the Panjâb towards the middle of the second century of the Christian era. But in the seventh century it had already acquired the name of *Mulasthânapura*, or Multân, which was the only name known to the Arab authors down to the time of Abu Rihân, whose acquirement of Sanskrit gave him access to the native literature, from which he drew some of the other names already quoted. The name of *Adyasthâna*, or "First Shrine," is applied in the *Bhávishya Purána* to the original temple of the Sun, which is said to have been built by Sâmba, the son of Krishna; but *adya* is perhaps only a corruption of *Aditya*, or the Sun, which is usually shortened to *adit*, and even *ait*, as in *aditwár* and *aitwár* for *Adityawára*, or Sunday. Bilâduri calls the idol a representation of the prophet Job, or *Ayub*, which is an easy misreading of ايوب for اديت, *adit*. *Prahladápura*, or *Pahládpur*, refers to the temple of the *Narsingh Avatár*, which is still called *Pahládpuri*. When Burnes was at Multân, this temple was the principal shrine in the place, but the roof was thrown down by the explosion of the powder magazine during the siege in January, 1849, and it has not since been repaired. It stands at the north-eastern angle of the citadel, close to the tomb of Bahâwal Hak.

c5.s4.t22.10.4

The great temple of the Sun stood in the very middle of the citadel, but it was destroyed during the reign of Aurangzib, and the Jamai Masjid was erected on its site. This masjid was the powder magazine of the Sikhs, which was blown up in 1849.