The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t22.10.2

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.