The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t22.5

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The citadel may be described as an irregular semicircle, with a diameter, or straight side of 2500 feet facing the north-west, and a curved front of 4100 feet towards the city, making a circuit of 6600 feet, or just one mile and a quarter. It had 46 towers or bastions, including the two flanking towers at each of the four gates. The walled city, which envelopes the citadel for more than two-thirds of the curve, is 4200 feet in length, and 2400 feet in breadth, with the long straight side facing the south-west. Altogether the walled circuit of Multân, including both city and citadel, is 15,000 feet, or very nearly 3 miles, and the whole circuit of the place, including its suburbs, is 4½ miles. This last measurement agrees very nearly with the estimate of Hwen Thsang, who makes the circuit of Multân 30 *li*, or just 5 miles.* It agrees even more exactly with the estimate of Elphinstone, who, with his usual accuracy, describes Multân as “above four miles and a half in circumference.”† The fortress had no ditch when seen by Elphinstone and Burnes, as it was originally surrounded by the waters of the Râvi. But shortly after Burnes’s visit, a ditch was added by Sâwan Mall, the energetic governor of Ranjit Singh. The walls are said to have been built by Murâd Baksh, the youngest son of Shah Jahân; but when I dismantled the defences of Multân in 1854, I found that the walls were generally double, the outer wall being about 4 feet thick, and the inner wall 3½ feet to 4 feet.* I conclude, therefore, that only the outer wall, or facing, was the work of Murâd Baksh. The whole was built of burnt bricks and mud, excepting the outer courses, which were laid in lime-mortar to a depth of 9 inches.