The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t24: Uchh.

The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t24

Language: English

Uchh.

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The old town of *Uchh* is situated on the eastern bank of the *Panjnad*, 70 miles to the south-south-west of Multân, and 45 miles to the north-east of the present confluence with the Indus at Mithunkot. The change in the course of the Indus has taken place since the time of Wilford's surveyor, Mirza Mogal Beg, who surveyed the Panjâb and Kabul between the years 1786 and 1796, and this part in 1787-88. The former channel still exists under the name of *Nala Purán*, or the "Old Stream." *Uchcha* means "high, lofty," both in Sanskrit and in Hindi; and *Uchchanagar* is therefore a common name for any place situated on a height. Thus we have *Uchchagaon* or *Bulandshahr*, as the Muhammadans call it, on the high bank of the Kâli Nadi, 40 miles to the south-east of Delhi. We have another *Uchh* on a mound to the west of the confluence of the Chenâb and Jhelam; and a third *Uchh*, which is also situated on a mound, is the subject of the present description. According to Burnes,* Uchh is formed of three distinct towns, a few hundred yards apart from each other, and each encompassed by a brick wall, now in ruins. Masson† mentions only two separate towns; but the people themselves say that there were once seven different towns named *Uchchanagar*. In Mogal Beg's map Uchh is entered with the remark, "consisting of seven distinct villages." According to Masson, Uchh is chiefly "distinguished by the ruins of the former towns, which are very extensive, and attest the pristine prosperity of the locality." According to Burnes, the town of Uchh stands on a mound, which he judged, from a section exposed by an inundation of the Chenâb, to be formed of the ruins of houses. This opinion is doubtless correct, as the place has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. After the last great siege, in A.H. 931, or A.D. 1524-25, by Husen Shah Arghun, the walls of Uchh were levelled to the ground, and the gates and other materials were carried off to Bakar in boats.* Its favourable position at the old confluence of the Panjâb rivers must have made it a place of importance from the earliest times. Accordingly, we learn from Arrian that Alexander “ordered a city to be built at the confluence of the two rivers, imagining that by the advantage of such a situation it would become rich and populous.”† It is probably this city which is mentioned by Rashid ud din‡ as the capital of one of the four principalities of Sindh under Ayand, the son of Kafand, who reigned after Alexander. He calls the place Askaland-usah, which would be an easy corruption of Alexandria Uchcha, or Ussa, as the Greeks must have written it. I think, also, that Uchh must be the Iskandar, or Alexandria, of the Chach-nâmah, which was captured by Chach on his expedition against Multân.‡ After the Muhammadan conquest the place is mentioned only by its native name of Uchh. It was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni, and Muhammad Ghori, and it was the chief city of Upper Sindh under Nâser ud din Kubâchah. At a later period it formed part of the independent kingdom of Multân, which was established shortly after the troubles that followed the invasion of Timur.[*] In A.D. 1524 it was taken by storm by Shah Husen or Hasan Arghun of Sindh, when its walls were dismantled, as I have already noticed. But after the capture of Multân, Husen ordered the fort of Uchh to be rebuilt, in which he left a large garrison to secure the possession of his recent conquests. In the reign of Akbar, Uchh was permanently annexed to the Mogal empire, and is included by Abul Fazl amongst the separate districts of the Subah of Multân.

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∗ 'Bokhara,' i. 79.

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† 'Travels,' i. 22.

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∗ Postans, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1841, p. 275. † ‘Anabasis,’ vi. 15. ‡ Postans, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1838, p. 94.

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The country at the confluence of the Panjâb rivers is assigned by Curtius to the *Sambracæ* or *Sabracæ*, and by Diodorus to the *Sambastæ*. They are not mentioned by Arrian, at least under this name; but I think that the *Ossadii*, who tendered their allegiance to Alexander at the confluence of the rivers, were the same people. It is probable also that the *Abastani*, who were subdued by Perdikkas, belonged to the same class. Perdikkas had been dispatched by Alexander to the east of the Râvi, where he captured a town which I have identified with Harapa. I infer that his campaign must have been an extended one, as Alexander, whose own movements had been delayed by his wound, was still obliged to halt for him at the confluence of the rivers. It seems highly probable therefore that he may have carried the Greek arms to *Ajudhan* on the banks of the Satlej, from which his march would have been along the course of that river by Ludhan, Mailsi, Kahror, and Lodhran, to Alexander's camp at Uchh. In this route he must have encountered the *Johiya* Rajputs, who have occupied both banks of the Satlej from Ajudhan to Uchh from time immemorial. I think therefore that the Abastani, whom Perdikkas subdued have a strong claim to be identified with the Johiya Rajputs. The country about Multân is still called Johiya-bár or Yaudheya-wára.

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∗ Briggs's 'Ferishta,' iv. 380.

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The Johiyas are divided into three tribes, named Langavira or Lakvira, Mádhovira or Mádhera, and Adamvira or Admera. The Sambracæ would appear to have been divided into three clans, as being a free people without kings they chose three generals to lead them against the Greeks. Now Johiya is an abbreviation of Jodhiya, which is the Sanskrit Yaudheya, and there are coins of this clan of as early a date as the first century of the Christian era, which show that the Yaudheyas were even then divided into three tribes. These coins are of three classes, of which the first bears the simple inscription Jaya-Yaudheya-gaṇasya, that is (money) "of the victorious Yaudheya tribe. The second class has dwi at the end of the legend, and the third has tri, which I take to be contractions for dwitiyasya and tritiyasya, or second and third, as the money of the second and third tribes of the Yaudheyas. As the coins are found to the west of the Satlej, in Depâlpur, Satgarha, Ajudhan, Kahror, and Multân, and to the eastward in Bhatner, Abhor, Sirsa, Hânsi, Pânipat, and Sonpat, it is almost certain that they belong to the Johiyas, who now occupy the line of the Satlej, and who were still to be found in Sirsa as late as the time of Akbar. The Yaudheyas are mentioned in the Allahabad inscription of Samudra Gupta, and at a still earlier date by Pânini in the Junagarh inscription of Rudra Dâma.[*] Now the great grammarian was certainly anterior to Chandra Gupta Maurya, and his mention of the Yaudheyas proves that they must have been a recognized clan before the time of Alexander. The inscription of Rudra Dâma, in which he boasts of having "rooted out the Yaudheyas, shows that this powerful clan must have extended their arms very far to the south, otherwise they would not have come into collision with the princes of Surashtra. From these facts I am led to infer that the possessions of the Johiyas in the time of Alexander most probably extended from Bhatner and Pâkpatan to Sabzalkot, about halfway between Uchh and Bhakar.

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∗ Dr. Bhau Dâji in ‘Bombay Journal,’ vii. 120.

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I will now examine the different names of the people who made their submission to Alexander during his halt at the confluence of the Panjâb rivers. According to Curtius they were called Sambracæ or Sabracæ;* according to Orosius Sabagræ; and according to Diodorus, who placed them to the east of the river, Sambastæ.† They were a powerful nation, second to none in India for courage and numbers. Their forces consisted of 60,000 foot, 6000 horse, and 500 chariots. The military reputation of the clan suggests the probability that the Greek name may be descriptive of their warlike character, just as Yaudheya means "warrior or soldier." I think, therefore, that the true Greek name may have been Sambagræ, for the Sanskrit Samvâgri, that is, the "united warriors," or Σύμμαχοι, which, as they were formed of three allied tribes, would have been an appropriate appellation. In confirmation of this suggestion, I may note the fact that the country of which Bikaner is now the capital was originally called *Bágar-des*, or the land of the *Bágri*, or “Warriors,” whose leader was Bâgri Rao.* *Bhaṭi* also means “warrior or soldier.” We thus find three tribes at the present day, all calling themselves “warriors,” who form a large proportion of the population in the countries to the east of the Satlej; namely, *Johiyas* or *Yaudheyas* along the river, *Bágris* in Bikaner, and *Bhaṭis* in Jesalmer. All three are of acknowledged Lunar descent; and if my suggested interpretation of *Sambágri* be correct, it is possible that the name might have been applied to these three clans, and not to the three tribes of the Yaudheyas. I think, however, that the Yaudheyas have a superior claim, both on account of their position along the banks of the Satlej, and of their undoubted antiquity. To them I would attribute the foundation of the town of *Ajudhan*, or *Ayodhanam*, the “battle-field,” which is evidently connected with their own name of *Yaudheya*, or *Ajudhiya*, the “warriors.” The latter form of the name is most probably preserved in the *Ossadii* of Arrian, a free people, who tendered their allegiance to Alexander at the confluence of the Panjâb rivers. The *Ossadii* of Arrian would therefore correspond with the *Sambastæ* of Diodorus and the *Sambracæ* of Curtius, who made their submission to Alexander at the same place. Now *Ossadioi* or *Assodioi* is as close a rendering of *Ajudhiya* as could be made in Greek characters. We have thus a double correspondence both of name and position in favour of my identification of the Sabagræ or Sambracæ with the Johiyas of the present day.

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit