The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t3.19

c5.s4.t3.19

Now, the distance from Taxila to the Hydaspes is given by Pliny,[*] from the measurement by Alexander's surveyors, Diognetes and Beiton, at 120 Roman miles, which are equal to 110⅓ English miles, at the value of 0·9193 each, as fixed in Smith's ‘Dictionary of Antiquities.’ As all the copies of Pliny give the same number, we must accept it as the actual measurement of the route that was followed by Alexander from Taxila to his camp on the Hydaspes. In comparing this distance with those already given from Shah-dheri to Jhelam and Jalâlpur, we must unhesitatingly reject Jhelam, which is no less than 16 miles short of the recorded distance, while Jalâlpur differs from it by less than 2 miles. But there is another objection which is equally fatal to the claims of Jhelam. According to Strabo,* “the direction of Alexander’s march, as far as the Hydaspes, was, for the most part, towards the south; after that, to the Hypanis, it was more towards the east.” Now, if a line drawn on the map from Ohind on the Indus, through Taxila to Jhelam, be continued onwards, it will pass through Gujarat and Sodhra to Jâlandhar and Sarhind. As this is the most northerly road to the Ganges that Alexander could possibly have taken, his route by Jhelam would have been in *one continuous straight line*, which is in direct opposition to the explicit statement of Strabo. But if we adopt Jalâlpur this difficulty will be obviated, as the change in the direction would have been as much as 25° more easterly.† There is also a third objection to Jhelam, which, though not entitled to the same weight as either of the preceding, is still valuable as an additional testimony on the same side. According to Arrian, the fleet, on descending the Hydaspes from Nikæa, reached the capital of Sopeithes on the third day. Now, I have already shown that the residence of Sopeithes must have been at Jobnáthnagar, or Ahmedabad, which is just three days’ distance for a laden boat from Jalâlpur, but is six days from Jhelam. As the evidence in each of these three separate tests is as directly in favour of Jalâlpur as it is strongly opposed to Jhelam, I think that we are fully justified in accepting the latter as the most probable site of Alexander’s camp.