The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t3.44

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river to Nikæa, which was certainly built on the field of battle. With these conflicting statements alone to guide us, it is difficult to arrive at any positive conclusion. According as we follow Strabo or Arrian, we must place Bukephala at Dilâwar, or at Jalâlpur. Both places are equidistant from the battle-field of Mong, which I take without much hesitation to be the site of Nikæa. If the two cities were built on the same plan, which is not improbable, then Dilâwar would have the preferable claim to represent Bukephala, as its ruined mound is of the same size and height as that of Mong. I have already noticed in another place the possibility that Bugiâd, or Bugiâl, the name of the district in which Dilâwar is situated, may be only an abbreviation of Bukephâlia by the easy elision of the *ph*. But this is only a guess, and I have nothing else to offer on the subject, save the fact that the ancient name of Jalâlpur was certainly Girjâk, while that of Dilâwar is quite uncertain, as Udinagar is applied to at least three different places. The claims of Dilâwar and Jalâlpur are perhaps equally balanced, excepting in the one important point of position, in which the latter has a most decided advantage; and as this superiority would not have escaped the keen observation of the founder of Alexandria, I think that Jalâlpur must be the site of the famous city of Bukephala.