The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t8: Ran-si, or Nara-Sinha.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t8
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Ran-si, or Nara-Sinha.
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On leaving *Tse-kia*, Hwen Thsang travelled eastward to *Na-lo-Seng-ho*, or *Nára-Sinha*, beyond which place he entered the forest of *Po-lo-she*, or *Pilu* trees (*Salvadora Persica*), where he encountered the brigands, as already related. This town of *Nara-Sinha* is, I believe, represented by the large ruined mound of *Ran-Si*, which is situated 9 miles to the south of Shekohpura, and 25 miles to the east-south-east of Asarur, and about the same distance to the west of Lahor.[*] *Si*, or *Sih*, is the usual Indian contraction for *Sinh*, and *Ran* is a well-known interchange of pronunciation with *Nar*, as in *Ranod* for *Narod*, a large town in the Gwalior territory, about 35 miles to the south of Narwar, and in *Nakhlor* for *Lakhnor*, the capital of *Katehar*, or *Rohilkhand*. In Ransi, therefore, we have not only an exact correspondence of position, but also the most precise agreement of name, with the long-sought-for *Nara-Sinha* of the Chinese pilgrim. This identification is the more valuable, as it furnishes the most conclusive evidence that could be desired of the accuracy of Hwen Thsang’s emplacement of Sangala to the westward of the Râvi, instead of to the eastward, as indicated by the classical authorities.
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∗ See Map No. VI.
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The remains of *Ran-si* consist of a large ruined mound, 600 feet in length from north to south, and 500 feet from east to west, with a general height of from 20 to 25 feet. It is thickly covered with broken bricks of large size, and coins are occasionally found by the saltpetre manufacturers. All the old ruined mounds in the Punjâb, as Shorkot, Multân, Harapa, etc., abound in saltpetre, which has been derived from man’s occupation, and which, therefore, affords a certain proof that the mound of Ransi is not a natural elevation, but an artificial accumulation of rubbish, the result of many centuries. Ransi also possesses a tomb of a *Nao-gaja*, or giant of “nine yards,” which I believe to be only the remains of a recumbent statue of Buddha, after his attainment of *Nirvâna*, or death. Similar gigantic statues of bricks and mud are still made in Barma, which, when in ruins, present exactly the same appearance as these *Nao-gaja* tombs. As Buddha was believed to have died with his face to the east, all the *Nirvâna* statues would, of course, be placed in a direction from north to south; and as Muhammadan tombs in India are placed in the same direction, I believe that the early Musalmans took advantage of these Buddhist statues to form ready-made tombs for their leaders who fell in battle. I shall have more to say on this subject hereafter, and I only mention it here as another proof of the antiquity of Ransi.