The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t9: Ambakapi, or Amakatis.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s4.t9
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Ambakapi, or Amakatis.
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Amba and Kápi are the names of two ruined mounds, the remains of ancient cities, which are said to have been called after a brother and sister, whose story has already been referred to in my account of Mânikyâla. According to the legend, the family consisted of three brothers, named Sir-kap, Sir-suk, and Amba, and of four sisters, named Kápi, Kalpi, Mundé, and Mándehi, each of whom is said to have founded a city to the south of Shekohpura, and in the immediate vicinity of Ran-si. The ruins of these cities are pointed out at the following places:
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1st. Sir-kap is a mound of ruins near the village of Balarh, 6 miles to the south of Shekohpura. It is remarkable that the name of Balarh is also connected with Sirkap in the legends of the Sindh Ságar Doáb, which assign the Balarh Tope as the seat of this Raja.
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2nd. Sir-suk is a ruined mound, near the village of Murâd, 3½ miles to the south of Shekohpura, and 2½ miles to the north of this Sir-kap mound.
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3rd. Amba is a large ruined mound and village, upwards of 9 miles to the south of Shekohpara, and one mile to the east of Ran-si.
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4th. Kápi, or Kánpi, as it is also written and pronounced, is a small mound 2½ miles to the east of Amba, on the old high-road to Lahor.
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5th. Kalpi is another small ruined mound near the village of Bhuipur, about midway between the mounds of Sir-kap and Amba.
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6th. Mundé is a ruined mound and village on the west bank of the *Bágh-bachha* river, 8 miles to the south of Ransi and Amba.
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7th. *Mándehi* is a ruined mound and village to the south-east of Amba and Kapi, from which it is equidistant 3½ miles.
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All of these mounds are on the western bank of the *Bágh-bachha* river, and at a mean distance of about 25 miles to the westward of Lahor. The whole of the villages just mentioned will be found in the district map of Lahor, but the mounds themselves are shown only in the large map of the *Sarakpur* Parganah. I have already remarked that the name of the *Bágh-bachha* river is most probably connected with the legend of the "Seven hungry Tiger Cubs" (*Bágh-bachhas*), whose names are preserved in those of the seven mounds above noted. The same story is told here that is so common in the Sindh Sâgar Doâb. *Râsâlu*, the Raja of Syâlkot, plays at *Chopar* with *Sir-kap* for a human head, and having won it accepts his daughter *Kokilá* instead of the stake. The people have the most undoubting faith in the truth of this legend, and they quoted, with evident satisfaction, the following couplet in support of their belief:—
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" *Amba-Kapa pai larai,*
*Kalpi bahin chhurâwan ai.*"
When strife arose 'tween Amb and Kăp
Their sister Kalpi made it up.
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As they could give no explanation of the nature of this quarrel, the couplet adds but little to our information regarding the seven brothers and sisters. I may observe, however, that the junction of the two names of *Amba* and *Kapi* is most probably as old as the time of Ptolemy, who places a town named *Amakutis*, or *Amakapis*, to the west of Râvi, and in the immediate neighbourhood of *Labokla*, or Lahor.*
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The mound of Amba is 900 feet square, and from 25 to 30 feet in height; but as the whole of the surrounding fields, for a breadth of about 600 feet, are covered with broken pottery, the full extent of the ancient town may be taken at not less than 8000 feet, or upwards of 3 miles in circuit. The mound itself is covered with broken bricks of large size, amongst which I discovered several pieces of carved brick. I found also one piece of grey sandstone, and a piece of speckled iron ore, similar to that of Sangala, and of the Karâna hills. According to the statements of the people, the place was founded by Raja Amba 1800 or 1900 years ago, or just about the beginning of the Christian era. This date would make the three brothers contemporary with Hushka, Jushka, and Kanishka, the three great kings of the *Yuchi*, or *Kushán* race of Indo-Scythians, with whom I am, on other grounds, inclined to identify them. At present, however, I am not prepared to enter upon the long discussion which would be necessary to establish their identity.
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*Loháwar*, or *Láhor*.
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The great city of Lahor, which has been the capital of the Panjâb for nearly nine hundred years, is said to have been founded by *Lava*, or *Lo*, the son of Râma, after whom it was named *Loháwar*. Under this form it is mentioned by Abu Rihân; but the present form of the name, *Láhor*, which was soon adopted by the Muhammadans, has now become universal. Its history has been described by Mr. Thornton in a very full and able account, replete with interesting information. He has identified *Lâhor* with the *Labokla* of Ptolemy, which I believe to be correct, taking the first two syllables *Labo* to represent the name of *Lava*. But I would alter the termination of *kla* to *lka*, or *laka*, thus making the whole name *Labolaka* for *Laválaka*, or the "abode of *Lava*."
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∗ The identification of Ptolemy's Labokla with Lahor was first made in Kiepert's Map of India, according to Ptolemy, which accompanied Lassen's ‘Indische Alterthumskunde.’ It has since been confirmed by the researches of Mr. T. H. Thornton, the author of the ‘History and Antiquities of Lahor.’
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Hwen Thsang makes no mention of Lahor, although it is almost certain that he must have passed through it on his way from *Tâki* to *Jâlandhar*. He notes* that he halted for a whole month at a large city on the eastern frontier of *Tâki*; but as this kingdom extended to the *Byâs* river on the east, the great city on its eastern frontier should be looked for on the line of the *Biâs*, and not on the *Râvi*. It was most probably Kasur. The first distinct mention of Lahor occurs in the campaigns of Mahmûd of Ghazni, when the *Brâhman* kings of the Kabul valley, being driven from Peshâwar and Ohind, established their new capital first at *Bhira* on the Jhelam, and afterwards at Lahor. Thus both *Jay Pál*, and his son *Anand Pál*, the successive antagonists of Mahmûd, are called Rajas of Lahor by Ferishta. This Hindu dynasty was subverted in A.D. 1031, when Lahor became the residence of a Muhammadan governor under the king of Ghazni.†
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∗ Julien's ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ i. 99. † This date is derived from Ferishta; but there are coins of Mahmûd with Arabic and Sanskrit inscriptions, struck at Mahmûdpur in A.H. 1019. Mr. Thomas has identified this city with Lahor. It is found in Abu *Rihân*, and other Muhammadan historians, under the corrupt form of *Mandhukur*, the capital of Lahor.
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Upwards of a century later, in A.D. 1152, when Bah-râm was driven from Ghazni by the Afghans of Ghor, his son Kushru established himself at Lahor. But this new kingdom lasted for only two generations, until A.D. 1186, when the sovereignty of the Ghaznavis was finally extinguished by the capture and imprisonment of Khusru Malik, the last of his race.