The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t1.3

c6.s1.t1.3

It is of importance that this identification should be clearly established, as the pilgrim places the capital to the west of the Indus, whereas the present ruins of Alor or Aror are to the east of the river. But this very difference confirms the accuracy of the identification, for the Indus formerly flowed to the east of Alor, down the old channel, now called Nára, and the change in its course did not take place until the reign of Raja Dâhir,* or about fifty years after Hwen Thsang’s visit. The native histories attribute the desertion of Alor by the Indus to the wickedness of Raja Dâhir; but the gradual westing of all the Panjâb rivers which flow from north to south, is only the natural result of the earth’s continued revolution from west to east, which gives their waters a permanent bias towards the western banks.† The original course of the Indus was to the east of the Alor range of hills; but as the waters gradually worked their way to the westward, they at last turned the northern end of the range at Rori, and cut a passage for themselves through the gap in the limestone rocks between Rori and Bhakar. As the change is assigned to the beginning of Dâhir’s reign, it must have taken place shortly after his accession in A.D. 680;—and as Muhammad Kasim, just thirty years later, was obliged to cross the Indus to reach Alor, it is certain that the river was permanently fixed in its present channel before A.D. 711.