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The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t13: Districts to the West of the Indus.

The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t13

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Districts to the West of the Indus.

c6.s1.t13.1

To the west of the Lower Indus all the classical writers agree in placing two barbarous races called Arabii, or *Arabitae*, and Oritae, or *Horitae*, both of whom appear to be of Indian origin. The country of the Arabii is said by Arrian to be the "last part of India" towards the west, and Strabo also calls it a "part of India,"* but both exclude the Oritae. Curtius, however, includes the Horitae in India,† while Diodorus states that generally they resemble the Indians; and Arrian admits that the Oritæ, who “inhabited the inland parts, were clothed in the same manner as the Indians, and used the same weapons, but their language and customs were different.” In the seventh century, however, both their language and customs were considered to be like those of the Indians by a much more competent observer, the Chinese pilgrim, Hwen Thsang. According to him, the customs of the inhabitants of Lang-kie-lo, which was 2000 *li*, or 333 miles, to the west of Koṭesar, in Kachh, were like those of the people of Kachh, and their written characters closely resembled those of India, while their language was only slightly different.[*] For these reasons I think that the Oritæ, as well as the Arabitæ, may fairly be included within the geographical limits of India, although they have always been beyond its political boundary during the historical period. As early as the sixth century B.C. they were tributary to Darius Hystaspes, and they were still subject to Persia nearly twelve centuries later, when visited by Hwen Thsang. But their Indian origin is beyond all doubt, as will be shown when I come to speak of the Oritæ.

c6.s1.t13.2

∗ Arrian, ‘Indica,’ 22; Strabo, Geogr., xv. 2, 1.

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