The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t4.1

c6.s1.t4.1

The principality of Middle Sindh, which is generally known as *Vichalo*, or the "Midland," is described by Hwen Thsang as only 2500 *li*, or 417 miles, in circuit. With these small dimensions the province must have been limited to the modern district of Sehwân, with the northern parts of Haidarâbâd and Umarkot. Within these limits the north and south frontiers are each about 160 miles in length, and the east and west frontiers about 45 miles each, or altogether not more than 410 miles in circuit. The chief city, named *Ofan-cha*, was situated at 700 *li*, or 117 miles, from the capital of Upper Sindh, and 50 miles from Pitasila, the capital of Lower Sindh. As the former was Alor, and the latter was almost certainly the *Pattala* of the Greeks, or Haidarâbâd, the recorded distances fix the position of *Ofan-cha* in the immediate vicinity of the ruins of an ancient city called *Bambhra-ka-Tul*, or the "Ruined Tower," or simply *Banbhar*, which, according to tradition, was the site of the once famous city of Brahmanwâs, or Brahmanâbâd. Hwen Thsang's kingdom of *Ofancha*, or *Avanda*, therefore, corresponds as nearly as possible with the province of middle Sindh, which is now called *Vichalo*.