The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t6.18

c6.s1.t6.18

Now in this very position the ruins of a large city have been discovered by Mr. Bellasis, to whose zeal and energy we are indebted for our knowledge of this interesting place. The ruins are situated near an old bed of the Indus, at 47 miles to the north-east of Haidarâbâd, 28 miles to the east or east-north-east of Hâla, and 20 miles to the west of the eastern Nâra.* The place is known as Bambhra-ka-thúl, or "the Ruined Tower," from a broken brick tower which is the only building now standing. The present appearance of the site, as described by its discoverer, is "one vast mass of ruins, varying in size according to the size of the original houses." Its circumference, measured by a perambulator, is within a few yards of 4 miles. But besides the great mound of Bambhra-ka-thúl, there is, at a distance of about 1½ mile, "the distinct and ruined city of Dolora, the residence of its last king, and 5 miles in another direction is the ruined city of Depur, the residence of his Prime Minister, and between these cities are the ruins of suburbs extending for miles far and wide into the open country.” The great mound of *Bambhraka-thúl* is “entirely surrounded with a rampart, mounted with numerous turrets and bastions.” In the time of Akbar there were “considerable vestiges of this fortification,” which Abul Fazl* says “had 140 bastions, one *tanáb* distant from each other.” The *tanáb* was a measuring rope, which the emperor Akbar ordered to be changed for bambus joined by iron links. Its length was 60 *Iláhi gaz*, which, at 30 inches each, give 150 feet for the *tanáb*; and this multiplied by 140, makes the circuit of the city 21,000 feet, or very nearly 4 miles. Now it will be remembered that Ibn Haukal describes Mansura as being 1 mile square, or 4 miles in circuit, and that Mr. Bellasis’s measure of the circumference of the ruined mound of *Bambhraka thúl* was within a few yards of 4 miles. From this absolute correspondence of size, coupled with the close agreement of position, which has already been pointed out, I conclude that the great mound of *Bambhra ka thúl* represents the ruined city of Mansura, the capital of the Arab governors of Sindh. The Hindu city of Brâhmana, or Brâhmânâbad, must therefore be looked for in the neighbouring mound of ruins now called Dilura, which is only 1½ mile distant from the larger mound.