The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t6.24

c6.s1.t6.24

According to the native histories and traditions of the people, Brâhmanâbâd was destroyed by an earthquake, in consequence of the wickedness of its ruler, named Dilu Rai. The date of this prince is doubtful. M'Murdo has assigned A.H. 140, or A.D. 757,† as the year in which Chota, the brother of Dilu, returned from his pilgrimage to Mekka; but as Mansura was still a flourishing city in the beginning of the tenth century, when visited by Masudi and Ibn Haukal, it is clear that the earthquake cannot have happened earlier than A.D. 950. Dilu and Chota are said to have been the sons of Amir, the Rai or ruler of Brâhmanâbâd. But it is difficult to believe that there were any Hindu chiefs in Brâhmana during the rule of the Arabs in Mansura. The fact is that the same stereotyped legend is told of all the old cities in the Panjâb, as well as of those in Sindh. Shorkot, Harapa, and Atâri, are all said to have been destroyed on account of the sins of their rulers, as well as Alor, Brâhmana, and Bambhura. But the same story is also told of Tulamba, which we know to be false, as I have been able to trace its downfall to its desertion by the Râvi, at a very recent date. The excavations of Mr. Bellasis have shown conclusively that Brâhmana was overwhelmed by an earthquake. The human bones “were chiefly found in doorways, as if the people were attempting to escape; others in the corners of the rooms; some upright, some recumbent, with their faces down, and some crouched in a sitting posture.”* The city was certainly not destroyed by fire, as Mr. Richardson notes that he found no remains of charcoal or burnt wood, and that the old walls bore no traces of fire. On the contrary, he also found the human remains crushed in the corners of the rooms, as if the terror-stricken inhabitants, finding their houses falling about them, had crouched in the corners and been buried by the falling material.† Mr. Richardson also picked up a brick which had “entered cornerways into a skull, and which, when taken out, had a portion of the bone adhering to it.” His conclusion is the same as that of Mr. Bellasis, “that the city was destroyed by some terrible convulsion of nature.”