The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t7.2

c6.s1.t7.2

In the time of Alexander, the only place of note in the Delta was Patala; but he is said to have founded several towns himself* during his long stay in Lower Sindh, waiting for the Etesian winds to start his fleet. Unfortunately the historians have omitted to give the names of these places. Justin alone notes that on his return up the Indus he built the city of Barce,† to which I shall hereafter refer. Ptolemy has preserved the names of several places, as *Barbara*, *Sousikana*, *Bonis*, and *Kolaka*, of which the first is most probably the same as the *Barbariké* emporium of the ‘Periplus,’ and perhaps also the same as the *Barce* of Justin. In the time of the author of the ‘Periplus,’ the capital of Lower Sindh was *Minnagara*, which the foreign merchants reached by ascending the river from Barbarike. In the middle of the seventh century, Hwen Thsang mentions only *Pitasila*, or *Patala*. But in the beginning of the eighth century, the historians of Muhammad bin Kâsim’s expedition add the names of *Debal* and *Nirankot* to our scanty list, which is still further increased by the Arab geographers of the tenth century, who place *Manhâtara*, or *Manhâbari*, or *Manjâbari*,‡ to the west of the Indus, and two days’ journey from Debal, at the point where the road from Debal crosses the river. The position of these places I will now investigate in their order from north to south, beginning with Patala, at the head of the Delta.