The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t8.21

c6.s1.t8.21

In his account of the Indus, Arrian* says, “this river also forms a delta by its two mouths, no way inferior to that of Egypt, which, in the Indian language, is called *Pattala*.” As this statement is given on the authority of Nearchus, who had ample opportunities during his long detention in Sindh of intercourse with the people, we may accept it as the general belief of the Sindhians at that time. I would therefore suggest that the name may have been derived from *Pátala*, the “trumpet-flower” (*Bignonia suaveolens*), in allusion to the “trumpet” shape of the province included between the eastern and western branches of the mouth of the Indus, as the two branches, as they approach the sea, curve outwards like the mouth of a trumpet.