The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t9: Jarak.

The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t9

Language: English

Jarak.

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The little town of Jarak is situated on an eminence overhanging the western bank of the Indus, about midway between Haidarâbâd and Thatha. Jarak is the present boundary between Vichalo, or Middle Sindh, and Lár, or Lower Sindh, which latter I have been obliged to extend to Haidarâbâd, so as to include the Patala of the Greeks and the Pitasila of the Chinese pilgrim, within the limits of the ancient Delta. This is perhaps the same place as Khor, or Alkhor, a small but populous town, which Edrisi places between Manhâbari and Firabuz, that is, between Thatha and Nirunkot. Three miles below Jarak there is another low hill covered with ruins, which the people call *Káfir kot*, and attribute to Raja *Manjhira*.* The principal ruin is a square basement ornamented with flat pilasters at regular distances. This is supposed to be the remains of a temple. Amongst the ruins were found some fragments of Buddhist statues; and, at a short distance from the hill, an inscription in early Indian characters, of which I can read only the words *putrasa* and *Bhagavatasa*, and a few letters in different parts; but these are sufficient to show that the inscription is Buddhist, as well as the other remains.

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∗ Prof. Dowson’s edition of Sir Henry Elliot’s Hist. of India, i. 40. Ibn Haukal: Kannazbur. At page 29 he gives Istakhri’s name as Kannazbûn, which Mordtmann reads Firiun. The most probable explanation of these differences is some confusion in the Arabic characters between the name of Nirun and that of the capital of Mekrân.

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*Minnagar, Manhábari, or Thatha.*

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The city of *Thatha* is situated in a low swampy valley, 3 miles from the western bank of the Indus, and 4 miles above the separation of the *Bágar*, or western branch, from the *Satá*, or main stream of the river. Littlewood remarks that “the mounds of rubbish upon which the houses are piled slightly raise its site above the level of the valley.”† The place was visited by Captain Hamilton in A.D. 1699, who describes it‡ as situated on a spacious plain about 2 miles from the Indus. It is highly probable, therefore, that the town originally stood on the bank of the river, which has been gradually receding from it. Its name also would seem to point to the same conclusion, as *thattha* means a “shore or bank,” so that *Nagar-Thatha*, which is the common name of the place, would mean the “city on the river bank.” Its date is not certainly known; but M‘Murdo, who is gene-

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[^ *]: ‘Bombay Journal,’ v. 356. [^ †]: ‘Journey to the Source of the Oxus,’ p. 17. [^ ‡]: ‘New Account of the East Indies,’ i. 123.

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rally very acccurate, states that it was founded in the year A.H. 900, or A.D. 1495, by Nizâm-ud-din Nanda, the Jám, or ruler of Sindh. Before his time, the chief city of Lower Sindh was Sâminagar, the capital of the Sammá tribe, which stood on a rising ground, 3 miles to the north-west of the site of Thatha. M'Murdo refers its foundation to the time of Ala-ud-din of Delhi, who reigned from A.H. 695–715, or A.D. 1295 to 1315. Of a still earlier date is the great fort of Kalyán-kot, or Tughlakâbâd, which stands on the limestone hill, 4 miles to the south-west of Thatha. Its second name was derived from Ghazi Beg Tughlak, who was the governor of Multân and Sindh, during the latter part of Ala-ud-din’s reign, in the beginning of the fourteenth century.

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The site of Thatha itself is admitted to be modern, but those of Sâminagar and Kalyân-kot are said to be of great antiquity. This belief of the people is no doubt true, as the position at the head of the inferior Delta commanded the whole traffic of the river, while the hill-fort gave security. Lieut. Wood remarks* that the site of Thatha is so advantageous for commercial purposes that it is probable that a mart has existed in its neighbourhood from the earliest times. “But,” he judiciously adds, “as the apex of the Delta is not a fixed point, the site of this city must have varied as the river changed.” This change of site would naturally have entailed a change of names; and I am therefore led to believe that Thatha was the actual position of the Manhábari of the Arab geographers, and of the Minnagara of the author of the ‘Periplus.’†

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∗ ‘Oxus,’ p. 20.

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† See Map No. IX.

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*Manhábari* is described by all the authorities as situated on the western bank of the Indus, at 2 days' journey from Debal. Now, this is the very position of Thatha, which is on the western bank of the Indus, at 40 miles, or 2 days' journey, from Lâri-bandar, which, as I will presently show, was almost certainly within a few miles of the famous city of Debal. The name of *Manhábari* is variously written as *Mehábari*, and *Manjábari*, for which I would suggest that we might perhaps read *Mandábari*, or *Mandáwari*, the "city of the *Mand*" tribe, just as *Sáminagar* was the "city of the *Sammâ*" tribe. This derivation of the name is supported by the fact that the *Mand* tribe have occupied Lower Sindh in great numbers from the beginning of the Christian era. Edrisi* describes the *Mand* as a numerous and brave tribe, who occupied the desert on the borders of Sindh and India, and extended their wanderings as far as *Alor* on the north, *Mekran* on the west, and *Mamehel* (or Umarkot) on the east. Ibn Haukal† records that "the *Mands* dwell on the banks of the Mihrân, from the boundary of Multân to the sea, and in the desert between Mekrân and Famhal (or Umarkot). They have many cattle-sheds and pasturages, and form a large population." Rashid-ud-din‡ locates them in Sindh at a still earlier period. According to his account, *Med* and *Zat*, two descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, were the progenitors of the people of Sindh prior to the Mahâbhârata. The name is variously written as *Mer*, *Med*, *Mand*, in all of which forms it is found even at the present day. To these I would add *Mind*, which is the form of the name given by Masudi.[*] I have already identified this people with the *Medi* and *Mandrueni* of the classical writers; and as their name is found in northern India from the beginning of the Christian era downwards, and not before that time, I conclude that the *Mandrueni* and *Iatii* of the Oxus, who are coupled together by Pliny, must be the Sacæ Indo-Scythians, who occupied the Panjâb and Sindh, and who under the name of Mands and Zats of the early Muhammadan authors, were in full possession of the valley of the Indus towards the end of the seventh century.

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∗ Geogr., i. 163.

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† In Elliot, ‘Muhammadan Historians of India,’ i. 67; and in Gildemeister, ‘De Rebus Indicis,’ p. 172, where he gives *Kamuhal* as the eastern limit of their wanderings.

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‡ Reinaud, ‘Fragments Arabes,’ etc., p. 25.

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To show that the various spellings of the name are but natural modes of pronunciation, I can refer to the two large maps of the *Shâhpur* and *Jhelam* districts, which have been published within the last few years by the Surveyor-General of India. In the latter the name of a village on the Jhelam, 6 miles above Jalâlpur, is spelt *Meriála*, and in the former *Mandiáli*. Abul Fazl calls the same place *Merali*, while Ferishta names it *Meriála*. Lastly, Wilford’s surveyor, Mogal Beg, writes *Mandyála*, which is also the form that I received from two different persons, while in General Court’s map it is spelt *Mámriala*.

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To this people I refer the name of Minnagar, or “city of the *Min*,” which was the capital of Lower Sindh in the second century of the Christian era. That *Min* was a Scythian name we know from its

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[*] Sir H. M. Elliot, ‘Muhammadan Historians of India,’ Dowson’s edition, i. 57.

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occurrence in the list of Isidor of Kharax as one of the cities of Sakastene, or Sejistan. The appearance of the name in Sindh would alone be sufficient to suggest the presence of Scythians; but its connection with them is placed beyond all doubt by the mention that the rulers of Minnagara were rival Parthians, who were mutually expelling each other.* These Parthians were Dahæ Scythians from the Oxus, who gave the name of Indo-Scythia to the valley of the Indus, and whose mutual rivalry points to their identity with the rival Meds and Jats of the Muhammadan authors.

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The actual position of Minnagar is unknown, and we have but few data to guide us in attempting to fix its site. As it is not found in Ptolemy, who wrote in the first half of the second century, I infer either that the new name had not then been imposed on the capital, or what is more probable, that Ptolemy has inserted only the old name. If I am right in identifying Min-nagara, or the "city of the Min," with Mand-ábari, or the "place of the Mand," there can be little doubt that the great Indo-Scythian capital was at Thatha. Edrisi† describes Manhâbar as situated on a low plain, and surrounded with gardens and running water. Captain Hamilton‡ gives the same description of Thatha, which, he says, "stands in a spacious plain, and they have canals cut from the river, that bring water to the city, and some for the use of their gardens." According to the author§ of

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[^ *]: Peripl. Mar. Eryth.; in Hudson's Geogr. Vet., i. 22. [^ †]: Geogr., i. 164. [^ ‡]: 'New Account of the East Indies,' i. 123. [^ §]: Hudson, Geogr. Vet., i. 22.

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the ‘Periplus,’ the merchant vessels anchored at the emporium of Barbarike, where the goods were unloaded, and conveyed to the capital by the river. Just so in modern times the ships anchored at Lâribandar, while the merchants carried their goods to Thatha either by land or by water. The position of Minnagar is too vaguely described as “inland,”* to be of any use in its determination. If it was, as I suppose, at Thatha, then it may perhaps be identified with Ptolemy’s Sousikana, which I would interpret as Susi-gáma, or the “town of the Su tribe,” an etymology which is supported by the fact that the Mands, or Meds, were a branch of the great horde of Sus, or Abars, who gave one name to Susiana, at the mouth of the Euphrates, and the other to Abiria, at the mouth of the Indus. I should mention, however, that according to M‘Murdo,† “Minagar was one of the cities dependent on Multân in the twelfth century, and was the possession of a chief by caste an Agri, and descended from Alexander. It was situated on the Lohána Daryá, not far from Bâhmana, in the parganah now called Shehdádpur.” It is a suspicious circumstance that this passage has not been verified either by Postans or by Elliot. The latter, who constantly refers to his own MS. of the ‘Tohfat-ul-Kirâm,’ quotes‡ this notice of Minagar at second-hand from M‘Murdo. I may add that the Agari is a well-known caste, of low degree, who are employed in the manufacture of salt. I am therefore not inclined to admit that this petty place could have any connection with the great capital of Indo-Scythia. On the contrary, I am disposed to look upon this name of *Min-nagara* as meaning simply the city of Min.

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∗ The words are, κατὰ νώτου μεσόγειος, which can only mean “inland and beyond” Barbarike. † Journ. Royal Asiat. Soc., i. 31; and again at p. 233, quoting the Tohfat-ul Girám. ‡ ‘Muhammadan Historians of India,’ Dowson’s edition, i. 66.

Linked texts (1)

Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit