The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t13.10

c6.s3.t13.10

In comparing Hwen Thsang’s description of ancient *Kanoj* with the existing remains of the city, I am obliged to confess with regret that I have not been able to identify even one solitary site with any certainty; so completely has almost every trace of Hindu occupation been obliterated by the Musalmans. According to the traditions of the people, the ancient city extended from the shrine of *Hâji Harmâyan* on the north, near the Râj Ghât, to the neighbourhood of *Miranka Sarai* on the south, a distance of exactly 3 miles. Towards the west it is said to have reached to *Kapatya* and *Makarandnagar*, two villages on the high-road, about 3 miles from *Hâji Harmâyan*. On the east the boundary was the old bed of the Ganges, or *Chota Gangâ*, as the people call it, although it is recorded in our maps as the *Kâli Nadi*. Their account is that the *Kâli*, or *Kâlindri Nadi*, formerly joined the Ganges near *Sangirâmpur* or *Sangrâmpur*; but that several hundred years ago the great river took a more northerly course from that point, while the waters of the *Kâli Nadi* continued to flow down the deserted channel. As an open channel still exists between *Sangrâmpur* and the *Kâli Nadi*, I am satisfied that the popular account is correct, and that the stream which flows under *Kanoj*, from *Sangrâmpur* to *Mhendi Ghât*, although now chiefly filled with the waters of the *Kâli Nadi*, was originally the main channel of the Ganges. The accounts of Fa-Hian and Hwen Thsang, who place *Kanoj* on the Ganges, are therefore confirmed, not only by the traditions of the people, but also by the fact that the old channel still exists under the name of the *Chota Gangá*, or Little Ganges.