The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t2: 2. Bhâroch, or Barygaza.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t2
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2. Bhâroch, or Barygaza.
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In the seventh century the district of *Po-lu-kie-che-po*, or *Barukachwa*, was from 2400 to 2500 *li*, or from 400 to 417 miles, in circuit; and its chief city was on the bank of the *Nai-mo-tho*, or *Narmmadá* river, and close to the sea. With these data it is easy to identify the Lacedaemonians, who had been waiting for the signal, now attacked the city. The Plataeans, seeing the enemy already inside and their own men falling, and knowing nothing of the plot, were seized with panic and, thinking that the Thebans were far more numerous than they really were, surrendered at discretion. But when they discovered that the Thebans were few, they took heart and, resolving to attack them, closed the gates and fell upon them.
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∗ ‘Voyage to East India,’ p. 80.
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The Thebans, finding themselves in a trap, began to defend themselves. Twice or thrice they repelled the attacks of the Plataeans, but when the women and slaves began to shout and throw tiles and stones from the houses, and a heavy rain began to fall, the Thebans, confused and blinded, broke and fled through the city. Most of them, not knowing the way in the darkness and rain, fell into the drains or were killed by the Plataeans, who knew the streets. The gate through which they had entered had been shut by a Plataean who had found a javelin-head and used it as a bolt, so that there was no way out. Pursued through the city, some climbed the wall and jumped down, most of them perishing; others reached the gate and, finding it shut, were cut down by the women and slaves. A small party, seeing a large building with an open door, rushed in, thinking it was a gate, and were captured.
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Meanwhile, the main body of the Thebans, who were to have arrived at daybreak to support the first party, had been delayed by the rain and the swollen river Asopus. When they heard of the disaster, they hurried to the city, intending to seize any Plataeans who might be outside the walls. The Plataeans, suspecting their intention, sent a herald to them, warning them not to harm the prisoners they had taken, and threatening to kill them if they did not withdraw from their territory. The Thebans, upon this, retired.
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The Plataeans, having thus cleared the city, collected their dead and the prisoners. The prisoners, numbering about one hundred and eighty, were executed the next day, despite a message from the Thebans claiming that they had surrendered on terms. The Plataeans denied this, asserting that they had promised to spare them only if they did not commit further acts of violence.
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Thus ended the attempt of the Thebans upon Plataea, an event which was the immediate cause of the war between Athens and the Peloponnesians. The Plataeans, having secured their city, sent a messenger to Athens with the news, and the Athenians, fearing for the safety of the Plataeans, sent a garrison to their aid and removed the women and children to Athens.
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TRAVELS OF HWEN THSANG IN N. W. INDIA. A. D. 635-637. 64 Miles to 1 Inch
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the capital with the well-known seaport town of Bhâroch, under its Sanskrit name of Bhrigu-Kachha, as written by the Brahmans, or Bhârukachha, as found in the old inscriptions. The latter was no doubt the more usual form, as it is almost literally preserved in the Βαρύγαζα of Ptolemy, and the ‘Periplus.’ From Hwen Thsang’s measurement of its circuit, the limits of the district may be determined approximately as extending from the Máhi* river on the north, to Dâmân on the south, and from the Gulf of Khambay on the west to the Sahyádri mountains on the east.
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According to the text of Hwen Thsang, Bhâroch and Balabhi were in Southern India, and Surashtra in Western India ; but as he places Malwa in Southern India, and Ujain in Central India, I look upon these assignments as so many additional proofs of the confusion which I have already noticed in the narrative of his travels in Western India. I would therefore assign both Balabhi and Bhâroch to Western India, as they formed part of the great province of Surashtra. The correctness of this assignment is confirmed by the author of the ‘Periplus,’ who notes that below Barygaza the coast turns to the south, whence that region is named Dakhinabades, as the natives call the south Dakhanos.†
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† Peripl. Mar. Erythr., in Hudson's Geogr. Vet., i. 29.
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According to the Chinese pilgrim, the great division of Central India extended from the Satlej to the head of the Gangetic Delta, and from the Himalâya mountains to the Narbadâ and Mahânadi rivers. It comprised all the richest and most populous districts of India, with the single exception of the Gangetic Delta, or Bengal proper.* Of the seventy separate states of India that existed in the seventh century, no less than thirty-seven, or rather more than one-half, belonged to Central India. The whole of these districts were visited by Hwen Thsang, whose footsteps I will now attend in describing the different principalities from west to east in the following order:—
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∗ The Maïs river of Ptolemy.
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1. Sthâneswara.
2. Bairât.
3. Srughna.
4. Madâwar.
5. Brahmapura.
6. Govisana.
7. Ahichhatra.
8. Pilosana.
9. Sankisa.
10. Mathura.
11. Kanoj.
12. Ayuto.
13. Hayamukha.
14. Prayâga.
15. Kosâmbi.
16. Kusapura.
17. Vaisâkha.
18. Srâvasti.
19. Kapila.
20. Kusinagara.
21. Varânasi.
22. Yodhapatipura.
23. Vaisâla.
24. Vriji.
25. Nepâla.
26. Magadha.
27. Hiranya Parvata.
28. Champa.
29. Kânkjol.
30. Paundra Vardhana.
31. Jajhoti.
32. Maheswarapura.
33. Ujain.
34. Malwa.
35. Kheda, or Khaira.
36. Anandapura.
37. Vadari, or Eder.