The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t3.6

c6.s3.t3.6

The *Chakra*, or district of *Kuru-Kshetra*, is also called *Dharma-Kshetra*, or the "holy land," which is evidently the original of Hwen Thsang's "*champ du bonheur.*" In his time the circle of pilgrimage was limited to 200 *li*,* which, at his valuation of 40 *li* to the Indian *yojana* of 4 kos, is equivalent to 20 kos. In the time of Akbar, however, the circle had already been increased to 40 kos,† and at the time of my visit it had been extended to 48 kos, although the 40 kos circuit was also well known, and is, indeed, noted by Mr. Bowring. The circuit stated by the Chinese pilgrim could not have been more than 35 or 40 miles, at 7 or 8 miles to the yojana, but the circle mentioned by Abul Fazl could not be less than 53 miles, at the usual valuation of the Padshahi kos at 1⅓ miles, and might, at Sir H. Elliot's valuation of Akbar's kos at more than 2½ miles, be extended to upwards of 100 miles. It is possible, indeed, to make these different statements agree very closely by changing the pilgrim's number to 400 li, or 10 yojanas, which are equivalent to 40 kos, or 80 miles, and by estimating Abul Fazl's 40 kos at the usual Indian rate of about 2 miles each. I am myself quite satisfied of the necessity for making this correction in the pilgrim's number, as the narrow extent of his circle would not only shut out the equally famous shrines at *Prithudaka*, or Pehoa on the Saraswati, and at the *Kausiki-Sangam*, or junction of the Kausiki and *Drishadwati* rivers, but would actually exclude the Drishadwati itself, which in the *Vámana Purána* is specially mentioned as being within the limits of the holy land,—