The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t5: 3. Srughna.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t5
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3. Srughna.
c6.s3.t5.1
On leaving Thânesar, Hwen Thsang at first proceeded to the south for about 100 *li*, or 16⅔ miles, to the *Kiu-hoen-cha*, or *Gokanṭha* monastery, which has not yet been identified, but it is probably *Gunâna*, between Vyasthali and Nisang, 17 miles to the south-south-west of Thânesar. I am obliged to notice this monastery as it is the starting-point from which Hwen Thsang measures his next journey of 400 *li*, or 66⅔ miles, to *Su-lu-kin-na* or Srughna, which makes the distance between Thânesar and Srughna just 50 miles.* Now Sugh, the place which I propose to identify with the capital of Srughna, is only 38 or 40 miles from Thânesar; but as it agrees exactly in name, and corresponds generally in other particulars, I am quite satisfied that Hwen Thsang’s recorded distance must be erroneous, although I am unable to suggest any probable rectification of his figures. The true distance is about 300 *li*, or 50 miles, from the Gokanṭha monastery.
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The Sanskrit name of the country is Srughna, which in the spoken dialects becomes Sughan and Sugh, as it is called at the present day. The village of *Sugh* occupies one of the most remarkable positions that I met with during the whole course of my researches. It is situated on a projecting triangular spur of high land, and is surrounded on three sides by the bed of the old Jumna, which is now the western Jumna canal. On the north and west faces it is further protected by two deep ravines, so that the position is a ready-made stronghold, which is covered on all sides, except the west, by natural defences. In shape it is almost triangular, with a large projecting fort or citadel at each of the angles. The site of the north fort is now occupied by the castle and village of Dyâlgarh. The village of Mândalpur stands on the site of the south-east fort, and that of the south-west is unoccupied. Each of these forts is 1500 feet long, and 1000 feet broad, and each face of the triangle which connects them together is upwards of half a mile in length, that to the east being 4000, and those to the north-west and south-west 3000 feet each. The whole circuit of the position is therefore 22,000 feet, or upwards of 4 miles, which is considerably more than the 3½ miles of Hwen Thsang's measurement. But as the north fort is separated from the main position by a deep sandy ravine called the *Rohara Nala*, it is possible that it may have been unoccupied at the time of the pilgrim's visit. This would reduce the circuit of the position to 19,000 feet, or upwards of 3½ miles, and bring it into accord with the pilgrim's measurement. The small village of *Sugh* occupied the west side of the position, and the small town of Buriya lies immediately to the north of Dyâlgarh. The occupied houses, at the time of my visit, were as follows:—Mândalpur 100, Sugh 125, Dyâlgarh 150, and Buriya 3500, or altogether 3875 houses, containing a population of about 20,000 souls.
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∗ Julien’s ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ ii. 215. See Map No. X.
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Of *Sugh* itself the people have no special traditions, but of *Mándar*, or *Mándalpur*, they say that it formerly covered an extent of 12 kos, and included Jagâdri and Chancti on the west, with Buriya and Dyâlgarh to the north. As Jagâdri lies 3 miles to the west, it is not possible that the city could have extended so far; but we may reasonably admit that the gardens and summer-houses of the wealthier inhabitants may once possibly have extended to that distance. At Chancti, which lies 2 miles to the north-west, old coins are found in considerable numbers; but it is now entirely separated from Buriya and Dyâlgarh by a long space of open country. The same coins are found in Sugh, Mándalpur, and Buriya. They are of all ages, from the small *Diliáls* of the Chohân and Tomar Rajas of Delhi to the square punch-marked pieces of silver and copper, which are certainly as old as the rise of Buddhism in 500 B.C., and which were probably the common currency of Northern India as early as 1000 B.C. With this undoubted evidence in favour of the antiquity of the place, I have no hesitation in identifying Sugh with the ancient Srughna. The importance of the position is shown by the fact that it stands on the high-road leading from the Gangetic Doáb, viá Mirat, Saháranpur, and Ambála, to the Upper Panjáb, and commands the passage of the Jumna. By this route Mahmud of Ghazni returned from his expedition to Kanoj; by this route Timûr returned from his plundering campaign at Haridwâr; and by this route Bâber advanced to the conquest of Delhi.
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According to Hwen Thsang, the kingdom of *Srughna* was 6000 *li*, or 1000, miles in circuit. On the east it extended to the Ganges, and on the north to a range of lofty mountains, while the Jumna flowed through the midst of it. From these data it would appear that *Srughna* must have comprised the hill states of Sirmor and Garhwâl, lying between the Giri river and the Ganges, with portions of the districts of Ambâla and Sahâranpur in the plains. But the circuit of this tract does not exceed 500 miles, which is only one half of Hwen Thsang’s estimate. His excess I would attribute chiefly to the difference between direct measurements on the map, and the actual road distances in a mountainous country. This would increase the boundary line by about one-half, and make the whole circuit 750 miles, which is still far short of the pilgrim’s estimate. But there is an undoubted error in his distance between the Jumna and the Ganges, which he makes 800 *li*, or 133 miles, instead of 300 *li*, or 50 miles, which is the actual distance between the two rivers from the foot of the hills down to the parallel of Delhi. As it is probable that this mistake was doubled by applying the same exaggerated distance to the northern frontier also, its correction is of importance, as the double excess amounts to 167 miles. Deducting this excess, the circuit of *Srughna* will be only 833 miles according to Hwen Thsang’s estimate, or within 83 miles of the probable measurement.
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4. MADÂWAR.
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From *Srughna* the Chinese pilgrim proceeded to *Mo-ti-pu-lo*, or *Madipura*, which M. Vivien de St. Martin has identified with *Mandâwar*, a large town in Western Rohilkhand, near Bijnor. I had previously made the same identification myself, and I have since been able to confirm it by a personal examination of the site.* The name of the town is written मडावर Maḍâwar, the Mundore of the maps. According to Johari Lâl, Chaodri and Kanungo of the place, Maḍâwar was a deserted site in Samvat 1171, or A.D. 1114, when his ancestor Dwârka Dâs, an Agarwâla Baniya, accompanied by Katâr Mall, came from Morâri in the Mirat district, and occupied the old mound. The present town of Maḍâwar contains 7000 inhabitants, and is rather more than three-quarters of a mile in length by half a mile in breadth. But the old mound, which represents the former town, is not more than half a mile square. It has an average height of 10 feet above the rest of the town, and it abounds with large bricks, which are a sure sign of antiquity. In the middle of the mound there is a ruined fort 300 feet square, with an elevation of 6 or 7 feet above the rest of the city. To the north-east, distant about one mile from the fort there is a large village on another mound called Madiya; and between the two there is a large tank called Kúnda Tál, surrounded by numerous small mounds which are said to be the remains of buildings. Originally these two places would appear to have formed one large town, about 1 1/4 mile in length, by a mile in breadth or just 3 1/2 miles in circuit, which agrees very well with Hwen Thsang's measurement of 20 li, or 3 1/3 miles.
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It seems probable that the people of Maḍâwar, as pointed out by M. Vivien de St. Martin, may be the Mathæ of Megasthenes, who dwelt on the banks of the Erineses. If so, that river must be the *Mâlini*. It is true that this is but a small stream; but it was in a sacred grove on the bank of the Mâlini that *Sakuntala* was brought up, and along its course lay her route to the court of Dushmanta at Hastinapur. While the lotus floats on its waters, and while the Chakwâ calls to its mate on the bank, so long will the little Mâlini live in the verse of Kâlidâs.
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∗ See Map No. X.
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According to Hwen Thsang, the kingdom of *Maḍipura* was 6000 *li*, or 1000 miles, in circuit; but this estimate, as I have already pointed out, must certainly include the two neighbouring states of *Govisana* and *Ahichhatra*, as they are also in Rohilkhand, and at so short a distance that *Maḍipur* alone must have been a very small district, confined to the tract between the Ganges and Râmgaṅgâ, of not more than 250 miles in circuit. But even with the extended limits now proposed, which would include the whole of the country lying to the east of the Ganges from Haridwâr to Kanoj as far as the bank of the Ghâgra near Khairigarh, the circuit would not be increased to more than 650 or 700 miles. This is still too small; but as some large allowance must be made on the northern mountain boundary for the difference between direct measurement on the map and the actual road distance, I think that the true circuit may be not less than 850 miles. The king of Maḍâwar was a *Siu-to-lo* or Sudra, who worshipped the Devas, and cared nothing for Buddhism. As Govisana and Ahichhatra were without kings, I presume that they were tributary to Maḍâwar, and that the circuit of the territory recorded by Hwen Thsang was the political boundary of the whole State, and not that of the district proper.
Linked texts (1)
- Abhijñānaśākuntala — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit