The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t7: 5. Brahmapura.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t7
- Language
- English
5. Brahmapura.
c6.s3.t7.1
On leaving Madâwar, Hwen Thsang travelled northward for 300 *li*, or 50 miles, to *Po-lo-ki-mo-pu-lo*, which M. Julien correctly renders as Brahmapura. Another reading gives *Po-lo-hi-mo-lo*,‡ in which the syllable *pu* is omitted, perhaps by mistake. The northern bearing is certainly erroneous, as it would have carried the pilgrim across the Ganges and back again into Srughna. We must therefore read north-east, in which direction lie the districts of Garhwâl and Kumaon that once formed the famous kingdom of the Katyuri dynasty. That this is the country intended by the pilgrim is proved by the fact that it produced copper, which must refer to the well-known copper mines of Dhanpur and Pokhri in Garhwâl, which have been worked from a very early date. Now the ancient capital of the Katyuri Rajas was at *Lakhanpur* or *Vairât-pattan* on the Râmgangâ river, about 80 miles in a direct line from Madâwar. If we might take the measurement from Kot-dwâra, at the foot of the hills on the north-east frontier of Maḍâwar, the distance would agree with the 50 miles recorded by Hwen Thsang. It occurs to me, however, as a much more probable explanation of the discrepancy in the recorded bearing and distance that they must properly refer to Govisana, the next place visited by Hwen Thsang, from which Bairát lies exactly 50 miles due north.
c6.s3.t7.2
∗ Ctesiæ Indica, Excerp. ab Photio, 19, e lit. Lion.
c6.s3.t7.3
‡ Julien's ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ i. 431, and ii. 231.
c6.s3.t7.4
According to the history of the country, Vairát-pattan or Lakhanpur was the ancient capital, as the Sombansi dynasty of Kumaon and the Surajbansi dynasty of Garhwâl date only from the *Samvat* years 742 and 745, which, even if referred to the era of Vikramaditya, are posterior to the time of Hwen Thsang. I think, therefore, that Brahmapura must be only another name for *Vairát-pattan*, as every other capital in these provinces is of much later date. Srinagar on the Alakananda river was founded so late as s. 1415, or A.D. 1358, by Ajaya Pala of Garhwâl, and is besides nearly as far from Maḍâwar as *Vairát-pattan*; while Chándpur, the earlier capital of Garhwâl, is still more distant, and dates only from s. 1216 or A.D. 1159. The climate is said to be slightly cold, and this also agrees with the position of *Bairát*, which is only 3339 feet above the sea.
c6.s3.t7.5
Hwen Thsang describes the kingdom of Brahmapura as 4000 *li*, or 667 miles, in circuit.[*] It must, therefore, have included the whole of the hill-country between the Alakananda and Karnâli rivers, which is now known as British Garhwâl and Kumaon, as the latter district, before the conquests of the Gorkhas, extended to the Karnâli river. The boundary of this tract measured on the map is between 500 and
c6.s3.t7.6
∗ Julien's ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ ii. 231. See Map No. X.