Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India c8.s3.t7: Ambakapi, or Amakatis.
Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India c8.s3.t7
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Ambakapi, or Amakatis.
c8.s3.t7.1
Amba and *Kâpi* are the names of two ruined mounds, the remains of ancient cities, which are said to have been called after a brother and sister, whose story has already been referred to in my account of Mânikyâla. According to the legend, the family consisted of three brothers, named *Sir-kap*, *Sir-suk*, and *Amba*, and of four sisters, named *Kâpi*, *Kalpi*, *Mundê*, and *Mândehi*, each of whom is said to have founded a city to the south of Shekohpura, and in the immediate vicinity of *Ran-si.* The ruins of these cities are pointed out at the following places :
c8.s3.t7.2
1st. *Sir-kap* is a mound of ruins near the village of Balarh, 6 miles to the south of Shekohpura. It is remarkable that the name of Balarh is also connected with Sirkap in the legends of the Sindh Sâgar Doâb, which assign the Balarh Tope as the seat of this Raja.
c8.s3.t7.3
2nd. *Sir-suk* is a ruined mound, near the village of Murâd, 3½ miles to the south of Shekohpura, and 2½ miles to the north of this Sir-kap mound.
c8.s3.t7.4
3rd. *Amba* is a large ruined mound and village, upwards of 9 miles to the south of Shekohpura, and one mile to the east of *Ran-si*.
c8.s3.t7.5
4th. *Kâpi*, or *Kânpi*, as it is also written and pronounced, is a small mound 2½ miles to the east of Amba, on the old high-road to Lahor.
c8.s3.t7.6
5th. *Kalpi* is another small ruined mound near the village of Bhuipur, about midway between the mounds of Sri-kap and Amba.
c8.s3.t7.7
6th. *Mundê* is a ruined mound and village on the west bank of the *Bâgh-bachha* river, 8 miles to the south of Ransi and Amba.
c8.s3.t7.8
7th. *Mândehi* is a ruined mound and village to the south-east of Amba and Kapi, from which it is equidistant 3½ miles.
c8.s3.t7.9
All of these mounds are on the western bank of the *Bâgh-bachha* river, and at a mean distance of about 25 miles to the westward of Lahor. The whole of the villages just mentioned will be found in the district map of Lahor, but the mounds themselves are shown only in the large map of the Sarakpur Parganah. I have already remarked that the name of the *Bâgh-bachha* river is most probably connected with the legend of the "Seven hungry Tiger Cubs" (*Bâgh-bachhas*), whose names are preserved in those of the seven mounds above noted. The same story is told here that is so common in the Sindh Sâgar Doâb. Râsâlu, the Raja of Syâlkot, plays at *Chopar* with *Sir-kap* for a hman head, and having won it accepts his daughter *Kokilâ* instead of the stake. The people have the most undoubting faith in the truth of this legend, and they quoted, with evident satisfaction, the following couplet in support of their belief:—
c8.s3.t7.10
"Amba-Kapa pai larai,
Kalpi bahin chhurâwan ai."
When strife arose 'tween Amb and Kâp
Their sister Kalpi made it up.
c8.s3.t7.11
As they could give no explanation of the nature of this quarrel, the couplet adds but little to our information regarding the seven brothers and sisters. I may observe, however, that the junction of the two names of *Amba* and *Kapi* is most probably as old as the time of Ptolemy, who places a town named *Amakatis*, or *Amakapis*, to the west of Râvi, and in the immediate neighbourhood of *Labokla*, or Lahor.[*]
c8.s3.t7.12
∗ The identification of Ptolemy's *Labokla* with Lahor was first made in Kiepert's Map of India, according to 15
c8.s3.t7.13
The mound of Amba is 900 feet square, and from 25 to 30 feet in height; but as the whole of the surrounding fields, for a breadth of about 600 feet, are covered with broken pottery, the full extent of the ancient town may be taken at not less than 8000 feet, or upwards of 3 miles in circuit. The mound itself is covered with broken bricks of large size, amongst which I discovered several pieces of carved brick. I found also one piece of grey sandstone, and a piece of speckled iron ore, similar to that of Sangala, and of the Karâna hills. According to the statements of the people, the place was founded by Raja Amba 1800 or 1900 years ago, or just about the beginning of the Christian era. This date would make the three brothers contemporary with Hushka, Jushka, and Kanishka, the three great kings of the Yuchi, or Kushân race of Indo-Scythians, with whom I am, on other grounds, inclined to identify them. At present, however, I am not prepared to enter upon the long discussion which would be necessary to establish their identity.