Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.508

c6.508

Pliny (Natural Hist., VI, 19) calls the river Jumna the Jomanes which flowed into the Ganges through the Palibothri between the towns of Methora and Chrysobara.² Lassen transcribes Chrysobarn as Kṛṣṇapura.³ He locates it at Agra. Cunningham identifies it with Keśavapura-mahallā of Mathurā.⁴ S. N. Majumdar suggests that Gokul on the left bank of the Jumna and five miles S.S.E. of Mathurā may be identified with it.⁵ According to the Greeks Methorā (Mathurā) was situated on the banks of the Jumna higher up than Agra from which it ws 35 miles distant. This city was situated to the south of Indraprastha.⁶ The way from Śrāvastī to Mathurā lay through an important locality called Verañja.¹ Mathurā was situated on the right bank of the Jumna and it stood midway between Indraprastha and Kauśāmbī. Strictly speaking it is the Uttara Madhurā,² which is identified with Maholi, five miles to the south-west of the modern town of Mathurā. From Sankissa (Sanskrit Samkāśya) on the Ganges the distance of northern Madhurā is said to have been four yojanas only.³ Modern Mathurā is not on the ancient site. It has moved to the north owing to the encroachment of the river.