Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.614

c6.614

Prasthala (Patala).—It is supposed to have stood at or near the site of modern Bāhmanābād which is the most ancient and which includes extensive prehistoric remains (*J.B.B.R.A.S.*, Jan., 1856). The little state of Patalene as called by the Greeks is generally identified with the Indus Delta. It was probably named after its capital city Patala. Long after Alexander’s invasion it passed under the rule of the Bactrian Greeks (Hamilton and Falconer, Vol. II, 252-253), and it later on came to the hands of Śaka or Indo-Scythian rulers from the clutches of the Indo-Greek rulers. About the middle of the 2nd century A.D. it was one of the principal Indo-Scythian possessions according to the geographer Ptolemy. For further details vide B. C. Law, *Indological Studies*, Pt. I, 37ff.