Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c6.165

c6.165

Romaka (M.B., II, 47, 15). The editor has chosen Bāhukān. I however prefer the variant Romakān. Rumā was the name of the salt mines (Hemacandra, *Abhidhānacintāmaṇi*, 941) and may be identified with the Salt Range in the Panjāb. The Salt Range itself is named Oromenus by Pliny¹⁵⁹ who notes that the kings of the country derived greater revenue from the rock-salt than from either gold or pearls. H. H. Wilson identifies Rumā (*Sanskrit-Eng. Dictionary*) with the Sāmbhar lake. In this connection it is also interesting to note that the Shins of Baltistān also call themselves Roms.¹⁶⁰ Probably the Romakas here denote the people of the Salt Range.