Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c24.20

c24.20

Scholars have suggested that there was in ancient Kashmir a famous watch-station at the village of Śūrapura (modern Hurpor). Drums must have been at the watch-station and were sounded to announce to the people things like the advent of enemies or any imminent danger. It is therefore clear that ‘the Ḍhakka called Kāmbuva’ really means ‘the watch-station that was situated at the locality called Kāmbuva’. This Ḍhakka, originally stationed at Kāmbuva in the province of Kramavarta, was transferred in the ninth century to the village of Śūrapura in the same province. The expression Kramavarta-pradeśa-stha seems to suggest that different pradeśas of the ancient kingdom of Kashmir were endowed each with a Ḍhakka.